Bruno v McCall

Yeah I agree when it comes to how his community saw it, he kind of got pulled into that mainstream lifestyle and lost that connection a bit. Those adverts and appearances probably didn't go down too well and he did play the buffoon a lot more later on. He wasn't the Ali like figure they probably hoped for but he just seemed like an ordinary guy that couldn't believe his luck and went into the fame.

 

That was great rivalry and it was nice that frank made a good account of himself cause I was worried for him that fight, I saw a Ruddock type humiliation. It obviously didn't go great ultimately but at least frank had Lennox looking terrible at times. To this day it annoys me that Lennox still doesn't seem to give Bruno much credit for that fight. But you are totally right that they each had what the other wanted. Funnily enough I think frank won in that way, he surprised people with his skill whereas Lennox still wasn't loved that much by the British public lol

 

They weren't anywhere near as popular with whitey though were they...That's the crux of it imo...Not his pantomime act

 

Well, I guess part of the ill-feeling was that Bruno was MORE popular than others and 'in demand' precisely because he appeared as a bit of a sell-out/buffoon.

But I disagree with your assumption. I doubt it was just being accepted/popular that caused resentment. I mean, of course you're always going to hate some "haters" like that but generally it was Bruno's silly persona that rubbed some black people the wrong way. Shirley Bassey and Trevor McDonald were popular with whitey and the establishment. I doubt many young black people bothered to have issues with them, but apparently with Bruno a number of them did.
Bob Marley's popular with whitey ! As is Muhammad Ali, and always was in England. I don't think any black people thought perhaps that meant Marley and Ali were Uncle Toms too.
It was Bruno's public persona, really.

 

For the record, I think those people were probably being a bit unfair to Bruno.
It's hard for boxers, most who come from the lower ends of society, to navigate a suitable image with the public. They are caught between appearing as brutal criminal thugs or as fake/clown/sell-outs .... and that applies to them whatever colour, community or race they are identified as.
Can't please everyone.

 

Thats the thing isn't it, as said in your previous post a lot of it is down to Bruno being himself, he seemed to like the joking around and looking a bit silly which not everyone was going to appreciate. It was probably just the way he was rather than playing an act to become as mainstream as possible. Did he really have any strong political views that would make him aware of how he was coming across is the question. At the end of the day he was just a boxer the public took to in his mind, race probably didnt come into it. he probably didn't see the harm in doing a few ads and making some cash out of it, after all didn't Ali do some? Mind you I don't think he would have done one like this!

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Let's face it, Bruno was funny as hell ....

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This is priceless

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I think Frank wished he was back in the ring with Tyson at that point. I nearly coughed up a kidney watching that, "oh sugar" lol