What do fans think about these three bouts and how do they compare? Smith was certainly holding Tyson excessively but what else was going on and how did Bruno look compared to an ageing Holmes against Smith?
As far as Smith in general, you have to say that Bruno crammed an amazing amount of ups and downs into his career. He was almost sort of a Forrest Gump of boxing, in that he cross paths with so many figures of varying historical significance within the sport. Consider that in his first two fights he locked horns with James Broad and Ricky Parkey, and about a dozen fights later he'd fought Frank Bruno, Holmes, and Tony Tubbs. It went on like that for years. As for those three fights, there aren't a lot of commonalities, other than the fact that Smith was durable and had a right hand that was always dangerous. Against Tyson he was terrified of the kayo threat, but against Bruno, who hit nearly as hard, Smith was willing to risk getting clobbered in order to unload his own punches. Smith proved that Holmes had really, seriously slipped. He rocked Holmes multiple times before the cuts stoppage. After Holmes' grip on the title looked so tenuous against Smith, many pegged David Bey, who'd outpointed Greg Page, as a serious threat to lift the crown. Holmes fought brilliantly against Bey, and never looked that good again. He looked ragged again vs. Carl Williams in his next defense.
He did crap against Tyson apart from going the distance . Looked bad against Bruno till the last . He looked quite decent against Holmes but by then Larry wasnt at his best .