Second best British Heavyweight

1.lewis
2.fitzsimmons
3.farr
4.bugner
5.bruno

seems to be the general feeling

 

True. But what was so special about Joe Bugner ?
Or Tommy Farr for that matter ?

Bugner fell short even worse than Bruno on several occasions.

 

I think that they were both more consistant at elite level.

I suspect that Bruno Farr would go something like Bruno Witherspoon while Bruno Bugner (prime for prime) would go a bit like Bruno Smith.

 

Bruno fairly did well against the best fighters in the world. I thought he looked very worthy of sharing the ring with Lennox Lewis, for example. He couldn't cope with Tyson though, but gave Witherspoon a tough fight. He beat Oliver McCall for the WBC title that McCall had won from Lewis.

Tommy Farr, I rate as a better boxer, but his record against the top heavyweights is similar.

Bugner was his most impressive against Joe Frazier, but Frazier beat him up really. And the Ali-Bugner fights were boring and he stunk out the place a bit in Malaysia to be honest.

I dont think Farr and Bugner are necessarily in a higher category than Bruno, despite Frank's glaring weaknesses.

 

Frank was the popular one but as far as ability goes and bravery i have to look at what Farr did in a very hard division, he took on and did very well against Joe Louis who was untouchable at the time.. Bob Fitz was a pioneer and not an over amazing technical fighter.. Joe was better than most realise but i stay away from that arena because he was a country hopper who was Hungarian by nature... I will have to go soul searching on this one to be truthful.... Farr is the safe bet..

 

I think I would have to agree with on the Bruno pick. I was not a fan of his but agree with the pick. He could have lost against McCall but he did not and stepped up to the mark brilliantly against a real tough guy.

 

There's an evening with Henry Cooper in a bar/restaurant near me very soon.

As an American now living in the UK it wasn't of great interest to me, but I might now go along. It's a black tie event so it's pretty expensive, but if any of you guys live in Essex it might be worth giving it a try.

 

Farrs paper record is misleading since he is sort of the Glen Johnson of his era.

He got the sh1t end of a lot of bad calls.

 

What about the Burman and Nova fights ?

 

Bruno and Farr, Bruno gets a bit underrated, he gave 2 of the best HWs ever 2 stern tests and got some quality wins under his belt. People wrongly assume many in history can replicate what Tyson/Lewis did to him, they cant, and dont bring up his pre-prime losses

Farr did the same to Louis aswell as putting some quality wins of his own together

 

He seems to have been robbed against Burman but I am not sure about the Nova fight.

The Max Baer fight that he lost has also been questioned.

 

Here is an account of Farr Nova.

It seems that Farr took a beating and it was observed that Nova took care of business more convincingly than Joe Louis had.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...c0RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jugDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6659,5276626

 

Nova received a lot of good press, and people had high expectations for him. I heard he choked against Louis for the championship though.