BoxRec

CaptainSpacerod wrote: ↑04 Mar 2021, 20:10 Definitely worth a watch. It was a nice walk down memory lane with some good grainy archive footage. Was that Jim McDonnell shadow boxing in the background while Bruno was being interviewed in the gym above the pub ?

The meeting at the end though manufactured was nice to see and did reveal some genuine warmth between two middle aged guys whose paths crossed many years ago. Interesting to see Tyson’s reaction when Bruno mentioned his first wife - the utterly beguiling Robin Givens who set Mike on the path to self destruction.

In different ways they’re both legends of the game and it’s nice to see them looking well and doing well for themselves.

jameswilson wrote: ↑04 Mar 2021, 20:17
I think Mike respects Frank for having suffered mental health himself, we've seen Mike go off the rails when journalists or interviewers mention some of the more unsavoury parts of Tyson's life.

CaptainSpacerod wrote: ↑04 Mar 2021, 20:10 Definitely worth a watch. It was a nice walk down memory lane with some good grainy archive footage. Was that Jim McDonnell shadow boxing in the background while Bruno was being interviewed in the gym above the pub ?

The meeting at the end though manufactured was nice to see and did reveal some genuine warmth between two middle aged guys whose paths crossed many years ago. Interesting to see Tyson’s reaction when Bruno mentioned his first wife - the utterly beguiling Robin Givens who set Mike on the path to self destruction.

In different ways they’re both legends of the game and it’s nice to see them looking well and doing well for themselves.

bennie wrote: ↑05 Mar 2021, 06:37

CaptainSpacerod wrote: ↑04 Mar 2021, 20:10 Definitely worth a watch. It was a nice walk down memory lane with some good grainy archive footage. Was that Jim McDonnell shadow boxing in the background while Bruno was being interviewed in the gym above the pub ?

The meeting at the end though manufactured was nice to see and did reveal some genuine warmth between two middle aged guys whose paths crossed many years ago. Interesting to see Tyson’s reaction when Bruno mentioned his first wife - the utterly beguiling Robin Givens who set Mike on the path to self destruction.

In different ways they’re both legends of the game and it’s nice to see them looking well and doing well for themselves.

I haven't seen it but it would have been McDonnell at the Royal Oak gym in Canning town, where Terry Lawless trained his illustrious stable of fighters. McDonnell failed in a world title crack under Lawless at the hands of Brian Mitchell and then switched camps to Matchroom and ended the career of Barry McGuigan in four rounds on cuts. McDonnell was smart before the fight when he objected to the appointment of Larry O'Connell as referee. O'Connell had made no secret of his admiration for McGuigan and the Irishman's ability to attack and yet not get hit, so the Board dropped O'Connell for Leeds referee Mickey Vann and Vann promptly waved it off with the fight still up for grabs.
McDonnell went on to challenge the great Azumah Nelson for the WBC super-featherweight title at the Albert Hall in November 1989 and put up a magnificent challenge before he was rescued in the 12th round. Ringsider and Boxing News editor Harry Mullan was scathing of Matchroom's decision to send McDonnell out for the last round and it has to be said that Lawless, for all his greed, would never have sent McDonnell out in the same situation. Lawless never wanted his fighters to get hurt.
The Nelson fight ruined McDonnell, who was badly knocked out by Kenny Vice in a subsequent outing.

stujones wrote: ↑01 Mar 2021, 16:26 I think people forget aside from the one punch, Bruno did alot of holding and hitting in fight 1. There was alot of fear there in the fight also. Whilst Richard Steel was Tysons favourite ref, he was quite right to dock a point in the opener

He was guilty of similar holding and hitting in fight 2....yes even more

jamesmcdonnell wrote: ↑05 Mar 2021, 14:56

bennie wrote: ↑05 Mar 2021, 06:37

CaptainSpacerod wrote: ↑04 Mar 2021, 20:10 Definitely worth a watch. It was a nice walk down memory lane with some good grainy archive footage. Was that Jim McDonnell shadow boxing in the background while Bruno was being interviewed in the gym above the pub ?

