Lewis vs Bruno, a question for the UK fans

Tyson was over the top and hilarious. Lewis just came across as arrogant and surly -- in a way, a lot like Larry Holmes.

Just my $0.02, there are two proper ways to do press conferences. Quiet polite confidence -- Evander Holyfield personified this. Or, over the top ridiculousness -- Ali and Tyson were both great at this, and while we can only read little bits about what happened, I think so was Jack Johnson.

Fall in between these two and it just doesn't work.

 

Ya good call on Holmes, i think they both came across as bitter and maybe a bit oblivious as to why they weren't more popular. In hindsite I think we look back on them more favorably as they were great champs and actually seem like decent enough people unlike some of their contemporaries.

 

Lewis was a fraud living a lie just like his trannie manager. He may have been born in england but he was as Canadian as they come by the time he was boxing for Canada in 2 Olympics He only came back to England because he thought that it would be better for his career an it was shown when he hardly ever lived in England in between fights. This is why He couldn't wait to get back to Canada an also decided to live in Jamaica once his career was over. Brits ain't the sharpest tools in the box but even they could see through his act which is why they never support him like they did Bruno. Calling Bruno a uncle Tom didn't help either

 

Lewis's team did try to play up a bougee image for him. Not sure how much it helped, but they did try.

I was too young at the time to have noticed or appreciated, but I don't recall any attempts at that being done with Holmes. I don't know why. He was, literally, the delivery truck driver who boxed on the side for spare change until he got the chance to work for Ali, at which point he started taking boxing seriously with the crazy dream of... being able to buy a modest house to raise a family in with his wife. Should have been a whole everyman/family man image they could have worked up for him.

Ok. I'm way, way off topic now.

A related question -- were Canadians salty about Lewis? They have a valid claim to him as a national boxing hero, but then he turns around and fights out of the UK, pretends to be a Brit, because he could earn a few bucks more there?

 

... are you Canadian?

 

He never seemed all that popular here, at least during his pro career. Definitely didn't seem like a source of national pride or anything but I was fairly young when he won gold so maybe im mistaken. I think he was only in Canada for his teenage years.

 

I think that's the point -- he grew up in Canada, fought for Canada in the Olympics, fought out of Canada as an amateur, and then when he turned pro, fought out of the UK to earn more. Since it seems you're Canadian, y'all aren't annoyed by that? He sort of self-robbed your country of a legit claim to a top 10 HW ATG.

I'd be annoyed at a fighter in those circumstances.

 

I guess he always seemed more Brittish than Canadian to me, likely vice versa from a Brits perspective. That, along with his personality might explain the casual fans opinion of him. I was always a big fan as far as his fights were concerned though.

 

Well for what it’s worth I was never into the Bruno hype machine I knew his limitations pretty early on, and I didn’t mind Lewis at all.
Both good men in their different ways and they produced a good fight which I thought it would be for as long as it lasted but I knew there was always only going to be one winner.

 

I was pretty tired of Bruno by the time of this fight. I like the guy but just the endless attempts and dispiriting losses when there were some much better UK fighters toiling in relative anonymity. To the general public Bruno (and to a lesser extent Eubank) were UK boxing. after Lewis' destruction of Ruddock I thought he would blow Frank out in 2 rounds as well. I was actually really disappointed by Lennox's display, I thought he clearly underestimated Bruno and didn't have much game plan. On the other hand I never for a moment thought Frank would win, I just knew once he got tagged it was curtains. I sort of hoped Bruno would call it day afterwards but no such luck!

I never had an issue with Lennox's nationality, he was a great fighter full stop, if not one of my favorites. Who cares about nationalities apart from football hooligans?