Dillian Whyte v Frank Bruno

As much as I love Chisora he was a fringe contender at his best and a gate keeper at his worst, I don't think you can really use Chisora as a name to clearly distinct Whyte's opposition vs Bruno's. Chisora was coming off a loss to Pulev in fight 1 and coming off a loss to Kabayel and a come from behind win over Takam for fight 2. His form hadn't been great and many at the time thought he was past his best.

Parker is no doubt Whyte's best win but that version of Parker was only slightly better than Chisora. Whyte's fought some tough competitive fights and has better opposition than most contenders currently on his resume but that's a reflection of this mediocre era more than anything.

Bruno beat McCall who I think was better than Chisora and was a champion like Parker though McCall beat Lewis, former champ Holmes, Damiani, Ferguson, future champ Seldon and Akinwande. I'd argue McCall is a better win than Parker and so a better win than anything on Whyte's resume. Plus Bruno did this at the tail end of his career when he clearly past his prime.

 

A - I agree but not by much. Most just think of Bruno as a jab and a right hand because that's usually all he needed but he had a decent left hook off the jab too that he threw nicely to head and body and of course that was the punch that wobbled Tyson.

8 - He's taller and heavier but not really bigger. Yes Whyte is usually 10-15lbs heavier than Bruno but Whyte carries a lot more body fat. Bruno has probably never been over 8% body fat in his life the man even now is shredded. With the same body fat as Whyte he'd probably weight the same as Whyte. In terms of strength we don't know who is stronger and I don't think it would really matter if they fought as neither are really physical inside fighters.

I think Bruno is a bit more mobile than Whyte but not enough for it to factor into the fight, Whyte is pretty static and wouldn't really make Bruno need to move as he fights from range but does so usually standing right in front of his opponent for most of the fight. That suits Bruno who's ramrod jab would disrupt Whtye from range.

C - Whyte can soak up Bruno's power! You're dreaming, Bruno had good power, his weaker hand wobbled prime Tyson, if Bruno lands Whyte's getting pole axed, face first into the canvas. At worst Bruno hits as hard as Rivas, he hits harder than Parker for sure. Chisora had him badly hurt more than once in fight 1 and Bruno hits way, way harder than Chisora. Now of course if Whyte landed that left hook then Bruno freezes and is stopped himself by Whyte's follow up barrage.

 

Bruno was out on his feet against crack user McCall in the last round, much like Whyte vs Parker. I'd argue the new Andy Lee model Parker wins that fight. On paper stopping Povetkin is Whyte's best win even though the guy was a ghost of himself due to age and covid.

 

Yes, he needed to do the drills over and over, you make it sound as if D`Amato didn`t teach Tyson a vast amount, he was so basic v Bruno it was alarming, he looked bad in that fight, why can`t you see that?

 

Parker has much quicker hands than McCall did, McCall was awful v Bruno, he hardly landed a punch.

 

Bruno`s feet were slow as hell.

 

That shot to hell version of Povetkin would lose to Parker. Povetkin was a shadow of his former self in both fights and was ravaged by Covid in the 2nd fight which saw him in hospitalised he was so ill and was suffering from long covid. Povetkin said when he trained he felt drunk it clearly had an impact on Povetkin.

 

Bruno did have slow feet but Whyte has awfully terrible movement and foot work himself.

 

I don't see the comparison really. Bruno was way better than Whyte. He gave Lewis a very good fight, Whyte would have been KO'd very quickly vs Lewis.

 

Dave Allen would probably beat that Covidtkin but on paper he was still Povetkin if several years over the hill.

 

Good points Bomber. I would only argue that the McCall that Frank squeaked past had been at a non stop party for three months and was on his way to rehab.

 

A - yeah I mean, personally.. I’ve seen Whyte mix it
Up a lot with his punches in that he always had a good left and good body shots. Not many heavies go to the body enough. And he has really developed his jab and cross. He varies his jab a lot with speed and power and doubling it up to score points and disrupt his opponents rythm and you see him using it a lot.

His cross has come along very well given that he rocked two guys in Rivas and Chisora who are more powerfully built than Tyson with just as thick necks and durable chins. And he did it early on... Rivas round 2 and Chisora rematch round 1 had them badly rocked.

B. I am willing to concede on this, that overall they are probably similar on muscle mass. Whyte is usually lean and in good shape when at 247 pounds. Bear in mind that everyone looks different at the same bodyfat levels. For Whyte 247 is lean, for Bruno he is shredded in the 230s. But Whyte is a physically strong guy. Not everyone same size will be same strength. It worked in Whytes favour when he manhandled Parker in the ring. And it helps against guys like Chisora who like to make things physical. So whyte had two inside fights against Chisora where the physical strength was needed and shows how Usyk struggled against Chisora more than he did against AJ.

C. I know Bruno hits hard, but I’ve seen Whyte take and absorb hundreds of hard vicious maliciuous punches from AJ for 7 rounds before getting caught by an uppercut. And not enough people give him credit for that. AJ was more motivated there than against anyone else in terms of landing bis power punches, from round 1 he had his toungue out like a Lion ready to eat. Same thing against Chisora, who has a punch on him when it lands, he took a highly motivated chisora that really wanted to destroy Whyte given all the previous presser antics and bad blood.

Whyte is more durable than people think, he got caught by clean solid explosive uppercuts because his foot positioning is terrible. So he is getting caught by punches a lot of other boxers tend to avoid who would otherwise have been KOd with. I see Whytes weaknesses and he has made adjustments... I just dont see Bruno with the finess or the explosiveness to land the same uppercut AJ and Povetkin landed. Which were sweet shots.

Anyways, it would be a good match up... what Whyte brings to the table alongside power... is his variety of punches in breaking sown Bruno with jab, body shots, cross and left hook which many of Brunos opponents did not employ to the same degree. We dont see Mike Tyson jabbing as much and its a potent tool in keeping the opposition at bay and disrupting their ability to launch their own combinations.

 

No Lewis was really bad in that fight and went on to get sparked by McCall, Steward straightened out his flaws.

 

Bruno boxed McCall`s ears off. McCall hardly landed a punch untill Bruno gassed towards the end of that fight. Malcolm Bulner 113 - 115
Ray Solis 111 - 117
Newton Campos 111 - 117

 

Bruno was clutching for dear life in the last two rounds.