Let's say Bruno gets past Bonecrusher Smith how would Bruno have fared vs Holmes round about this time ? Bruno was a bit green but he still had a good jab and a powerful right hand which Holmes could be vulnerable to. Holmes was also slipping at this point in his career and hadn't really had a standout performance in quite sometime. I see Holmes stopping Bruno late on but I think Bruno could give Holmes so scares along the way and maybe even drop him with the right hand.
Holmes in a ud don’t really see Bruno giving Holmes much trouble plus I think Holmes would be in better shape for the fight say compared to the first Spinks fight.
Larry lost to Oliver McCall a year later so bearing that in mind i would not discount Frank.Genuine 50/50 fight for me
Holmes would win but this would be a decent fight at that point and a good learning experience for Frank Bruno. A part of me wished that Bruno had beaten smith so this type of a fight might have happened.
Thanks for correcting my mistake. The old eyes aint what they used to be . Certainly ten years earlier Holmes would be the choice
With hindsight Bruno would've been Holmes's most dangerous opponent since Witherspoon. It's funny even though Bonecrusher beat Bruno I think Bruno would've gave Holmes a better contest.
Agreed. Bruno had an excellent jab, right cross, better conditioning and was younger. Bruno was leading comfortably against smith before he got caught in that barrage. Terry Lawless should have told him to play it safe in that last round. Frank Bruno was a guy who I really would have liked to see have more success. As it stands he still had a “ decent “ career.
Be a good bout Bruno vs Holmes in 1984. Holmes would definitely win inside the distance but Holmes would have to taste a few Bruno right hands and jabs along the way.
Bruno was by most accounts a superior fighter to Bonecrusher, but he had a hard time holding on when hurt, and could lose himself in the later rounds. You see it against Smith, Witherspoon, and Lewis.
This is a questionable fight. Larry is great, but the timing in 1984 when Frank was coming up and Larry was in my mind slipping and fighting guys like Bey. I think Larry edges a very very tough fight. He edged the Witherspoon fight in 1983 so he would probably edge this one, although Frank to me was stronger than Tim, just not as good.
I followed Brunos career in real time and he was a big strong lad , always super fit , but very limited boxing skills. He was either knocking over ( very) low ranked opponents or one or 2 names who came for the payday or he was losing at the highest level. The problem with Frank's career was there was no in between where he could maybe learn to fashion a win against a good but not top class opponent. He had qualities and was a trier , but I always thought he was well marketed and got more chances at the top level than his limited talent deserved. If Holmes takes the preparation seriously this should be Holmes comfortably on points or late stoppage as Bruno could unravel under late pressure once his best efforts had gone.
I thought his best asset was his connections! I thought him vastly overrated and his career was carefully managed to maximum effect. For a guy that was around for plenty of years and had many high profile fights , his list of good / very good wins is very thin. I'm struggling to think of many. An old Bugner, Coetzee who came for a payday , a badly faded Carl Williams and a McCall who'd seen better days. I can't recall a genuinely good win against a good fighter who was in their prime ?
