Larry Holmes v Frank Bruno 1992

the Holmes that beat mercer would also beat Bruno and probably by stoppage

 

Holmes would be too cute, he would win a close-ish decision over 10, and may get a very late stoppage over 12.

Bruno in 1992 was struggling with the upgrade, from the late 80s model. As shown in the misfiring Williams performance in early 93.

Poor Bomber, he so mechanical, I have come to think him as a brand of car...

 

The '92 Holmes who hammered Mercer and hung tuff with Holy for 12 rds would school the powerful but stiff Bruno by a decision.... Holmes too savvy for Bruno....

Bruno of '95 decisions the still capable '95, but aged Holmes over 12 rds......

MR.BILL:hat

 

I think Bruno in '93 against Williams and Lewis was the best version he ever was.

Bruno v Holmes in '92, over 12 rounds, would see Bruno win the first three or four rounds and puts some real hurting on the old man, then Holmes would take over and pull out a hard-fought victory over the course. I believe Bruno would lose on points for a change, not by stoppage.

 

I thought the Williams fight was a big failure of the supposed new model Bruno, he really struggled after not getting the excepted early win.

Kudos for getting the win though, I suppose that was the one improvement from previous Bruno performances, he stayed in there and found a way to win.

The Lewis fight showed a lack of confidence in Bruno's development, they just went back to the old Bruno. Go out there dominate early and who knows you might catch him a bomb! Of course this also meant if the bell went for the sixth, the fight was lost, pretty much no matter what...

That might sound like hindsight, but it was also what I thought during the fight after Bruno's good start. I never gave Bruno the benefit of any doubt post Smith, and with two exceptions (Williams and McCall), I was always right.

 

^^^^ Pretty much what i was gonna say.

 

I don't think Old Holmes is stopping Frank, who was only ever stopped by powerful guys with big raw power.

So i've got Old Larry by close decision.

Over 10 rounds: Holmes SD: 5-4-1 (Larry), 6-4 (Larry), 4-5-1 (Bruno).

Frank takes the first 4 or 5 rounds & rocks Holmes a couple of times with huge righthanded bombs, then gets tired.

Over 10 rounds: Holmes UD: 7-5 (Larry), 8-4 (Larry), 7-5 (Larry).

 

A ten rounder, indeed a non title 12 rounder in Britain at the time is having one scorecard (the referee's). No way is any British ref, not giving any benefit of the doubt, to our national treasure...

 

Rule Britannia, God save the Queen & Howaaaaay "True Brit" Bruno!

 

Yeah, Bruno's progress was slow, almost non-existent. The Witherspoon defeat still stands as one of his best performances, and they brought in George Francis to train Bruno after that to make him a better fighter, but the improvements were not much.
Bruno wasn't a natural fighter or a a natural boxer, and even what he learned he was slow to become second-nature to him. Even his punching power was rarely fully utilized. He was too deliberate, too tight.
So, it was really a case of concentrating on the basics. His jab became more consistent, and he learned to hook off it quite well. Apart from that he was encouraged to become a rougher dirtier fighter, and he became even bigger and stronger.

The opposition he defeated in any period of his career wasn't much to boast about. But the wins over Ribalta, P.Coetzer, Williams and doing okay against Lewis are as good a peak period he enjoyed as any, IMO. And he looked pretty good in those fights.
Better than his 1995 campaign, which I think was just lucky that McCall was champ and that he (Bruno) hooked up with Frank Warren who was hooked up at the time with Don King.

 

The Coetzer fight was impressive, although on the down side, the South African was still a live body, and Bruno actually controlled and paced the fight well.

The only other time I saw him do that, was against Aussie Joe back in 87.

(A few more fights like that earlier in his career, would of done Bruno a few favours, but Lawless was too cheap to pay for the decent imports needed.)

The one big plus 95 vintage Bruno had over even 92, was finally Francis had taught him to cling on for dear life, if hurt. That and the extra 20lbs of muscle was the difference that stopped the limited McCall from producing a Witherspoon or Smith type finish, although just as well the fight finished when it did, for The Bomber fans!

 

I can see bruno winning large parts of this fight but getting caught late by a holmes right. like bone crusher smith fight

 

:blood

As i said, Bruno was only ever stopped by big strong guys with huge punches.

Bonecrusher Smith hit like a truck, Old Holmes was clearly not powerful at all...

 

Holmes by decision, but Bruno would certainly have his moments, and might make it close in the early rounds before Holmes gets in his groove.