Does anyone think that Frank Bruno has become underrated?

Well they say that if you scratch a cynic you will find a bruised romantic.

Personaly I look at his body of work and I see a fighter who built his resume by beating up tomatoe cans and lost whenever he stepped up in competition then started the cycle over again.

This makes me wary of picking him in fantasy match ups.

 

Bruno was very carefully managed.Never a natural he had clubbing power and a hard jab ,but froze when tagged.I saw most of his fights leading up to his title challenges ,and some of his opposition was certainly les than stellar.I think he was fortunate to get a version of the title ,but their have been worse CHAMPS.
ps Its per se in the UK ,do you spell it differently in the States , as in colour - color ?

 

His key career wins are over Coetze and McCall.

These are both solid wins but I think they both did him the favour of looking past him.

 

I agree, although his fight with Mcall, he barely barely made it to the final bell. I agree with your first statement. The guy had the stamina of Shannon Briggs, horrible. He was effective in the early rounds and had a decent jab and right hand, but after midfight, he was pretty worthless.
I dont know if anyone has been to a Bruno fight, but his country loves him. I was at Tyson Bruno II and it was one hell of a party, even after Bruno got crushed.

 

For me, he was a good fighter, but Frank was never good enough to beat the elite of his era.
In the era of the early 80's alphabet soup champions I can see him winning a title, but losing it relatively quickly too. Would he have the beating of the likes of Thomas, Tubbs, Page etc?

I'd say he's a better version of Gary Mason basically. Good, just nothing special.

Oh and he was allowed to get away with murder in his fight with Coetzer too. Rabbit punches, low blows, elbows...the lot. Coetzer was too limited to beat Bruno sure, but the continual infractions didn't help his cause.

 

Bruno is underrated and today he would prosper maybe even be no1 HW today. Looking at who he was facing in his prime - Prime Tyson and Prime Lewis. And he gave both of the problems. Vitali gets props for been ahead when he was stopped against a Past Prime Lewis but Bruno was up against a Prime Lewis when he was stopped. He hurt Tyson early. He was inexperienced against Smith and Witherspoon but gave both problems early before tiring

Physically the man is a hell of a specimen, 1 of the best combinations of strength and athleticism at HW ever, he has an excellent effective jab, throws a brutal straight right, serious serious banger when he lands. He did freeze when he got hit and did fade after 6-7 rounds.

He doesnt have the greatest wins ofcourse, but he has some underrated 1s. McCall had just got off KO'ing Lewis and beating Holmes, Bruno smashed him early and put him in a shell and won a hard fought decision past his physical prime. Coetzee was still a decent contender when Bruno put him away in a round. Coetzer was a decent win and he seemed to be as impressive as Bowe against him. Against the journeymen Bruno fought he often put them away much quicker than other top contenders

Head to Head Bruno has the potential to KO some top HWs early.

 

So did Shannon Briggs. I dont think this makes him underated what you are saying, it kind of puts him in perspective as to what he accomplished. He did win the title, barely.:hey I was happy for him, he had a good career.

 

Coetzee wasnt looking past Bruno ,,he came past me to get into the ring ,he jiggled as he walked ,and looked like Arreola ,he was at least 17lbs over his optimum weight,,he came for a pay day and promptly retired for a few years after this fight . Bruno was in the right place at the right time against MCall, and he barely held on against strangely passive Champion who did nothing for most of the fight.
I was as pleased as everyone else ,when Bruno finally hit the jack pot ,but he was never a real class fighter imo.
His best performances were losing ones imo.

 

After he beat McCall everybody was singing eye of the tiger in the streets.

I honestly don't know if any fighter has ever been loved more by the British public since the bareknuckle era.

 

Frank was a great guy, a very human fighter. Maybe too nice sometimes...

 

I think the reception Randy Turpin got after he beat Robinson must have taken some beating