Bruno v Tyson documentary

I imagine it would be if you were not from the U.K., but even on that front it was very light on demonstrating how popular Frank was even before the Tyson Fights. For the Witherspoon fight, Henry Cooper and Ali were historically paraded in the ring before it started in the hope Bruno would deck Witherspoon as Henry had Ali in their 1963 bout in the same ring. People actually cried when Frank lost to Witherspoon. Fans rioted at Wembley stadium. There was none of that in there.

Even though he fought in the era, Bruno was not really any more part of the Tyson era in the way Holmes, Tubbs and Thomas were. They just fought him then. Frank, Thomas, Tubbs and Larry were really all more a part of the earlier mix that got drafted in to keep Tyson busy. But the Documentary misleads the viewer into believing it was unfortunate Frank came along at the same time as Tyson. He didn’t. He had already had his turn. Frank was every bit on his second lap and part of the previous generation. He’d already lost to Bonecrusher before Bonecrusher had even won a title and lost it to Tyson.

 

it was no more iconic than Bruno becoming the hero losing to Tim Witherspoon. That fight was a bigger U.K. event. Outdoor Wembley Stadium. At the time, The first Tyson match was no more than equally as big to the public as the Witherspoon fight. The first Tyson fight wasn’t even live on the TV. You had to watch it the next evening. On the BBC.

where as When Bruno fought Witherspoon in London it was televised on both the BBC and ITV at the same time at lunchtime the next day and replayed that evening. That was 50% of the TV channels you had then. That was unprecedented.

I agree. I think Tyson is a thousand time bigger name than Tim Witherspoon.. so Tim was written out to help sell this misleading documentary.

 

Watched it a couple of days ago, very, very well done with lots of footage I hadn't seen before. Thought it captured the emotional side of Bruno well and how much it hurt him to be called an Uncle Tom.
Recommend it to anyone.

Edit : Going to assume rightly or wrongly that those criticising it are not from the UK which I understand, if you weren't around at that time and from the UK you wouldn't know just how popular and almost iconic of a figure Bruno was in the 1990's.

 

I haven't seen the documentary and I wasn't alive during the 90s but from the trailer it really seems to be hyping Bruno as far more important than he actually was. You can very easily tell the story of the 90s heavyweight division without mentioning Bruno at all.

And for goodness sake, "Bruno would have reigned supreme if not for Tyson"? What a joke. Bruno was never on the level of Bowe, Foreman, Lewis, Moorer, Tyson or Holyfield.

 

Well I am older than you, And I can tell you, the National personality Bruno was after the Tyson fight was already apparent by the Witherspoon fight which was like a World Cup event. Though admittedly it was a Bruno event, whereas the Tyson fight was a Tyson event with Bruno in it. I guess you had to be there though.

And yes, whilst the Mcguigan v Stevie Cruz fight was live from America on TV, the fights were mostly not live in the U.K. outside of closed circuit events during this period. But the eventual transmission for the Bruno v Witherspoon fight was on both channels at the same time. Unprecedented. I know because taped the ITV version with Reg and watched the beeb version with Harry and regretted not doing it the other way.

Tyson was a much bigger star, but in the U.K. Bruno was our star. The event was still huge, but the expectation of a Bruno win far less. It was not a U.K. stadium event because it was not held over here.. but the national news was as full with updates in the camps ...but the access was not the same so the TV build up appeared smaller. ITV did not have the fight, so their news didn’t cover the build up at all. Where as previously both channels had competed for coverage of Witherspoon arriving at the airport etc. But I guess you had to be there.

Considering there were no channels devoted to sport in those days there was an astonishing amount of mainstream coverage on the build up to Bruno v Witherspoon. Which was more National terrestrial TV coverage for Tyson vs Bruno.

There is about an hours worth of buildup for the Witherspoon fight here.

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The 1st tyson fight didn't "make bruno a superstar in the uk" .He was already a superstar by 1986 ...a millionaire...he had his own very popular video game...was a household name, had done the full tv chat show thing ,been on newspaper magazine covers for years and epitomised 2nd generation black British upwards mobility.....he was 24 and the most beloved British fighter since our "enery.

 

That’s exactly how it was. There was even two songs released about Frank Bruno in the charts ahead of the Witherspoon fight and a book about Frank was also published to coincide with his challenge to Witherspoon.

Still a big event, but There were were no songs or book’s coinciding with Bruno’s challenge to Tyson. Or even to this day, any songs about Anthony Joshua that I know of.

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In our London school the witherspoon-bruno fight was huge news
...it was all we talked about the week before and the Monday after....Bruno was on the cover of the TV times....eastenders actress Anita dobson who was the biggest soap star on the biggest soap in the UK drawing 30mill (half the population) for its Xmas show that year was in the TV studio for the fight ......all the pubs were talking about it......it featured daily on the tv news....it occurred in Wembley stadium Frank's home patch it was a huge deal in London.. .what we must grasp is everyone thought Frank had a good chance in 1986 .....they expected a coronation.....in 1989 most expected a execution no one gave Bruno a chance....the fight is somewhat celebrated as Bruno put up a bit of fight for a couple of rounds.....live tv or not bruno -spoon was on BBC and itv 1 first thing in the morning the next day....there wasn't Internet or 24 hour news channels back than......that was as good as live tv in those days.

Choklabs numerous great posts here illustrate that ....Bruno in 1986 was at his prime....he'd been a celebrated "big hope" since the 1980 aba final....he'd lost 2 years to the eye problem....the Smith defeat derailed him.....really truly Bruno"s time...his prime years should been 1984-88 ....he was by the time he lost to tyson in 1989 he was as choklab says ...a part of the previous generation.....with Lewis,bowe,mercer ,morrison,holyfield the next HW generation

Frank was 2 mins from beating Smith and than fighting Holmes in late 1984.....he threw that fight away.....with his poor IQ, inability to pace and hold in the clinches and lack of plan b at that time......

I would have loved to see bruno-holmes in London in 1984.....I think it would've been easier a task than witherspoon .....all someone should've told Frank back in 82 was.....ffs clinch on clinches.....stop the rabbit punching in clinches....take a breather....pace yourself...

 

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Frank had his own video game back in 1985!!!

 

Lol so thats the song they had playing in our school assembly on the Friday before the fight!

Thanks choklab!

 

No way! What a blast from the past! My brother had this.. lol

Bruno was so A-list “mainstream” in the U.K. that a lot of people assumed Frank already was the World champion.

I used to have to tell people he hasn’t won the title yet, they just believed he already was the World heavyweight Champ based on the coverage he got.

 

A great game in its time!