Frank Bruno was such a National icon ahead of his fight with Tim Witherspoon that incredibly there were two records released in the U.K. charts about Bruno to coincide with his Wembley Showdown in 1986. what I want to know is, which was the better song? This content is protected Or This content is protected
I would have been about ten when he fought Mike Tyson, and everybody in my class desperately wanted him to win. I asked my Dad, is big Frank was going to do it? My Dad placed a soothing hand upon my shoulder and said: "Son, Tyson's going to kill him!"
I had this record in 86 bought in down Waltham cross shopping centre I was 13 at the time. Everyone, and I mean everyone! knew Frank and thought he would beat Witherspoon, well the mainstream public anyway, He had always been a story since he turned pro and was set to be the cartels 5th world champion. Obviously there was the Bonecrusher disaster but he made a huge splash with the coatzie ko. I also remember buying his first autobiography the same summer which came out BEFORE the Witherspoon fight! That’s how big he was. Bruno was huge that year a full on house hold name with the nation behind him all the talk was of the U.K. having there first world champ since Bob fitzsimonds. It was another 3 years until the Tyson fight As others have said, people hoped he would win rather than expected him to be victorious. The Witherspoon fight was almost a given that he would win.
Exactly, the expectation of a Bruno win against Witherspoon and the hope for a real coronation was real. The fact that there was actually two songs in the charts about Bruno says something. Different times of course. But back then, apart from boxing geeks, most people didn’t even know who the World heavyweight champion was. But in the U.K. everyone knew who Frank Bruno was. Many assumed it was Frank Bruno who was the world champion, such was the level of tabloid and TV exposure he got at that time. By the time of Tyson that had changed. Bruno was a kind of national mascot left over from a previous era. The sense was we still had somebody good enough to meet Tyson, unlike Witherspoon, a real champion, and whilst that was a big deal, that was it. We had somebody capable of fighting Tyson but not winning. Whereas before, Bruno had a more achievable goal at Wembley twenty years after England had won the World Cup in the same stadium. And in 1986, that was a bigger deal in the U.K. with Bruno meeting Witherspoon, it was wide open. Frank was a slight favourite to win. Which for a country desperately looking for a heavyweight champion was a bigger deal. Today Tyson is rightly the bigger figure. But back before that point, when the title was split and practically everyone who challenged for a belt got to win it, Frank Bruno challenging for a title in London was a bigger deal in the U.K. than it would be challenging an undefeated, undisputed, harder to beat, champion in America was later on. but everyone forgets this. They were either too young or have decided the Tyson fight overshadowed it because Tyson was the more historically important champion. But it didn’t in terms of National impact. the Witherspoon fight was culturally bigger in the U.K. mostly because it was a title fight happening in England on the twenty years anniversary of England winning the World Cup.
I will insert a little humor on this fight, neither song but the oldie sung by Floyd Cramer, Please Help Me, I Am Falling on July 19 1986 against WBA Champion Terrible Tim Witherspoon. Lol.
