I sometimes wonder what would of been different if Frank had gone to the state's like Dennis Andres did after he was beaten . Could this have made Frank more fluid in his movement and perhaps faster on his feet ? As it was he did very his jab was a real weapon and he had genuine one punch power . I'm glad he is doing well now
Like my reply to Eddie Izzard maybe he got as good as he could be. But I can’t help thinking as posted relocating to the states really turned Dennis Andries’s career around as did it Nigel Benn. Was Frank like Bugner. Always what if? But never better than we thought he could be.
Benn was far better than Andries and beating G-man wasn`t tyhe same as beating Harding, would have been interesting if Benn fought Hearns just before he beat Andries, Benn could have fought him at 160 and fans could have done a comparison.
In actual fact, lonestar, I don't think he necessarily ever got quite as good as he could be. He might have improved with a good deal of sparring in the States. I just think he might have then gone from being, say, the eighth best heavy in the world to, say, the fifth. An improvement but not enough to beat the very best. And I don't think not being the best ever significantly affected Frank's earning power. There was no real value in Frank going to America. Yes, he might have got a little bit better at the game but not enough to drastically alter his career path and certainly not enough to justify the risks that all that extra punishment would have exposed Frank to. He's done amazingly well to get back on his feet as it is without being further impaired by that kind of damage.
Coetzee had retired and was a full time farmer. Mickey Duff offered him $250,000 to come to London and sell his chin. His training in the UK was desultory and didn't feature any sparring. Even back in South Africa, there was no talk of him training.
Not so sure about that. It was six months after Gerrie beat James Tillis (after taking nine months off from losing his title in a four-minute round vs. Greg Page). He added about 10-12 pounds above his usual fighting weight (234-ish, he had been below 220 for Page but generally low 220s before that). Seems odd that he’d retire after the Tillis fight and then come back so quickly.
His hand had gone again Pat. Duff knew that, having just bought his farm, Gerrie couldn't resist the payday. To digress, I would like to have seen Bruno go up against Noel Quarless after Noel's big wins over Anders Ecklund and John L. Gardener. Fireworks !
I’m not saying he was at peak form but there’s nothing I can find anywhere to substantiate him retiring after the Tillis fight. What he had lost between winning a title, losing it on a timekeeper error, winning a rebound fight agains Tillis and fighting Bruno is certainly open to debate. And there’s nothing on film vs. Bruno to really tell us as he barely threw a punch, getting poleaxed early and then trying in vain to survive before being taken out. He did, in fact, actually did retire after the Bruno fight (although he came back, as they often do).
He was a megastar because of his lovable personality, "no what I mean `arry?" he even had his own puppet appear on the iconic British satirical show spitting image.
After losing his title, Coetzee made token attempts at a comeback. He beat the former title challenger and at that time mid-level foe James "Quick" Tillis by a decision in ten. Next was a journey to England to fight the big-punching contender Frank Bruno.
An interesting opinion piece that I can understand where you are coming from in all but this. Bugner was hated at the time, I mean loathed. And the 'Aussie Joe' era, was Joe's strongest in a decade.
Ah ah shows what you know about boxing. He was caught straight by an hard hitting banger. Fix! You dksab
