That's a very, very interesting one about Bruno....not least because Frank was clearly carefully tutored by the late Mickey Duff, Terry Lawless and Mike Barrett to present a friendly, non-threatening and jovial face to both the fans and media.Would Frank Bruno have been more or less popular in Britain if he'd been a ruthless S.O.A.B. that could knock them over like nine-pins, at the world level, like his nemesis Mike Tyson?
Well you're getting into what makes different fan types here.....he'd have had a lot of respect, but he would have been less popular imho. Like you say, Brits love an oaf that nearly makes it. There's a certain protection that not being too successful brings.
As for Ricky Hatton. He's a phenomenon - of that there is no real doubt. Good for the sport, good for the fans of boxing in this country. Now for the 'but'.....Hatton was perfectly geographically poised to be a big success imo. There was already a bit of a boxing scene around Manchester at that time and Hatton, with his all action style (which is to take away nothing from his considerable ring smartness), his down-to-Earth personality - and not least his willingness to talk about Manchester City a lot, was the perfect storm.
This well-known cartel were savvy enough to know that the UK was ready to get behind a black heavyweight but only with all the rough edges removed and what Frank said and did needed to be tightly controlled. Almost from day one; Frank's career had a strong, rather contrived PR element.
Frank - who had been to a quasi-reformatory before turning pro and was definitely no angel - was so keen to make a go of boxing that he willingly accepted the role given to him by Lawless and Duff. The fact that he could make it work and enjoyed his media appearances on game/talk shows created a far softer, cuddly version of what I believe was the real and genuine Bruno.
I think it was only towards the end of his career - and without Lawless and Duff pulling so many levers - that Frank really found his own personality which was as basically nice guy but who also had a far sharper edge to him as well.
There were certainly glimpses of this earlier when he really took a genuine dislike to Lewis (finding some proper anger) and almost made Lennox pay a heavy price...but it was really the crucial 'last chance' Oliver McCall fight where Frank threw off the shackles of having to be nice and went right at it both outside and inside the ring.
Thinking out aloud...I think if Frank had arrived on the scene 5-6 years later and someone as bold and non-mainstream as Ambrose Mendy had managed his career things would have been very different indeed.
'was Howard Eastman the biggest puncher you ever faced' etc