What Were Your Thoughts On Bruno, Fighting Tyson, For The first time?

Not sure how fellas in the states thought about our man Frank, meeting Tyson, back in 1989.
Over here, as I remember, it was a massive fight. Lot of publicity.
Not sure many actually gave Frank a chance, but with Tyson s life in general, a little screwed up, there was hope.
I remember thinking, and I hate to say it, but maybe he's lucky to get out of the first Round!
Tyson was was on fire back then.

 

I was born in 82, so this was one of my 1st sporting memories.

Quite a vivid memory too. My Dad was quite a stoic, calm guy. When Bruno momentarily wobbled Tyson with that left hook at the end of the 1st round, and Harry Carpenter said "c'mon get in there Frank", my Dad stood up off the sofa and shouted (I cant remember what). First time I'd heard him raise his voice or in any way lose his cool. I remember thinking "wow, this must be important".

 

Off topic, but i would find it interesting to hear your reaction to the first round when bruno rocked Tyson with a good punch!

 

Being British I liked Bruno a lot…he was our big hope at toppling the Americans. As a kid at school in ‘82 I followed him from his very first fight and was impressed with his KO power and strength.

However my family over in the states didn’t share my impression…they saw him as an over muscled guy with a big punch and not much else.
And remember he’d already been KO’d by Bonecrusher and Witherspoon by the time he came up against the wrecking ball Tyson. So they weren’t taking his challenge seriously at all.
My American lot said it would be over in less time than it would take for people to take their seats in the arena as…in their words…Frank was a “bum.” That pi@@ed me off because though I was a Tyson fan, I was still British and didn’t like hearing it.

Anyway my own prediction was Frank would be stopped by halfway, but would still be competitive up until the stoppage, as he was in his previous 2 defeats. I thought that his jab and power punches would keep Tyson occupied for a while, until the moment of truth came in round six.
I was one round out, but it kinda went how I thought.

 

I'm not sure if it was the UK coverage I was watching live or the US coverage I've watched back as an adult, but when the tale of the tape was on screen the commentator said:

"Bruno is taller, rangier and heavier. He holds the same advantages over Tyson as a zebra does over a lion".

That seems to sum up people's expectations as to how the fight would go, quite well.

 

Lol. I loved it. It came out of nowhere, suddenly Tyson looked rocked!
It really only lasted a few seconds but in my mind I holding my breath for ages.
It wasn't Cooper dropping Ali but it was a good moment for the under dog Brit.

 

Lol. Maybe half the country did the same!

 

Nice avatar

 

Going into that fight, in the US, people were incredibly excited that Mike Tyson was fighting again.

The fight itself wasn't expected to be good.

Tyson was just a monster star. People were thrilled he was back in the ring. You could've swapped out Bruno with just about anyone, and all of us in the US wouldn't have been any less thrilled.

When Tyson blew out Michael Spinks in less than a round, the post-fight coverage on ESPN and CNN included interviews with the top contenders at the time - Bruno and Carl Williams. There were also interviews with Holyfield, who was about to unify with DeLeon and planned to move up.

After each interview, the consensus on those networks among the analysts .... and the consensus of all the guys at my friend Dave's house, where we watched it ... was none of those guys had any chance at all.

Tyson just seemed to be getting better and better, and he was only 21 or about to turn 22. It seemed like he was going to reign for another 10 years.

But then the Bruno fight scheduled for that fall got called off. And Tyson fired everyone - Cayton, Rooney, etc. He crashed his car in what was called a suicide attempt. Got a divorce. And it just all seemed to be unraveling. Tyson gossip in the US was a daily thing on TV. And that was pre-social media. But it was still everywhere.

So, when they announced the Bruno fight, after all that nonsense, it still seemed like Tyson should win, but it felt a lot more dangerous than it had just months earlier.

And when the bell rang and it was a real fight, it was incredibly exciting.

But, when Tyson got around to stopping Bruno, I thought that was the end of Frank. And it seemed Tyson was back on track. (The Williams one-rounder a couple months later only solidified the belief that Tyson was going to reign forever.)

The idea that Tyson-Bruno would have a rematch seven years later, and Bruno would be the defending champion and Tyson the challenger, would've been dismissed as a million to one.

Made even less sense than if someone said today that seven years from now Fury and Whyte will rematch, and Whyte will be the defending champ.

 

Haha thanks. I’d like to say I put it up especially for this thread, but it’s just a beautiful coincidence

 

I know some feel that Mike had slightly fallen off his game - I disagree but respect those opinions and my view is only an opinion also, of course.

I actually give Mike great credit for the win and the manner in which he achieved it. It had become per se for Mike to roll guys much larger than himself - taken for granted because that’s what Mike could and did do, but it was still amazing each time out, nonetheless.

If a similarly dimensioned fighter (to Tyson) of unknown reputation faced up to Frank, you might’ve given him little chance merely based on the height/reach differential. Tyson was different, we knew his skills and power were of such magnitude to render such advantages, all be they extreme, as virtually non existent.

Frank came to win - and he had a clear plan, and it wasn’t in strict adherence with the rule book, lol- but it was effective to a degree and Bruno showed plenty of moxie and will.

It naturally made for some bumpy moments for Mike - as it would have for most fighters. Bruno was holding and punching, and letting them go on the break also - this mooted the effect of the defensive measure of Mike’s head movement coming in - I saw Mike still slipping shots coming in but once in - that’s when Bruno crammed in as many shots as he could.

You could see Mike’s temper building but he essentially stuck to his game and got through to land the big punches and, ultimately, the fight ending punches.

Not to be cute but there can be over focus on what Mike was perceived not to be but could’ve been, inadvertently ignoring what he was - and I seriously think he fought a very good fight against Bruno - especially given the early round obstacles he faced.

Frank fought a smart “naughty” fight with absolute conviction, lol, but Mike still won via highlight reel KO. It’s actually a great fight to watch imo and Bruno did himself proud.

 

Belated Happy 40th for last year. That’s when life begins..so they say.

 

Mismatch.

Only thing keeping frank in the fight was the postponements. Nobody thought Bruno fighting out of his back yard and taking on a guy like tyson had a chance. Not with that defense and taking his act on the road.

 

I remember back then that Tyson seemed invincible to a 16 year old me who followed boxing .I do remember saying that Frank would be the hardest hitting fighter Tyson had faced to date and it would be interesting if Bruno caught him coming in with a big at shot !! Garry Mason was also being talked about in the UK at that time as future opposition. Holyfield and Foreman seemed the only possible threat to Mike .