Sam Peter vs. Frank Bruno

A case can be made that Witherspoon is the 3rd best HW in the 80s after Tyson and Holmes.

Bruno had decent management but it not his fault that McCall beat Lewis for the title.

I can't imagine that Frank's management would have hesitated to put him in against Lewis for a second time especially if there was a belt on the line.

 

Bruno has massive flaws as we all know, but more often than not Peter would be too mediocre and technically inept to take advantage of them.

He's hardly a busy stamina laden workhorse of a heavyweight and Bruno could look very efficient against the similarly slow lesser technical talents of heavyweight boxing.

 

Even if Wlad does hit as hard as Bruno, Wlad wasn't sitting down on his punches like Bruno would. He was looking to move, jab and grab. When he did put his power behind his punches, he hurt Peter a lot.

As for Vitali, he also wasn't looking to KO Peter and was coming off a very long lay-off. Even then, Peter was forced into a shell by Vitali's arm punches.

If Peter had the defensive skills to stay out of trouble against Bruno, I might give him a shot, but he doesn't.

 

Personally I thought Peter had a lot of potential coming up the ranks. He had power and good speed, and his chin wasnt bad when he was in shape.
The knock on him in the gyms was that he was very lazy. He had two world class trainers who left him because of it. He just didnt want to work hard, and maybe now he understand this. Hes with a pretty good trainer now in Abel Sanchez, so it could be an interesting fight if he fights with some heart. He seems to be in very good condition this time around, so I expect a good fight.

 

-He was sporadic by 86, 15 pounds overweight and one fight away from being KOed out of relevance by Smith. Though he would remain a top 10 mainstay as Tyson cleaned out everyone else.

-Can't blame him for fighting McCall but your missing my overall point. The only ranked fighters Bruno was matched against in a decade of activity: Tyson, Lewis, and McCall. Only the most high reward fights, otherwise he was kept away from live contenders that could jeporadize his chances at these huge cashouts, not unlike many of the contenders of today.

 

Just the fact he was bombed out by both Spoon and Smith is proof Peter would be a live dog. Peter can punch pretty good. Bruno did not respond well to getting hit hard. He froze on the ropes.

 

I think we are seeing eye to eye on this one. :good

If anything, Peter is willing to walk into flush punishment all night while loading up for the homerun punch. Someone like this is going to be a very live threat to a proven poor closer like Bruno.