BoxRec

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.

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.

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.

Frank still has an edge to him now. I found him very stand offish, a bit rude, really. Did his speech, took his cash, went home. Say what you want about Hatton, he looked pleased to be there, had a few pints and an Indian, and hung about far longer than he had to. Got Collins and Brook coming over soon. I'm going to feed my pals questions to Collins about Roy Jones, wind him up.

'was Howard Eastman the biggest puncher you ever faced' etc

mickey1975 wrote:Frank still has an edge to him now. I found him very stand offish, a bit rude, really. Did his speech, took his cash, went home. Say what you want about Hatton, he looked pleased to be there, had a few pints and an Indian, and hung about far longer than he had to. Got Collins and Brook coming over soon. I'm going to feed my pals questions to Collins about Roy Jones, wind him up.

I remember that TV programm where he lodged at a couples' pub for a week. He came across a right moody barsttard. Saying that though, this was right before he got put in a hospital so I'll give him a pass.

Counter-puncher wrote: 'was Howard Eastman the biggest puncher you ever faced' etc

I will. They're all Rugby League players, they don't have a clue about boxing, they'll trust my boxing knowledge.

Bodyshot3 wrote:

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.

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.

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.


Could you say the same about Joshua?

Eddy wrote:

I remember that TV programm where he lodged at a couples' pub for a week. He came across a right moody barsttard. Saying that though, this was right before he got put in a hospital so I'll give him a pass.

I remember that series.

Also, they had Jeremy Beadle on one week. And I thought; "Bet this guy's a pudendum." He came across quite well.