Witherspoon v Bruno questions.

I’ve watched the HBO broadcast on YouTube a couple of times. From what I recall Bruno was winning a competitive fight. He had Witherspoon stunned a few times.

Bruno tired and got caught with an overhand right in an exchange and it was all over. Witherspoon pummeled him in the corner and Bruno slumped down.

 

I was only 4 years old, but I've watched the fight and have read Frank's take on it in his autobiography.

I'm not sure who was favourite, but I suspect it was Witherspoon.

Bruno was definitely competitive, in fact he was ahead after 6 and at worse level after 8.

As Bruno tired Witherspoon started to time him with over hand rights. Bruno wrote of still seeing the punches coming, but was no longer able to avoid them, as he tired in the last two or three rounds.

 

I was 9 and went to sleep excited that the fight was being replayed on itv the next day. Many Brits thought Bruno could win.The fight was close up to round 8 or than Frank tired and was knocked out at age 24.

It was quite stunning to see bonecrusher dismantle Witherspoon that winter 86

 

Hi Guys.
I was there, and fairly close to the ring, and for 6/7 rounds Bruno has nether boxed better, his jab was on target and hurting, plus for the first time I can remember he was throwing educated hooks to the body, the Spoon was rocked and stunned more than a few times, by the 7th there were murmurings of Bruno victory, my friends were chiding me about the bet I had put on Tim to win inside the distance, then, as always with the likeable brit, he started to wane, the jab that was so audible and damaging in the early rounds was now of little effect, Bruno knew it, and more importantly Witherspoon knew it, whereas in the early rounds Bruno would listen intently to the sage words of his Svengali Lawless, now he just stared into the short distance, his loosing MO, was now starting to materialise, he rose a bit more slowly from the safety of his stool, the lactic acid was taking the life out of him, in his defense the spirit was willing but the fast draining flesh was weak, the patient and crafty Witherspoon saw his moment and struck, the grenade throwing rights that were out of range 5 rounds ago were now connecting, and with the delayed effect of nearly all of Bruno's losses, this brave, honest, noble man went the way he would be famous for, slumped on the ropes, taking heavy shots to the head, in the words of Joan Amourtrading he tried, oh how he tried.
stay safe guys,
Mike.

 

Witherspoon was favourite as the champion, Bruno had the hype of a country around him and the weight of expectation I listened to it on the radio, was on delay not live terrestrial TV. @Mike Cannon has the fight summed up pretty well. Only to add Bruno whenever in trouble did have a habit of trying to hold on but then getting caught pretty flush, instead of taking an 8 count to try and go again.

TW was treated awfully by King off the back of that defence, walked away with buttons financially, Bruno was actually on the higher purse even as the challenger. Witherspoon was on 900k dollars before deductions (he got rinsed walked away with around 80 to 120k different reports). Bruno was on 1.1m dollars.

For UK fans some real good fighters on the undercard that had very good careers the fight was at Wembley Stadium over 40k attended.
Paul Hodkinson, Gary Mason, Mark Kaylor, Michael Watson and Jim McDonnell. Alfonso Ratliff was also on the card won that night, his next fight after a painful 2rd beating off Mike Tyson!

 

Frank was definitely fancied by the Brits.
He looked in great shape, where as Tim didn't.
Of course there's more to boxing as we know, but there was certainly a lot of confidence in Bruno becoming the first Brit in the 20 th century to call him self a heavy weight champ.
Frank definitely didn't disgrace him self that night though.

 

If you look at the odds of the fight compared to others it is clear the British bet money as a show of support rather than liking his odds. This was the fight after Michael Spinks.

Per boxrec Brunos previous fight against Bugner was "the richest British sporting event ever'. This was a 10 round non title bout which wasn't even for a local title. Richest sporting event in the country's history. So there was a disconnect there between them and the rest of the world.

Going back to Jem Smith in 1889 a century prior the record of HWs from the British Isles in unifiers and major fights was atrocious. Doubly so against Americans. Bugner and Farr their best HWs had a bad record in these fights and were merely competitive while everyone else wasn't. This lack of success generated interest. .

Seems to have been lots of drama with the British getting upset at Bugner for not winning, Bugner lashing out. Now Bruno beat Bugner. They had a new guy to root for.

 

Thanks for this excellent and empathetic post. Bravo sir. Peace and love always, Px

 

The support for Bruno over Bugner wasn't anything to do with a failed Bugner world title shot against Ali in 1975.

He beat as a 21 on 1/4 of a point Henry Cooper and retired the old British legend in 1971.

That he came back over after moving to Australia much later and fought Frank Bruno in 1987 at White Hart Lane and the crowd were against Bugner nearly a generation later seemed all pantomime, Bruno had fought Witherspoon the year before in 1986.

 

Bruno vs Bugner wasn't the richest sporting event ever hosted in the UK at that point. Not even close. Each Wimbelon tournament generated $20-30M by the 80's. Each FA Cup Final $15-25M. Both many times the revenue generated by the Bruno vs Bugner card, and I could keep going.

 

Boxrec said it not me.

"The fight was Britain's richest sports event ever, with revenues estimated at nearly $5,000,000."

 

The profit for the 1985 Wimbleon was £5.37M (over $8M) let alone the revenue.