Frank Bruno vs. George Foreman in 1991

I fully understand we're talking old Foreman. You ask about rated fighters that old Foreman KO'd, but can you name me 1 'live' fighter that Bruno KO'd?? And dont talk about Foreman cherrypicking fights, Bruno was the biggest culprit of it, at least Foreman was late30s/early 40s when done it, Bruno done it his entire career and any half decent fighter he fought he failed to go the distance with. I agree Bruno had a decent jab, but so did Foreman. As for power comparison's...well frankly there is none. Bruno falls to pieces when hurt, hasnt the smarts to go on 1 knee to take a count or to hold on plus its not in Franks make-up to box on the retreat. He'll be standing right in front of Foreman which ,even tho older, would be meat and drink to him. Just my opinion:good

 

WBA #1 contender gerrie coetzee.

Frank had faults but only great fighters exposed them, the kind of fighters foreman would not face. Frank would have relished moorer and taken holyfeild over lewis if he had the choice like george did.:good

 

Fat declining Witherspoon and Bonecrusher were not great fighters.

Bruno only lost to Tyson and Lewis in the 90s..because well he only fought Tyson and Lewis in the 90s. He was managed that way, protected and padded for paydays after the Spoon and Smith meltdowns.

Outboxing McCall for an alphabet title was his best win, not saying much. Coetzee was overweight and done by the time of the Bruno fight, he got the alphabet ranking after a little inactivity and beating the irrrelevant James Tillis..who was coming off a loss to Marvis Frazier. And people think alphabet contenders today are bad.

Old Foreman got ouboxed by Tommy Morrison so who knows how this mess would turn out. Just saying it didn't take a Tyson or Lewis to expose Bruno. He wasn't the Quarry of the 90s, cleaning up the top 10 and only getting stopped by the elite..far ****ing from it.

 

If you take the credentials of all the contenders who chalenged for titles during the time bruno was you will find Bruno did as much and certainly no less than any of them. who did tony tucker ever beat to get a poke at a vacant title? how about berbick, thomas, tubbs, phill jackson, razor ruddock, jesse ferguson, vaugn bean, frans botha, bert cooper, axel schultz, micheal bent, herbie hide and tommy morrison?? how many #1 contenders did they ever beat?

At the time frank fought coetzee (who was bigger than frank) gerrie in his last 4 fights had faced 3 world champions and was 1-1-1 against them and coming off a win over a good tillis who 2 fights later won at least 4 rounds agianst Tyson. gerrie was still as good as any heavyweight in the world that year- 1985, he even had a draw against thomas who was regarded as the best.

I am not a bruno nut hugger but lets be fair, Foreman got a shot at holyfeild for beating Terry ****in anderson!!

 

Doesnt matter. Styles make fights, and while Bruno could box well for half of a fight can you imagine him surviving like he did against Mcall over 12 rounds against Foreman? No way. Bruno just didnt have the style defensively to make it the distance against a puncher like Foreman. He couldnt move like Morrison. Hell he couldnt move like Shannon Briggs.

 

But Bruno was a better fighter than alex stewart. why could foreman not knock out stewart? why did george avoid big rated heavyweights? Bruno beat big rated heavyweights, old foreman never did. axel schultz couldnt move any better than frank and he won their fight, he just didnt get the decision over george.

look, we need to draw a line under the fact foreman did not and could not knock out rated career heavyweights anymore. his comeback proves this. george knew it too.

 

Stewart showed great survival skills in that fight. Foreman had him in a lot of trouble and Stewart somehow managed to slip and duck his way out of trouble. I have to doubt whether Bruno could do the same.

?? Bruno fought about the same level opponents as old Foreman did.

He knocked out guys like Pierre Coetzer (more convincingly than Bowe or Bruno did), Adilson Rodrigues, Michael Moorer.
Bruno didn't KO anyone better than that.

 

-Based off what exactly? Getting KOed by Page, taking a year off, gaining a bunch of weight and outpointing Tillis(who was losing every fight at this time in the same fashion because of his so called milk allergy)? 85 had low standards but not that low. What did this amount to anyway, but Bruno crumbling against the same fat lethargic Witherspoon who Smith would blow out in a single round?

-He had a draw against Thomas over 2 years ago and over 10 lbs lighter

-Anyway, my objection is to your only great figihters could beat Bruno claim. Bruno would have to prove his worth against at the very least good fighters for that to be true, he never did. He KOed wash ups and bottom feeders, lost to two not very good ranked fighters, KOed more wash ups and bottom feeders, than lost to two greats..

In addition to coming up short against greats, I see nothing to suggest that Bruno couldn't lose to a good or even half way decent fighter, because he did. And its not like Bruno ever improved after his 80s disappointments, all of his losing efforts followed the same formula, didn't matter if it was Lennox Lewis or James Smith.

 

Bruno could never move like Stewart. The main point in this discussion is mobility and footwork and Bruno fought like a statue. It didnt take much to beat George, but Bruno didnt have it. Again I think Bruno is well ahead on the cards and get stopped late becaue of fatigue.

 

Bruno spent his whole career fighting the level of opposition old Foreman gets critcised for fighting. And EVERY time Bruno stepped up, he was knocked out. So I'm not sure what choklab's point is there.

On the other hand, the points about Stewart and Briggs are good. They weren't exactly "movers" either. Stewart especially was a stiff statue-like heavyweight, not very dissimilar to Bruno.

 

Stewart and Briggs still could get up on their toes and move a lot more than Bruno ever could, especially in 1991 when Bruno was getting thicker and stiffer.

Later in his career Briggs was pretty comparable to Bruno when he got up in the 240-250 range. Briggs was 227 when he fought Foreman, 260 plus when he fought late in his career.

 

I agree.
I would expect Foreman to win anyway.

Stewart did well because he'd land three or four hard shots and then move, even if it wasn't fluid or fast movement. I think Bruno's problem would be getting stuck in and trying to capitalize too much on any success. Foreman would beat him at his own game.

 

One thing is for sure, the snail pressure and telegraphed shots that Fat Spoon finally caught the fatigued Bruno with wasn't that much faster than what old Foreman could muster.

 

Coetzee was washed up and over for a payday, nothing more, as proved by the fact he didnt have another fight til near the mid-90s, and as for only great fighters exposing him...i just dont know how to answer that

But its all about opinions after all

 

that fight was a war. Fat spoon was landing those shots only when they were both worn down late in the fight. Holmes shipped the same punch from norton. foreman shipped a lot of those same right hands from big foot martin also. bottom line is witherspoon brought more to the table than comeback george foreman who never took on anyone like witherspoon.

Bruno was not an ATG but he beats all the guys foreman beats and loses to all the guys Bruno lost to.