Frank Bruno - just how good was he?

etc.
et al.

 

Bruno was good but he was stiff in his attack though making up for it with good technique and incredible power his biggest faults were his stamina and mental game which both go hand and hand. He was a very good fighter but not great by any means. I'd pick him to beat most contenders but because of his poor stamina and being weak mentally I'd give almost any decent fighter a chance of beating him especially in the later rounds and there are pretty much no great champions who I'd favor Bruno beating though I feel he had the ability to give pretty much any fighter a good fight.

 

Well unforgiven, your definition of "Not very good" still ain't that bad. I recon Bruno is better than those dudes or at least deserves to start Favorite over Seldon, bent and co..

 

He might be "quite good" or "okay" or "decent". He might be "good" with some qualifiers. He's not "very good" or "very, very good". Those are a notch or two below "great", and I don't think he's anywhere near great.

The best things anyone says about him always seems to involve several fights he lost, by brutal stoppage.

 

Elite jab and punching power. Average chin just froze up when hurt,
could not survive. Great fighter imo, mops up the floor with today's
division, Wlad included.

 

brutal stoppage by all time great fighters at their best.

Ok Bruno did not beat enough decent world level fighters to be regarded great but he gave great fighters great fights… albeit on the way to brutal stoppage. Lol.

Outside of great fighters I think that brunos fate would be in-store for all the other good fighters who fought prime Lewis or prime Tyson! Remember tubbs, Holmes, Thomas, Spinks were all creamed woRse than Bruno was against Tyson. Even Old man Lewis stoped vitali klitschko, younger Lewis (who struggled with frank) would have wiped the floor with vitali.

If a fighter was good enough to get past 7 rounds with Frank there was a good chance they would beat him, but the point is they had to be good to last that long.

Riddick Bowe never got to fight prime Tyson or prime Lewis and a lot of people would expect the result of such matchmaking in both fights to be a brutal stoppage loss for Bowe. Difference was Bowe did get to fight and beat Holyfeild so that makes him a great fighter even though Riddick lost to him too.

It does not help his legacy that bruno missed out on Moorer, tubbs, hide and Bent but he ended up getting Witherspoon, prime Tyson and prime Lewis.

 

Pretty well discussed here ... he had terrific size and strength, a very good jab and huge power ... ok speed but not great ... he had stamina issues and of course froze up .. he got creamed by Smith after winning almost every mite of the fight till round ten .. when hit he froze and was clobbered .. he was clearly winning against Witherspoon but faded and was stopped late again .. put aside Tyson who was a whole other animal ... He was giving Lewis a very tough fight before getting caught lat and freezing up ... that being said, Lewis and Tyson are two of the five best all time heavyweights and three of his career five losses ..

 

I liked him but fighting bums in between his big fights did not help him, neither did the long layoffs.

He did as good as he could have against Tyson in 1989. He did rock Tyson early on. He did very well vs. Bonecrusher Smith and Tim Witherspoon before being stopped in the late rounds in each fight. I though he was going to pull off a win vs. Lennox Lewis until the 7th round. All stoppage losses.

I was happy when he finally got a world title belt by beating McCall W12.

His last fight was a big payday and little more.

He'd do very well today vs. the fighters not named Klitschko. Bruno vs. Haye would be a good fight. Hayes speed would be a problem. Fury and Wilder would be interesting.

 

Bruno was tight in the ring, very stiff. It is hard to be a real good fighter if you aren't loose.

 

Frank Bruno epitomises hard work and dedication, over NATURAL ability. Fair play to him for finally getting his World Title Belt, in ( I think ) his 4th attempt.

A limited, but completely dedicated fighter.

 

Frank had nothing wrong with that Jab or straight right hand Bazooka or indeed the left hook to the Body. but they seemed to manifest themseles as separate entities, as opposed to flowing parts of a whole package, The problem was that Frank was not an intuitive or quick thinker in the ring more a programmed robot steeped in the Lawless "Work off the Jab Credo" against moderately paced, less enthusiastic opposition, their was no problem, but with resiliant ambitious and yes talented opposition cracks could appear.

Frank could apparently do a brisk 20 rounds in sparring so fit was he, but under top class combat conditions, Frank shouldered the burden of having the hopes and aspirations of a nation on his shoulders, and the pressure used to drain him mentally, who could forget how fit he was and how shabby a shape witherspoon was in , but Tim, despite all his problems with management could relax in the ring and not deplete his energy mentally, the Fat man outlasted the Adonis...

Part of the Jigsaw was missing and it may not of been purely physical...Frank didnt want to let the Nation down and that could be very draining for him.

 

I liked Frank and remember his early fights. He was dedicated, brave and powerful, but he was not a "natural". He always looked tense and as you say lacked the natural instincts of a Holyfield or Holmes. He fell prey to Lewis when he went in for the kill because Lewis wasn't ready to go, yet hesitated when he rocked Tyson!

That said, he gave Lewis, Smith and Tyson (in their first fight) plenty to think about. He fought well against Witherspoon for a long time before Tim got to him and Frank hammered Tillis, too. I would rate Bruno as a pretty good heavyweight who would fall short against the best in most eras. I don't see him beating even the likes of Mike Weaver or Pinklon Thomas and he would likely fail against the Klitschko's, too.

I think he would be far too much for the likes of Fury and Chisora and would have a 50-50 shot at David Haye.

 

He certainly looked the part but that was probably where some of his problems were. I don't know if he did too much weights but he certainly wouldn't look out of place in a bodybuilding contest. It must have contributed to his suspect stamina the longer the fight went on. It was kinda weird seeing the fairly flabby Witherspoon coming on strong in the later rounds in their title fight while the mighty muscled Bruno was tiring badly. Chin wise I never thought that Bruno was as bad as some people said. I don't think he was ever KOed with one punch but he just never seem to know what to do when he was caught, especially if it happened in the latter rounds when he was tiring. As for his power though, he must be right up with the best. Didn't have the fastest hands but they were heavy hands whether it be the jab, right hand or left hook. He would have beaten all the current brits though I agree that among them Hayes would have had the best chance against him because he certainly had the edge in speed.

 

Very interesting post. Well done. :good

 

Another good post. :good