BoxRec

now, i'm not saying that frank bruno would have got up and won the fight. of course he wouldnt. but i reckon that lane stopped the fight without giving frank a count because the ref got so fed up with bruno's holding that he stopped it to suit his own needs. and because of that he should not have done. bruno was champion and whether he was scared or not he outta have been given a count.

NB; i'm quite sure frank was glad that he didnt get one

From memory, I recall that Bruno was out, sitting on the bottom rope as Tyson tee'd off. It would have been ugly if allowed to continue, the only result would have been more clean shots on an open target, Bruno being held up by the ropes that way, who knows how many punches he would have taken in that position. I say good stoppage, well timed.

Lane sometimes did do some questionable calls in fights, but this was not one of them.

frank was on the bottom rope, yes, but ive just watched it again and i think lane's opinion was "i'm tired of asking this guy to break, i'll just stop the fight and that'll be an easier nights work for me" thats NOT a reason to stop a fight. he should have stepped back, counted over bruno and left the matter for frank to decide if he wanted to beat the count or stand up. in my view bruno was not so badly hurt that he couldnt beat a count of 10. i'm normally an advocate of quick stoppage decisions over too late ones (i'm a big softy) but not this one.

and i reckon georgie francis would agree with me

Considering Bruno got a detached retina in the fight, Lane made the right call.

with misterpunch sitting on the lower ropes and his eye in a bad way - an unspoken agreement between him and the referee is met drawing a close to the fight and this thread

Bruno had made it clear from the 2nd round on he was not interested in trying to win the fight. Add that Bruno was badly hurt and looking glassy, and there was nothing wrong with the call. Bruno didn't protest the stoppage at all; if he didn't why are you?

misterpunch wrote:with misterpunch sitting on the lower ropes and his eye in a bad way - an unspoken agreement between him and the referee is met drawing a close to the fight and this thread

Before you close it, could you change the ref's name? He isn't Miles.

sorry, even though I was a Frank fan all the way through, he was a "rabbit caught in the headlights". The continual holding was his only defensive option, as he literally froze.
Mills did the right thing. Might have saved him from worse than he got.

HomicideHenry wrote:Considering Bruno got a detached retina in the fight, Lane made the right call.

Frank admits in his biography that he went into the fight with a detached retina from the McCall fight. He implies that he was only there for the money and did not think he could win anyway. He'd had his defining moment and now it was time to cash in and go. How many time did he bless himself on the way to the ring? I think he would have been happy if Mills Lane stopped it before the bell for the first round rang.

well dempsey - you misunderstood the premise of the thread. i'm not saying bruno should have got up and i'm not complaining about the fact that it was stopped. what i am complaining about is that MILLS lane stopped it for the wrong reason; not because frank could not get up (although bruno was wise to stay down) but because lane had had enough trying to separate him from tyson and wanted an easy night...thats why he didnt count over him.

on another tip, did you hear george francis trying to get some fight into frank between rounds? another theory of mine is that franks issues after he packed up boxing had alot to do with how he conducted himself in that fight.

witherspoon wrote:From memory, I recall that Bruno was out, sitting on the bottom rope as Tyson tee'd off. It would have been ugly if allowed to continue, the only result would have been more clean shots on an open target, Bruno being held up by the ropes that way, who knows how many punches he would have taken in that position. I say good stoppage, well timed.

Ketchel wrote:

HomicideHenry wrote:Considering Bruno got a detached retina in the fight, Lane made the right call.

Frank admits in his biography that he went into the fight with a detached retina from the McCall fight. He implies that he was only there for the money and did not think he could win anyway. He'd had his defining moment and now it was time to cash in and go. How many time did he bless himself on the way to the ring? I think he would have been happy if Mills Lane stopped it before the bell for the first round rang.

Hmmm, that's the exact opposite in every way of how he describes his fight in his 1996 autobiog 'From Zero To Hero'.

The first one I tend to believe is a much more honest account. That second one... maybe Kevin Mitchell wrote it.

In fairness, Tyson, Lewis, Bonecrusher and the 'Spoon did render most people defenseless once they landed a bomb square on the chops.

loaded_gloves wrote:In fairness, Tyson, Lewis, Bonecrusher and the 'Spoon did render most people defenseless once they landed a bomb square on the chops.