As a young fighter, do you think he would do well against the current British heavies..?
I say he would. I think the Bruno who gave Lennox 6 hard rounds would probably clean up all the British fighters we have at the minute.
Williams - Probably the toughest but I would put my money on Frank
Hide - One of Frank's decent right hands would KO Herbie I feel
Sprott - Frank would catch him late on after being given the run around for a few rounds
Harrison - Frank would KTFO (translated..knock the f*cker out)
Francis - No contest, Frank every day of the week
Skelton - Not so sure....would be close
Long - TKO rd 2
Holden - Same
Was always a big fan of big Frank and did find my loyalties compromised when he fought Mike both times being a boyhood fan of Tyson as well.
I think he was a credit to British boxing and is missed today..
Of course, a former fringe world class heavyweight is going to demolish the current crop of British fighters - only Williams could realistically make a case for beating Frank.
Much better to wonder, if you must, whether Frank would have been a player in todays' world elite.
I could see him beating Ruiz and Brewster but getting knocked out late by Vitaly, Golota etc. And he'd never catch up with Byrd.
The Bruno who tired towards the end against Witherspoon would not only clean up against the domestic fighters ( inc IMHO Williams ) but would also be a strong contender in the current HW scene
Bruno is much maligned for his statuesque physique and style, but he was a classy fighter when he hit his groove and had a ramrod jab and a sold heart. People question his chin, but it took a lot of punches to put him down in every case
He would beat Vlad, Brewster, The current version of Holy and Ruiz no question. He would lose to Vitali, I think.
MightyWarrior wrote:.........He'd still be knocking out an endless procession of stiffs at the Royal Albert Hall - probably 40-0 with 25 WBU defences behind him.
I disagree never been a huge bruno fan Im afraid,not as a fighter nor particularly as person, he portrays himslef as big cuddly frank and the Brit public bought it.
Anyway enough of that, not here for acharacter asassination, he was decent enough but lived off stiffs for the most part of his career. first time he fought anyone decent was Bonecrusher and he got beat to fornicate.
In fact Macall aside who as on the slide then (drugs etc etc), everytime he mixed it in decent top class he got done.
Yes he was as good as the guy out there today but still a very manufactured fighter, exactly the same things that you all rant on about with Hatton, Bruno did the same.
Strange how time tints those sunglasses rose coloured huh!, now Im sure there are guys out there who are gonna get pissed at me for saying this but thats what I think.
No comments on Bruno as a person. Don't know him and any one of us could be accused of presenting the brighter side of our personalities
He LOST to Bonecrusher, but was ahead on points ( if memory serves ) and ran out of gas ( same old story )
No rose tinted glasses. He was a decent, fringe world class, fighter who would have done better amongst the stiffs of today than he did against the HW of his own generation
He never beat anybody but McCall, who hadn[t done a days training for the fight unless you count sniffing persil as training.
And even then if there had been a 13th round - Bruno would have been caught.
However, the best version of Bruno (first five rounds v Lewis, 10 roudns v Witherspoon and 10 rounds v Smith) would have beaten some of the chumps out there now.
Thats not revisionist thinking, thats just a damning endictment of the current heavyweight scene.
I'm in two minds myself, I agree J, his resume was replete with the living dead, and he was very cleverly moved indeed. The seeds of his destruction were shown when for the first time he got in with an experienced fighter who could bang in Jumbo Cummings. Bruno was in la-la land and only the bell saved him from a certain stoppage.
However, Bruno did have boxing ability, he was giving Lennox Lewis a boxing lesson in their fight before he got stopped, and was beating Witherspoon too before he got whacked out. His major flaw was a seeming lack of survival instinct, or perhaps inability to function physically or mentally when hurt. He did have a better chin than people give him credit for, because he had to be hammered relentlessly, and always ended up being rescued by the ref rather than knocked spark out. I guess his powers of recovery weren't that great either.
It's significant that he was stopped by every decent fighter he met, and in todays climate I think his problems against punchers would be no different. Vitali would definetly have stopped him, Brewster is at least as good as Jumbo Cummings, so would have a chance. Anyone who can take a decent shot and bang back would always have had a chance against Bruno. Byrd would have run rings around Bruno clearly. Bruno would have had a shot at beating someone like Wlad, as he doesn't carry a shot too well himself.
Danny Williams v Bruno would be fairly evenly pitched I would have thought. You would have to say that Bruno would have had a fair chance of stopping the Tyson that Danny faced, after all he hurt a peak Tyson, I do wonder about whether or not he would have managed to follow it up like Danny did however. Remember how many shots he missed with after hurting Tyson, he sort of panicked and just went crazy throwing wild shots which gave Tyson time to recover.
Bruno would have been as much on the fringes today as he was then, the only difference is that now some of the champions are no more than fringe contenders who were in the right place at the right time themselves, like Brewster. The heavyweight division is in transition right now, and is very very weak, but Bruno's flaws were exploited by guys who weren't leagues apart from our current crop of contenders. Witherspoon was a talented but lazy fighter in what should have been his prime, and was whacked out in 1 by Bonecrusher, who also did our Frank.
In any era, no matter which one you pick, I think there would have been someone with a good punch to take Frank out.
Jedi Knight wrote:Williams - Probably the toughest but I would put my money on Frank
Hide - One of Frank's decent right hands would KO Herbie I feel
Sprott - Frank would catch him late on after being given the run around for a few rounds
Harrison - Frank would KTFO (translated..knock the f*cker out)
Francis - No contest, Frank every day of the week
Skelton - Not so sure....would be close
Long - TKO rd 2
Holden - Same
Bruno at his Vs...
