In January 1988 with Mike Tyson vs no 1 ranked contender Frank Bruno on the cards, HBO, who were financing Tyson, requested that Bruno beat a recognisable name before receiving his title shot. (American audiences had only seen Bruno twice, against Bonecrusher Smith and Tim Witherspoon, both of whom knocked him out.) A fight at Wembley against Jose Ribalta was mooted for March 88 but obviously never occured, and Bruno ultimately sat out all of 1988. (Ribalta similarly sat out most of the year bar one blow out of a tomato can.)
I was wondering if anyone knew why this fight fell through? I used to own Bruno's From Zero to Hero which had a very handy fight-by-fight account of his career and detailed numerous fights that fell through (Evangelista, Page, Berbick) but there was no mention of this complaint from HBO or a fight with Ribalta in the 1980s.
I'm guessing neither team fancied risking their vulnerable charge while the prospect of a lucrative Tyson payday was within touching distance but wondered if there was anymore to it than that. The handlers of Quick Tillis should have probably looked after the Fighting Cowboy in a similar fashion tbh; after his Tyson performance I'd have kept him ticking over with knockover jobs until the inevitable rematch came along.
Question regarding Frank Bruno vs Jose Ribalta
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Riddick Bowie
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Re: Question regarding Frank Bruno vs Jose Ribalta
Nor is there a mention in Bruno's 1992 book Eye of the Tiger, which also has a detailed fight-by-fight account of his career.Riddick Bowie wrote: ↑29 Aug 2025, 06:53 I used to own Bruno's From Zero to Hero which had a very handy fight-by-fight account of his career and detailed numerous fights that fell through (Evangelista, Page, Berbick) but there was no mention of this complaint from HBO or a fight with Ribalta in the 1980s.
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Controversial
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Re: Question regarding Frank Bruno vs Jose Ribalta
No idea, I assume Bruno’s team didn’t want to risk him losing and blowing his title chance, Bruno ended up fighting Tyson in Feb 1989. I’m pretty sure Bruno was due to fight Tyson in Sept 1988 but it was postponed several times by Tyson’s team so I guess that’s why Bruno ended up not fighting that year.