Whilst Big Frank is generally regarded with contempt and derision amongst contemporary boxing afficionados, one should remember that, despite being outgunned in his first encounter with, and completely destroyed in the rematch, against mighty Mike, Bruno acquitted himself well against respected foes of his era, including Eklund, Coetzee, Bugner and Ribalta, in losing title fights against Witherspoon (no disgrace in that) and Lewis (he was winning comfortably until he got tagged in the fateful 7th) until finally producing the goods against solid pro McCall to become WBC Champ. His performance against Lewis was possibly his finest, making the highly feted Lewis look decidedly ordinary for the most part, before falling apart in dramatic fashion just after the halfway point. One should also bear in mind the huge popularity enjoyed by the big man during his career, filling stadia like no one had for 20 years before him, and only Hatton has since. For my money, although given his fair share of bums to destroy on the way up, Bruno must be considered amongst the top 20 greatest fighters to hail from the British Isles. Hope that he has now conquered his inner demons and is now at peace with himself.
Bruno was in the gym 7 days a week, 365 days a year. He was always too stiff and muscular, but I'd be surprised if he was 'on anything.' Musclebound? Yes. A cheat? I don't think so....
Bruno was a fairly good/B or B- heavyweight and, from what I've heard, one of the nicest lads around. But apart from his physique, his early winning streak against bums and his win over the pretty one-dimensional Oliver McCall he doesn't have much going for him.
Everyone loves Frank - you cant knock him and it was great when he finally got a title. But he was not an elite fighter and never top 20 British ATG.
I confess, I was never a fan of his myself. However, with hindsight, and even taking into consideration the very careful matchmaking on the way up, you can't take away the fact that he did win a genuine version of the World Heavyweight World Title. He also gave Tyson a decent argument first time around, and had he been a bit less gung ho, may even have beaten Lewis had he defended his suspect whiskers a bit better.. How would you rate him, say, against other British heavyweights, past and present?
I had them cavendish magazine and dvd's when I was young and I could never watch when Tyson beat him (I obviously can now) it used gut me. Bruno is a legend. Supposed to have been a beast in the gym. I saw him at an after dinner speech a few months ago and he was an unintentionally funny *******.
His resume doesn't reflect how good he was. A record of 40-5 is about right..... but in terms of the names on it, pretty poor. The performance against Lewis was easily his best, dare I say it if he had repeated that form he might have stopped McCall. His chin was absolutely fine, stopped on his feet four times, and took a lot of punishment each time before being rescued. It was his survival instincts that let him down.
great bloke, made the most of his limited ability. the heart of a lion but fell short of being world class.
i was a big fan in my youth back in Wales. Bonecrusher was his first loss i think. Hated watching him lose.
Overrated? I used to train at the Peacocks and saw Frank training down there many times. He was one MASSIVE heavyweight. I had my photo taken with him at a doo i was at in East London once and his head was twice the size of mine and his hands were like Shaq's. Bruno could crack thats real. His record proves it. Bruno wasnt much of a smart fighter but over rated power? No ****ing way. I saw that man train. He had VERY heavy hands.
Frank Bruno fought a good fight, but lets be real...he did'nt make Lennox Lewis look ordinary..you are being abit over the top here..!!!
He wasn't that bad. He was a big, strong, heavy-handed HW with a nice jab. He was giving Lewis problems until he got caught with that left hook, gave Spoon a good fight, put up a respectable performance against Tyson the first time around. I'd consider him a middle-of-the-road contender, fortunate to win a belt since there's more titles out there and his popularity enabled him to get many chances.
for all his faults he always tried and he never backed out of fighting the big guns no one's sayin he is a future hall of famer or one of the ATG's but he knew his limitations and yet still took the challenges infront of him you gotta tip your hat to him for that,and it seems he is one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet in your life i am 26 years old and have followed boxing since a were a kid and i have never ever heard anyone say anything bad about frank bruno.EVER.
