Twenty years (!) to the day after Liston-Ali I, Bruno-Tyson II. This first video is actually from the first fight despite being labelled for the second, but it is a superb primer: This content is protected Very cool footage of Bruno and Tyson in the above, love the gloves Bruno favoured before he hit it big, not sure what Harry and Des, both legends of the UK screen, are doing in a pretend casino, probably because they were in Vegas for the fight. Anyway, I hadn't seen a couple of those Bruno KOs and was glad to see them. It was very cool to see them - also cool to see Harry take us through the history of these two, start to finish, it was the sort of thing he excelled at. Seeing Mike this young, speaking with this intensity is kind of sad. Some cool training footage. Brief clips of the press conferences, showing how difficult Bruno found it all in those confrontations and then some yap previewing the weigh in. There's an in-between Tyson interview and some analysis form Al Bernstein, who was somehow old in 96 and is still somehow old: This content is protected American weigh in reporting, a bit more on how hard Bruno found the behaviour of Tyson's entourage: This content is protected British Sky. "I don't know anything about that." I like Mike a lot in these chats. Includes the weigh-in. This content is protected Wild. I forgot how gingoistic the English coverage could be - also, interviewing Frank's PE teacher!? A detailed look at Bruno including some Lawless chat and that "spiritual message". This content is protected The insanely detailed two hour preview from Sky Sports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDVyBSE2iwQ&ab_channel=UltimateMikeTyson Highlights of the final hour of the Showdown broadcast and the fight (and Tommy Gunn being introduced post-diagnosis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_istXbMv0Qk&ab_channel=UltimateMikeTyson What a huge fight this was in the UK, and the Tyson show, of course, in the USA.
I remember some people thought Bruno would last longer the second time around. A small minority of fans even thought he could beat him. I myself believed it would be a better fight than it actually turned out to be.
There was 25-years, to the day, between Ali vs Liston 1 and Tyson vs Bruno 1. Great video building up to the first fight, that has triggered feelings of nostalgia in me. Boxing was a little more prevalent in the UK's public consciousness back then, at a time success at world level in the HW division was alien to us. It's difficult to describe how hyped Tyson vs Bruno was in the UK.
I have that PPV on DVD and watched it not too long ago. I remember Martin-Gogarty stole the show that night. You could tell Bruno was intimidated by Tyson this time around and who could blame him. Post-Prison Tyson was a scary individual.
I was so excited for that fight. I got to sit ringside near Rich Marotta and Hank Goldberg. The atmosphere was incredible, and the fight was everything we had hoped for. Tyson was starting to actually look like he was close to regaining pre-prison form. The undercards were pretty good too. Keith Holmes scored an uncharacteristic (but awesome) knockout of Quincy Taylor, and early in the afternoon, Bernard Hopkins almost knocked Joe Lipsey onto my lap. I even hung with Charlie Sheen for a bit. It was a really great day for a Tyson fan like myself.
I have a season ticket for football games and I sit near the pitch. I've been to some world title fights sat ringside, it is honestly incredible, its weirdly unlike anything - amazing. As much as I love the Saudi cards, it will be next to impossible to be ringside there haha - but most importantly we are getting the big fights now. If AJ V Fury is in the UK, I'd love to try and get some really good tickets for it.
I've always maintained Tyson was there for the taking. Goodness knows what demons Frank was dealing with back then, but the Bruno from the first fight would have likely beaten Mike that night. He simply didn't look himself, lamb to the slaughter springs to mind and that's one thing Frank never was. So much time for big Frank, the way the British media turned on him was inexcusable if all so predictable.
I taped the build up to Tyson v Bruno 1 with Harry and Des, had it for years. Loved the build up to the first fight,it was genuinely exciting. The story s coming out about Tyson, Big Frank looking in great shape, we were all dreaming of the greatest upset ever. The opening round even now gets the juices flowing, usual Tyson attack and Frank catching him. Bruno did him self proud. By the time of the rematch poor Frank had changed, so had Tyson but we just weren't aware of it at the time. Nothing has come close imo to the excitement of a prime Tyson fight.
