We all love Frank here in the UK, heart of gold, cheeky chap, warrior, world champ. His power gets spoken of in great regard, but did he ever take out a legit top 10 fighter who was at the relative peak of their career or still VERY live ? What was Frank's best win Maccall aside
Bugner, Tilis and Coetzer had all been top ten ranked before, but were neither ranked nor prime by the time Bruno stopped them. McCall was, but of course that was a decision win, not stoppage.
One of the best recommendations for his power comes from Witherspoon. Frank Bruno: My defense was one of my best assets but Bruno hit me really hard early on. He had me stumbling and, although I stayed calm, there were people who thought I looked in serious trouble.
Joe Bugner was definately ranked in the top ten after a good run in Australia. Anders Eklund possibly after winning the EBU title which he lost via ko to Bruno. Also former Number one ranked Pierre Coetzer was probably still ranked in the top ten by someone when battered by Bruno.
I think the only fighter Bruno actually stopped who was ranked in the top 10 was Gerrie Coetzee. But that's quite an impressive win in the manner in which Bruno stopped him in the opening round. Coetzee's other stoppages losses were vs Weaver in a back and forth grueling fight over 13 rounds in which Coetzee simply got worn down. Page stopped Coetzee in the 8th round but there was a bit of controversy over that because the round was well longer than 3 minutes. But i still don't think it made a difference to the actual outcome of the fight. But yeah no one else had ever taken out Coetzee like Bruno did and Coetzee was still a notable contender at that time IMO. A few other underrated stoppages of Bruno are.... Jumbo Cummings he was only stopped once by another big hitter in Jeff Sims, he'd also gone the distance with a near prime Witherspoon prior to facing Bruno. James Tillis he'd gone the distance with Tyson less than a year after Bruno stopped him. Jesse Ferguson he'd recently beat Mercer and lost a close split decision to Mercer, Bruno took him out in 1 round after that. Not to mention after Ferguson lost to Bruno he gave Holmes a very close fight and Holmes himself went on to have a respectable effort vs McCall. Jose Ribalta he took bombs off Tyson for 10 rounds he'd also gone the distance with Witherspoon, Dokes, recently and Bruno took him out in 2 rounds. Lucien Rodriguez he'd gone the distance with Michael Dokes, Larry Holmes, Bruno took him out in 1 round. Joe Bugner was older but still durable he'd only been stopped once by Shavers at that point. And was coming off a string of respectable wins over Bey, Tillis, Page, Bruno took him out in 8 rounds. To be fair the champions that Bruno did fight for the most part were very durable. Bonecrusher = Very solid chin. Witherspoon = Very solid chin outside of the Bonecrusher loss but he wasn't physically/mentally there for that fight. McCall = Considered to have one of the best chins of all time. Tyson = Very solid chin takes a single shot better than most.
I seem to recall an account from McCall about his fight with Bruno, in which he says that Bruno hurt him early. IIRC it was not so much him being 'wobbled', but that it put a shock and pain on him, letting him know that it was going to be a tough fight from thereon in.
As others have said, Coetze was expected to give him a fight, and the bout was an eliminator for a shot at Tim Witherspoons title.
No. Coetzee was past prime. Tillis was way past prime. Carl Williams was past prime. Those are probably the best names he kod
He was KOd by one punch by Greg Page in December 1984 so he had been stopped by one punch before. If you mean he had never been kod in the first round then ok.
