Frank Bruno in retrospect

Syntax Error · Post by **Syntax Error** » 06 May 2005, 12:12

I've read a lot of opinions about Big Frank since he quit the sport & just felt that some of his detractors were wrong in their assessments about him.

One of the most common critiscisms about him, is that he can't take a punch!

I'm in complete disagreement with this. I happen to believe that Bruno had a very good chin. He took thunderous punches from Witherspoon, Tyson & Lewis for example.

I believe that Frank's biggest problem was his stamina, the fact that he was too muscular & painfully slow. He didn't know how to react when under serious pressure, hence he would drop his hands & allow his opponent to take pot shots at him, that would eventually lead to the ref having to stop the fight.

If you look at his losses, they were all TKO's when he was tired & he was never involved in a fight where he suffered multiple knockdowns.

J · Post by J » 06 May 2005, 12:14

if i can beg to differ a little, Frank didnt have that valuable and unteachable comodity INSTINCT.

he didnt know when he was in tourble and how to get out of it, he could also be the same when he was on the offence.

you cant teach instinct on a lesser level Matt Skelton has it in abundance, Mike Sprott doesnt.

Frank Bruno didnt have it at the highest level that killer instinct you know.

shame really cos he would have been right up there at present, Vit aside he would have a decent chance with any of the other guys and maybe even with Klit.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 06 May 2005, 12:49

I would say it was a little of both. Inevitably as the fight wore on, he would tire, and his jab would lose it's snap, and the arms would come down. The problem though, as J rightly said, was he wasn't an instinctive fighter, he was very robotic, and fearsome when he could tee off, but when he was hit and hurt, he just didn't know what to do to survive. He would take shot after shot after shot, just standing there with his arms by his side, when a smarter fighter would have grabbed on for dear life, and done whatever they needed to do buy time. He also couldn't really fight in retreat, so used up bags of energy being the aggressor.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 06 May 2005, 19:01

I think the fact he was SO protected in his career (to get the world title fights) he never could really do himself justice. I mean, he never proved himself the best in the country but was fighting for world honours left, right and centre.

The only non-world title fight that I didn't back Bruno (and I was never a fan and never convinced he was the real deal) was in the fight that never happend vs Mercer. If Bruno would have won that, then I think he would have got ALOT more respect from me.

But his best wins came against an aging Carl Williams, and overated Coetzee (spelling) and people even think the Bugner win was good.

The fact he gave great champions some problems surely indicates he was an okay fighter - but I would have liked him to have proven that vs fringe contendors more often.

Although, compare his record to that of Herbie Hide then he looks like Tito Trindidad.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 06 May 2005, 19:21

Mercer would have been a bad fight for Bruno, around that time Mercer was still pretty tasty.

I think if Frank might have spent time in the US it would have been good for him, he had the tools alright, that jab (in the first 9 minutes) was like the KO shot of other Heavyweights. He absolutely battered Mcall for the first couple of rounds, never seen anyone do that to the atomic bull.

jab · Post by **jab** » 06 May 2005, 19:25

He was too easily intimidated by Tyson. Both times he lost every single round. the second times he was crossing, kneeling and preying like he was going to get slaughtered. Which he did in fact in 3 rounds of battering.

He was doing well against Lennox though, right until the sledge hammer right connected viciously. He was leading until then and I thought he may outpoint Lewis. Brono was too weak mentally.

I dont think he would have made it today. Vitali would have blasted him worse than Lewis and Byrd would have outpointed him the same way he did to McCline. He may have beaten Golota, unless the Polish hammer would have had one of his usual melt downs. Same with Wlad.

I think he was too bulked up in the gym. Excelent psysique, but this is not body building and that kind of body doesnt win without the fighting spirit which he had little of.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 06 May 2005, 19:25

Mercer would have been a nightmare opponent, and his backers did right to steer him away, even a 42 year old mercer took a hell of a beating off of Wlad before being stopped. Mercer also had a cracking jab of his own

Bruno had a terrific jab, one of the best, he would just keep it pumping out and it really hurt opponents. He also had a great right cross, and a mind numbing uppercut, but the problem he always had against the better operators was they could see it all coming because the pattern was always the same. Frank was either unable to be fluent, I don't know if that was natural, or whether it was because of lack of the right fights in his career, but at top level he kept getting found out because he was so predictable.

even so, Bruno was an overachiever and I've got quite a lot of respect for that, he wasn't the bum he is often portrayed as, and could never ever live up to the massive pressure on him as the poster boy of british boxing.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 06 May 2005, 20:06

Goz wrote:Mercer would have been a bad fight for Bruno, around that time Mercer was still pretty tasty.

I think if Frank might have spent time in the US it would have been good for him, he had the tools alright, that jab (in the first 9 minutes) was like the KO shot of other Heavyweights. He absolutely battered Mcall for the first couple of rounds, never seen anyone do that to the atomic bull.

Henry Akinwande did, for the first 5 round McCall made Akinwande look like the best heavyweight in the world (including Lewis) and even Larry Holmes beat him (IMO).

McCall is easily beatable even when he was mentally right, up untill the Lewis shock everytime he stepped up he lost.

The only geniunally significantly, non-fluky, win he has was vs Akinwande.

McCall was tailor made for Bruno as he didn't have a clue how to get inside a jab without getting lucky. It was sheer frustration that he couldn't get past the jab in the rematch with Lewis that led him to his breakdown. I have always believed that McCall was A1 mentally vs Bruno either.