Williams - Close fight both simular size and strength and both can be hurst by a World class punch. Bruno had the better jab and skills but William is a little more of a nautral fighter. I edge towards Bruno on a late win.
Hide - They both have the power to hurt each other and Hides speed and movment may cause Bruno some problem as it did Bowe. Hide could win this but feel Bruno would.
Sprott - Bruno wins TKO4
Harrison - Did Bruno ever fight a southpaw? I think Harrison may have the style and smarts to give Bruno a lot of problems. Hard to call untill we see Harrison in with a World class fighter. Time will tell, but Audey is a big lad himself and may well of had the beating of Bruno.
Francis - Bruno wins TKO4
Skelton - Another hard one to call untill we see Skelton in with the top boys. Skelton is a big strong determined fighter who seems to have reasonable stamina. He may well have pushed/bullied Bruno very close.
jamesmcdonnell wrote:I'm in two minds myself, I agree J, his resume was replete with the living dead, and he was very cleverly moved indeed. The seeds of his destruction were shown when for the first time he got in with an experienced fighter who could bang in Jumbo Cummings. Bruno was in la-la land and only the bell saved him from a certain stoppage.
However, Bruno did have boxing ability, he was giving Lennox Lewis a boxing lesson in their fight before he got stopped, and was beating Witherspoon too before he got whacked out. His major flaw was a seeming lack of survival instinct, or perhaps inability to function physically or mentally when hurt. He did have a better chin than people give him credit for, because he had to be hammered relentlessly, and always ended up being rescued by the ref rather than knocked spark out. I guess his powers of recovery weren't that great either.
It's significant that he was stopped by every decent fighter he met, and in todays climate I think his problems against punchers would be no different. Vitali would definetly have stopped him, Brewster is at least as good as Jumbo Cummings, so would have a chance. Anyone who can take a decent shot and bang back would always have had a chance against Bruno. Byrd would have run rings around Bruno clearly. Bruno would have had a shot at beating someone like Wlad, as he doesn't carry a shot too well himself.
Danny Williams v Bruno would be fairly evenly pitched I would have thought. You would have to say that Bruno would have had a fair chance of stopping the Tyson that Danny faced, after all he hurt a peak Tyson, I do wonder about whether or not he would have managed to follow it up like Danny did however. Remember how many shots he missed with after hurting Tyson, he sort of panicked and just went crazy throwing wild shots which gave Tyson time to recover.
Bruno would have been as much on the fringes today as he was then, the only difference is that now some of the champions are no more than fringe contenders who were in the right place at the right time themselves, like Brewster. The heavyweight division is in transition right now, and is very very weak, but Bruno's flaws were exploited by guys who weren't leagues apart from our current crop of contenders. Witherspoon was a talented but lazy fighter in what should have been his prime, and was whacked out in 1 by Bonecrusher, who also did our Frank.
In any era, no matter which one you pick, I think there would have been someone with a good punch to take Frank out.
Excellent post. I agree with your analysis. Bruno was a decent heavyweight who could pull off a decent win, but was vulnerable with stamina and his ability to survive, thus picking him over top heavies is hard.
He was big, strong, had a good jab, could box (was out boxing Lewis, Witherspoon, and Bonecrusher), and hit very hard, but had bad stamina and survival instincts when hurt.
I think James and Mighty Warrior have written too fantastic points.
Whilst Bruno achieved the highest accilade in this sport, as Mighty Warrior noted for much of his career he was put in with fighters who may have even lost to Audley Harrison' opponents.
Bruno and Herbie Hide both have very padded records and in truth did really do enough to warrant any title fight let alone 4 and 2 shots (winning shots) respectively.
Bruno had his gallant defeats and his finest hour, but lets be honest he momentarily rocked a Mike Tyson who was in bad shape mentally and coming off a layoff. I take my hat off to win for his effort against Lewis, that did surprise me. However, it was a very inexperienced Lewis who was perhaps a little over-confident.
Even when he won the title, he was fighting McCall who was such a loose cannon and who came very close to losing to 45 year old Larry Holmes in his 1st defence.
I think there there are still alot of questions unanswered about Bruno that makes this task almost impossible to answer. What would he be like going into the later stages of a fight vs an ambitions fighter without the technical ability of a Lewis and a Tyson. The only times he done that was in the early part of his career (with mixed results) and you could say that wasn't a prime Bruno. I think McCall was mixed up mentally in that fight and he certainly didn't carry much ambition.
I would say the Bruno of 1993 would lie somewhere in the lower reaches of the current top ten. He would beat some of the fighters in there (Sanders, Brewster and maybe even Byrd - who looks shot). However, most of the others would beat him - Vitali's stamina maybe suspect, but better than Franks, Ruiz would find someway and Golota would beat him.
Domestically, I would favour this new Danny Williams - Bruno may have rocked a peak Tyson, but Danny flattend a faded Tyson in a fashion no-one (including Lewis) has done. Tyson has never a lost a fight that he was clearly wining before the stoppage untill now, we have applauded Danny for the effort - but rightfully so. We are all saying Tyson was shot, while I agree- it was still the best I have seen him in years and I think had he fought Ruiz, Brewster or Byrd that night would have regained the belt.
I don't think Bruno has the power to KO Williams and wheras I think Williams has and will get to him before the final bell.
All the rest of the domestic heavyweight I would favour Bruno easily.
