Prime Bruno vs. Prime Douglas

on his best night douglas would outbox him but it would be a tough night

 

i dont think it would be an SD i think it would be a close but clear UD to whoever won but i think if douglas wasnt in top form hes getting stopped

 

style fight for me, bruno was susceptable to inside pressure and his only response was to hang on.

buster isnt swarming him, and relaxes behind his jab. i think bruno keeps him at bay with his jab, which makes the fight become a fencing match between the left hands, after a round or 2 of the same thing bruno times a big right cross over james's jab. which would either stop douglas (he was stopped by a clean one shot from evander so it's possible) or wins bruno the round. round after the other the right hands keep landing...a possible tko or a pretty conscious douglas on the floor getting counted out


but douglas could land a uppercut when bruno was reaching for a finish and swarm him to a tko with bruno on his feet

 

Bruno's jab was one of his best tools, that allowed him to fight at HIS pace and dictate fights.

Sadly, Buster had one of the few HW jabs that was more then likely better then his.

Douglas outboxes him and knocks him out late in my opinion. This is using a good version of Douglas, of course. Even if he is chubby, I don't think it would matter. A fat Witherspoon stopped a prime Bruno.

 

Douglas SD.

 

Very interesting match up Charles, hows your sis doing?

Both were excellent jabbers, Douglas has the better technical skills and is more natural boxer, Bruno the bigger hitter, both have stamina question marks.

It would have to be the Douglas that beat Tyson here and I think after Bruno starts fast and builds up a slight lead around the mid-point Douglas's better technical ability tells the toll in the later rounds as Bruno slows and Douglas starts to grow in confidence and stops him late

If the fight happens in 1990 post-Tyson Bruno by KO and maybe early

 

Both were good jabbers, but I think Bruno was better at dealing with jabs coming his way. Bruno out-jabbed a whole host of good to excellent jabbers: Carl Williams and Lennox Lewis are the most famous examples, but most of Bruno's opponents could jab a fair bit (he fought in the 1980s, after all) but no-one could get their jab to work properly against Bruno.

It's hard to out-jab someone who (a) always has a heavy, accurate jab firing at you, (b) has an extremely heavy right hand with which to counter-punch, (c) always holds his right glove in a good position to block, and (d) was hard to put off-balance. Douglas had a ridiculously good jab, but Bruno was ridiculously good at out-jabbing good jabbers.

Add to that Bruno's huge physical strength: Douglas had success in grapping with Mike Tyson (who was very passive in close) but tired himself out wrestling with Tony Tucker in their "fight". Bruno was actually very good at slowly wearing his opponents down if he could tie them up and wrestle when he wanted to rest or tire them out. It's rare to see someone like Lewis meet a stronger man.

As for stamina itself, I think both were pretty poor in this regard. Douglas wore himself out against Tyson and Tucker when there was precious little coming back; in the former case, he was lucky that Mike himself was exhausted after six or seven rounds. Bruno was poor but did score some late victories. In his later years (but when he was still mobile) he scored late stoppages against Carl Williams and the forgotten but tough Pierre Coetzer.

Then there's the power factor. Douglas had some pop in his punches, but he was really an accumulation puncher. Bruno hit VERY hard, of course.

I actually think this is one of the few fights were one could be guaranteed that Bruno would beat a linear champion. Douglas on his night was a very tough opponent for a particular type of boxer, but Bruno isn't that kind of boxer. Douglas, on the other hand, has all the weaknesses (in chin, stamina and power) that one cannot afford against Bruno.

I'd imagine Bruno would stop Douglas via an accumulation of blows or knockdowns around the 9th round.

 

I think it's notable that Bruno improved after the first Tyson fight. That beating could have ruined a boxer (especially one who tended to be as sensitive as Bruno) but Frank came back to be a more skilled, more fluid and more confident boxer after that. I think Bruno reached a peak in 1992-1993, with his performance against Lewis being perhaps his best.

 

I like Frank but i think Douglas in his prime would be too much for him.Buster had a good jab and i think he would be able to keep Frank at arms length and bust him up a bit before wining by late stoppage.

 

He's going to have to keep him a bit further away than arm's length, since Bruno's reach was only an inch less and Bruno was very good at throwing long power shots.

 

Agreed.

 

i agree , he did look more fluid and less statuesque a hulking beast but not a stiff beast.

it's said that he used less weights later in his career and used to concentrate on sparring. maybe a reason why he gained wieght and was much heavier was becuase of this and thus more flexible..i dont know a theory....an earlier bruno couldnt of goen the distance agasint mcCall