The smallest man you could pick to beat Frank Bruno?

Rocky Marciano or Joe Frazier .......

 

I have the BBC version of Bruno-Witherspoon. Big Frank was doing well, then suddenly came apart at the seams.

Tyson-Bruno I. The BBC's Harry Carpenter after Bruno wobbled Tyson with a right hand "get in there Frank". Rather biased. Saying that, Carpenter and Bruno were buddies. He could have held back a bit over the mic right enough.

 

Chris Byrd At His Peak Would Beat Bruno

 

Pretty good choice, I dont think he was mentioned.

But Marciano being the "smaller guy" than Byrd IMO would be the Guy I pick to beat Frank.

 

Well it was the UK call for the UK people. Our callers used to get right behind Fenech, and we loved it lol. Consider the magnitude of what the Brits and Bruno were trying to achieve, Brit heavyweight champs were few and far between and i can well understand the excitement. The whole country was right behind the lad.

 

This is actually a very interesting question, when you think about it.

Bruno was an interesting fighter. He was as good as anyone, particularly any big fighter. His problem was his chin (or was it his stamina)? I would have to look at some tapes again, though i am interested what others on here think.

In most ways, you would expect bruno to obliterrate smaller fighers, as he generally only lost because of his chin. If the smaller guys cant hit as hard, it is unlikely they could outbox Bruno and if they cant take a punch, they will get kod.

You would expect the likes of Tunney, Marciano, Charles and Walcott to win comfortably because of the class factor, but i am not so sure, no one really outclassed Bruno (possible exception of Tyson) and they would not really have the power to trouble Bruno like the slow but big hitting heavys that beat him did. Although admittedly there is no guarantee.

Giving it much thought, i think that if i were gambling on a fighter to beat him at the lowest weight (given that lowest weight wins) i would be going with Fitzsimmons. A virtual middleweight, but one who was cagey enough and powerful enough to set him up and take advantage of his poor chin. Though i admit that Fitz would be a huge upset it is a winnable. Other than that, to go lower you would need a defensive maestro and hope that Bruno gasses, as opposed to having a poor chin, unlikely but possible i guess. Maybe a Willy Pep would be the person at the juiciest chance who gets the upset.

One thing is for sure, it sure would be interesting to see World class middles and light heavys (not also rans and alphabet title holders) step up and fight some of the super heavys, especially those who were not the very best of their era. I am confident that there would be quite a few upsets (both ways) if they still fought different divisions regularly.

by the way, i know i got carried away with the willy pep reference but i cant think of someone with that style and class but just a little bit bigger right at this point in time (any suggestions)

 

Anyone trying to box on the outside, of significantly smaller stature than Bruno, say Tunney - who would try and be in and out of distance, duck the jab and hammer with the left hook etc would really struggle. Bruno had enormous reach, was never troubled by a body shot (that I recall) and had a very well employed, heavy jab. At distance, he was mechanical but disciplined, chin tucked in and he had that booming right to bring over.

Of course, a smaller, shorter target wouldn't have been Bruno's ideal opponent. He lacked the agility to vary his shots too much but I just cannot see tiny guys beating him or avoiding the howitzer left, left - RIGHT for the duration.

He would have been far more confident for 180-200 pound guys too.

I'd say the smallest guy who could have beaten Bruno is probably Marciano, who had the engine, style and crack to unseat Bruno from his ponderous long game. Frank was terrible on the inside. I think Johnny Nelson would have beaten him too, he had the style to avoid Bruno's shots, counter effectively and the seasoning to out-think Bruno.

And no, despite weight often being over-rated as an asset, I can't see Roy Jones at 175 pounds beating him.

 

Armstrong, Greb and Walcott might all beat the big stiff by intelligent fast swarming him.

Langford knocks him out Tyson style.

 

I believe I'd be temped to take the CAMDEN BUZZSAW as the lightest man I would have some reasonable confidence in. Bruno is no chump but he doesn't have the greatest chin, he doesn't fight well inside and doesn't have superb stamina - those things Dwight has truckloads of. I think he really made his name as a LH and the version that dismanteled Matthew Saud Muhammed is the one I would like to take here.

Dwight Qawi is a swarming aggressor and it took guys like Holyfield (he also lost a SD to Holy) and Foreman to set him up and take him out. I do not believe Big Frank is quite on a level with them - Power - yes, delivery system - no...

Just to throw another LH name in the pot how about a 1936 (peak?) version of John Henry Lewis?
won 94 (KO 54) + lost 8 (KO 1) + drawn 5
Only stopped once and that by Joe Louis (no disgrace) in his last fight - most of his other losses are to Jim Braddock and Maxie Rosenbloom (who he just couldn't seem to catch) he wouldn't have to chase Frank Bruno - LOL.

Would anyone be willing to take a chance on Julian Jackson - I'm tempted but it seems a little too far to stretch even his mighty right hand.

 

Talk about overboard..

When people are legitimately picking guys like Bob Fitzsimmons, Julian Jackson (yes Julian Jackson) and other middleweights and LHWs to beat Frank Bruno it goes to show how grossly underrated that Frank has become.

 

I think someone like Billy Conn would have a good chance of beating Bruno.:good

 

I think Frank is seriously being underrated I'm a big Armstrong and Barbados Joe Walcott fan but if Frank fought them he would probably kill them. And Greb would get destroyed he never fought anyone as big and powerful as Frank. The smallest person I could see defeating him is Dempsey as good as Marciano was his defence was poor and he'd be eating Bruno's jab all night and nobody can afford to do that. Maybe Marciano could pull a late KO but I could see Frank knocking out Rock out mid rounds or winning on a cut his jab made.

 

I agree Bruno is getting shortchanged, some need to go back and watch his early career fights me feels.

 

Frank Bruno's resume consists mainly of hype and HP sauce adverts.

A lot of great fighters under 175 would have a good chance against him.