The meeting at the end though manufactured was nice to see and did reveal some genuine warmth between two middle aged guys whose paths crossed many years ago. Interesting to see Tyson’s reaction when Bruno mentioned his first wife - the utterly beguiling Robin Givens who set Mike on the path to self destruction.

In different ways they’re both legends of the game and it’s nice to see them looking well and doing well for themselves.

I haven't seen it but it would have been McDonnell at the Royal Oak gym in Canning town, where Terry Lawless trained his illustrious stable of fighters. McDonnell failed in a world title crack under Lawless at the hands of Brian Mitchell and then switched camps to Matchroom and ended the career of Barry McGuigan in four rounds on cuts. McDonnell was smart before the fight when he objected to the appointment of Larry O'Connell as referee. O'Connell had made no secret of his admiration for McGuigan and the Irishman's ability to attack and yet not get hit, so the Board dropped O'Connell for Leeds referee Mickey Vann and Vann promptly waved it off with the fight still up for grabs.
McDonnell went on to challenge the great Azumah Nelson for the WBC super-featherweight title at the Albert Hall in November 1989 and put up a magnificent challenge before he was rescued in the 12th round. Ringsider and Boxing News editor Harry Mullan was scathing of Matchroom's decision to send McDonnell out for the last round and it has to be said that Lawless, for all his greed, would never have sent McDonnell out in the same situation. Lawless never wanted his fighters to get hurt.
The Nelson fight ruined McDonnell, who was badly knocked out by Kenny Vice in a subsequent outing.

Was it the Nelson fight Magri trained him for?

Whichever it was, Magri said McDonnell had to lose a tonne of weight as he got on the scales the morning of the fight and he was several pounds over.

dbf wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021, 07:43 I was dissapointed with this documentary to be honest. The talking heads were never shown, thought it was poorly cobbled together and just a bit boring. Shame really because could have been so much more.

The bit at the end with the two of them meeting up was just awkward.

Love Frank though. Wonder how he would have faired with todays heavyweights?

revporl wrote: ↑03 Mar 2021, 05:08 Yeah it was a bunch of clips without proper context and the narrative/chronology was quite mangled, it was as if nothing at all had happened to them since they sparred when they were young until they fought each other. I don't think Bruno's fight against Witherspoon was mentioned at all. It was all very scattershot and cobbled together I thought.

Jimmy2020 wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021, 12:02 People always forget to mention that Tyson was coached by an old Polish man when he was young. The old man died when one of Tyson's racing pigeons went mental and started stabbing people. If it hadn't been for Charles Atlas putting a gun to the pigeon's head who knows what might have happened. Anyway, Tyson was never the same. Mickey Rooney trained him for a while but things went south when Mike shacked up with Robin Gibb, got high and raped Denzel Washington.

Jimmy2020 wrote: ↑08 Mar 2021, 12:02 People always forget to mention that Tyson was coached by an old Polish man when he was young. The old man died when one of Tyson's racing pigeons went mental and started stabbing people. If it hadn't been for Charles Atlas putting a gun to the pigeon's head who knows what might have happened. Anyway, Tyson was never the same. Mickey Rooney trained him for a while but things went south when Mike shacked up with Robin Gibb, got high and raped Denzel Washington.

rio wrote: ↑11 Mar 2021, 11:16 Random one but anyone know why Bruno and Herbie Hide never fought? They were around the same time and you would think it would have been an easy and huge British fight to make especially when Hide was WBO champion.

Would of been a great fan friendly fight with a guaranteed ko

Jimmy2020 wrote: ↑11 Mar 2021, 11:31

rio wrote: ↑11 Mar 2021, 11:16 Random one but anyone know why Bruno and Herbie Hide never fought? They were around the same time and you would think it would have been an easy and huge British fight to make especially when Hide was WBO champion.

Would of been a great fan friendly fight with a guaranteed ko

Timings were not right. Herbie beat Bentt for the WBO in 94 and got beat by Bowe in 95. He then had to rebuild by which time Frank was retired. Herbie wasn't ready before 94.