Image the young Frank boxes his way to a points victory. Smith go's for it late but Frank holds on . What do you think is different in this time line ? Anything significant or do things turn out similar ???
Amazing to think this fight is now over 40 years ago!! Crazy. Bad night for Frank and Terry indeed. Not sure any thing significant changes tbh. He could have gotten a shot at the title earlier, either Holmes or Thomas maybe. I don't see him beating either at that time, even tho both were destined to lose in the near future. He'd give a good showing, as he always did, but unfortunately lose by late ko.
I think that Smith likely gets a lot less time to shine, whereas Bruno gets a lot more. Just put him up against James' following opposition and see how many more names Frank gets on his resume. He gets stopped by Holmes, probably has a 50/50 match with Tubbs, beats Ribalta, loses to Witherspoon earlier, beats Frazier (Which Smith did in the first place, but got robbed), and then he also gets guys like Weaver, Ferguson, and Bey on his plate. Maybe the proposed fight with Berbick would've followed through, too.
I always wondered how a Berbick fight would go . Trev was a nutter so he might start slugging early and get sparked.
He'd definitely had gotten hurt by lesser punchers, but at the same time, Berbick definitely had the power to rock Bruno right back. I'd tend to favor Bruno, but he always seemed to find a way to lose.
Frank would have got the offer of a title fight from the Larry Holmes camp but the cautious Terry Lawless turns it down. Frank would get fights with the likes of Mike Weaver and Trevor Berbick which I would give him 50/50 shots at winning.
Bruno remains undefeated but doesn’t advance much given that Smith was an unknown-unranked entity at the time. Frank might have been selected as a title defense for Holmes which for Larry at 35 would have been a hard fight.
Frank was managed by Terry Lawless. A very careful and shrewd operator then linked in a firm situation with the major promoters in the UK. Even had Frank passed the bonecrusher test, Terry still would have decided to put the brakes on Brunos progress because Frank going the distance with a Smith type opponent was still regarded Frank showing vulnerability when evenly matched. The stakes were high. They only wanted to gamble on a sure thing. This management could afford not to rush. Bruno was in a position of privilege. It wasn’t like his people would be forced to take a world title shot at this point like other operators would be. If Bruno’s management didn’t feel he was ready it wouldn’t happen. And they wouldn’t lose any ground doing it. Bruno was already national figure. An established brand. They knew they could sell him as a European champion to gain a bit more experience taking the same route they did anyway. After Smith they initially targeted the commonwealth title in taking on Ken Lucusta who had tangled with Berbick for that title. Then they went after Eklund who had the European crown before selecting Gerrie Coetzee for an eliminator for the WBA crown. The Coetzee win was the type of win that Lawless needed to see before he would proceed. The Smith fight, had Frank got the decision, was not that kind of win.
Well the winner of Bonecrusher/Bruno was for a shot at Holmes so Bruno gets his shot at Holmes. And probably does reasonably well against a 1984 version of Holmes possibly being ahead on points in the 1st half of the fight until Holmes stops him late on.
The thing with Bruno is he had no confidence, he boxed fine and he could get in great shape he had lots of desirable qualities as a fighter. Read his story, listen to the people around him those that knew him… he was a very tense an irregularly anxious guy who was quite emotional. Bruno wasn’t stiff because he got buffed out like a Mr Olympia, no he was stiff because he wouldn’t relax, watch him in with McCall I got second hand panic. If I the internet quarter back was Bruno’s manager I’d do what they did with Norton have him read good books, let him spar smaller guys if he had a rough day. I’d also get him comfortable in exhibitions where folks would be watching. I hear Ingle helps his boys confidence by getting them singing while they hit the bag… it was his mind that needed tinkering, his body was strong but his mind was weak. Steward said it… heavyweights typically have big bodies and small hearts.
I think that’s right, Larry was a mentally VERY sound and mean guy in the ring even if Bruno could win against an old Holmes on paper he wouldn’t… Larry would be too scrappy, he’d see what a lot of people did in Bruno a nervous ball of muscle, he’d pressure him not in the way Frazier would but with feints, sticking him constantly, making him react all night, shoving, posting and getting dirty weren’t above what Holmes would do, thumb in the eye might make it hard to see but for someone like Bruno it’d be a leak on his ability to crack on with the job mentally and tension drains you like a vampire.
Hi Buddy. One of your best, pitch perfect breakdown of a flawed fighter, you only have my word, but I have felt and said as much over the years, moreover I have seen him spar at a pub/gym up in north london during his upcoming and prime years, it was a puzzling experience, he would spar with 2/3 different partners, all smaller than him for some strange reason, also Francis was never a trainer to be very vocal, nice man tho he was, he would just watch Bruno go over the same sequence of punches, they being straight jab, followed by big right hand, no hooks, no uppercuts, no combinations, and which might have helped Frank later in his career no body movement, I mean I am no trainer, far from it, but why didnt Francis and sometimes Lawless, instruct him to body roll, sway out of distance, drop his guard for a while to loosen up his very rigid and immobile arms, he seemed to spar by numbers, but the Lawless style was all about pressure, and straight punching, Flint, Magri, Stracey, Batten, Hope, Gardener, same approach walk forward, and a high punch rate, it bought him many champs so hard to argue with the pattern I suppose, there you go, this has helped my insomnia a tad. stay safe J92, your a strident and meaningful poster, who knows his own mind, and isn't afraid to express it, as long as it's done in a polite and well mannered tone, all fine by me. chat soon buddy.
The only combinations I remember from Frank were a clubbing right to the back of the head followed by another rabbit punch and still another. One of the dirtiest fighters I’ve ever seen.
I remember Tyson just getting progressively more pissed off every time it happened lol he sort of just threw away the plan and beat the snot out of Frank.
