Frank Bruno vs Jess Willard

Bruno was seen as something of a national embarrassment in Britain latterly.

He smashed tomato cans, lost whenever he stepped up, while fighting his heart out of course, and then went back to destroying tomato cans.

Yes he eventually beat Oliver McCall, but perhaps he was lucky to get McCall, when he was a drug addict with a penchant for attacking Christmas trees?

He was a nice guy, but not somebody who would have beaten Willard!

 

Had Willard arrived in an era of actual athletes like the 90's he would be Bronco Billy Wright... at the very best.

 

He was the only super heavyweight in history, who had any sot of stamina!

Unless you include Carnera of course!

 

How do you know when the modern types weren't given the privilege of going 25 rounds?

He had two fights over 12 rounds. One was filmed, one was not. Have you counted the punches thrown in the one that was filmed? It's not very impressive. He also quit twice on his stool but no one wants to mention that.

 

I understand the point about the smaller gloves, but he would also need to be aware his hand had less protection, thus his clubbing power may have been limited by wearing the gloves. Also he would need to have improved his wrestling skills and probably needed to lose a couple of stone. As excellent as his conditioning always was, he would have more chance coming in at 220 than 245.

 

If Bruno doesn't get him out by around the 10 th, then watch Willard start to take over and stop a tired out Frank.

 

Agree to extent, although the gloves of the era must have been protective enough to allow Dempsey and Walker to throw some quite wild punches

 

When was Willard pressured by a full-sized heavy with Bruno's tools? It's not as hard to play the long game when your opponent doesn't have the ability or assets to force the issue along the way.

Yes, Bruno was an egg that could be cracked. I just don't think Willard is quite a Bonecrusher, and certainly not a Lewis or Witherspoon.

 

Where are you getting this from? Bruno has always been popular with the British public and has never been seen as a national embarrassment. I can’t think of a more popular British title winner than when he finally won a heavyweight title at his fourth attempt. His well documented breakdowns and mental problems leading at one point to him been sectioned under the mental health act has only endeared him even more to the British public.

 

Because they seem to struggle enough with twelve!

Pray tell?

He was right to quit against Dempsey.

If I had been in his corner, I would have thrown the towel in the first round!

 

I get this information from having lived through his career.

Yes Bruno was adored by the British public, but in a lovable looser/heroic British failure sort of way.

Nobody thought that he was particularly good!

Since then his career has been subject to some frankly bizarre revisionism.

A new generation of boxing fans obsessed with physical dimensions, are building him into some sort of head to head monster, because he matches their idea of what a heavyweight should look like.

The odd thing is that a lot of these people are not even British!

 

You talking about here?

 

Yes.

Bruno should be remembered as a nice man, who picked up a strap against the odds.

He was never quite on the level of the 80s belt holders, and he sure as hell wasn't anything more than that.