Prime..BERBICK V BRUNO

Having seen most of Bruno's fights I consider him run of the mill.

 

I'm sure I read they sparred sometime in the 80's.

 

I never suggested he wasn't. In fact, in an earlier post, I pointed out specifically that Bruno wasn't an outstanding heavyweight. This has never been about how good Bruno was but rather about how lousy Berbick was.

 

What leads you to this prediction? Berbick was durable and had good stamina, he's only ever been stopped inside two rounds in his entire career.

Bruno doesn't have any late stoppage wins of note, save the ancient Bunger.

Given Bruno's stamina problems, his best shot is an early stoppage of Berbick.

 

Remember he survived McCall to win the title.

 

Yeah, he managed to hold the very limited McCall off for 12 rounds to win his only title.

But were talking about Bruno scoring a late stoppage over a guy that was never stopped late once in his entire career.

 

Berbick takes quite a few of Bruno's jabs and rights until Frank gasses out.

Trevor stops Frank around the tenth round or so.

 

And he was hanging on for grim death at the end.

 

Someone would whisper to Frank that it was a big fight, and he'd mentally collapse.

 

Probably.

Especially if they could get Frank to take his act on the road. I'd really like to see Bruno fight the guy in Toronto--and not comfy London--and see if Frank can be the road warrior that comes out with a W.

I think Bruno has a chance in the UK, but not much on a nuetral site and even less in the other guy's backyard.

The big things with Berbick are the 3000 trainers he went through. There's always a story behind that. And he went and fought the absolute stupidest fight humanly possible against young Tyson. He went toe to toe and Trevor was never never a hitter of any kind. He needs lots of rounds to grind a guy down.

If he fights smart like that, the 2nd half of the fight is going to be very tough for Frank. but maybe the fans cheering, if the fight was in the UK, and Trevor tries to outslug him. Cuts or swelling or he could get hurt and the ref jumps in.

Berbick needs to fight like Berbick and not Jack Dempsey and he could win this one going away from most likely the betting favorite. But that Bruno career was definately carefully guided and this was a guy to avoid for not a big payday.

 

This.

Frank was an outstanding heavyweight he just was not an ATG. Over six rounds with no pressure on him you had to be an ATG to beat bruno. His record proves this.

Was berbick an ATG? I don't think so. A rough handfull yes, in a big fight he could trouble Frank but not if it wasn't. Bruno hit harder than Mercardo and against common Tyson opponents Frank often finished them quicker.

 

What has six rounds to do with it? Neither Smith or Witherspoon were great fighters , let alone ATG's.

 

they were closer to it than Cleveland big cat Williams!

You will proberbly agree with me in that Frank was less potent the longer a fight went? Over 6 rounds he was quite something. After that? much less so.

Frank was very good against Bugner and Tillis in my view. were you ringside for those? for British boxing you would be hard pushed to have seen a better heavyweight live from ringside? Bruno got a bit too big toward the end but the truth Williams and pierre coetzer wins were as good as anything the top guys could produce in that period.

 

I didn't go to the Bugner fight , I thought it was a foregone conclusion.Bugner actually put on weight in "training".

My first live viewing of a domestic heavyweight was
Cooper v Mildenberger.

Bruno was a fine domestic fighter, but not really much more imo, he got guys at the right time because he was very well managed.

 

Amen.


Very very well managed. How many other heavies can we really say that about? Most tend to be mis-managed.

I know this sounds funny, but another Berbick fight I wanted to see was him in there with Cooney. I like the chances of "clever Trevor" to maybe get the decision win, but it wouldn't be easy. But I always thought of cooney as a guy that was going to be taken out to the deep waters and drowned. And I definately think there were others jsut as capable as Larry Holmes of doing just that to the guy.

Cooney is not held in the greatest esteem today, but can you imagine the damage of a Berbick loss during his inactivity added to his resume?