Is Frank Bruno given enough credit by true boxing fans?

Let's look at big franks record, which personally I think looks rather impressive. This is a man whose chin may have deserted him at times but was competitive in virtually all his fights barring the second Tyson fight where he got destroyed. Surely there can be no shame in being hammered by an all time great in Mike Tyson.

Most observers had big Frank ahead on points before losing to both bonecrusher smith and Lennox Lewis. If Lewis is an all time great, surely giving him a hard night as frank did deserves credit. As does beating Oliver Mcall who beat Lewis. He even scored a knockdown against a prime Mike Tyson.

I'm not claiming big Frank would have beaten the likes of Bowe or Evander Holyfield but I do think he would have given anyone a hard night on his day. He had a solid jab and decent power. It just frustrates me when I read boxing know alls try to make out that Frank wasn't that good and better off in pantomime. It's like the know alls want to demolish Frank to prove they are not the dreaded casual fan.

But he mixed it with the best in a great era for heavyweight boxing. He won some, lost some but was nearly always competitive. A level below the greats, but not by much and certainly one to be respected by all. Rant over. So do any of the boxing know alls on here agree?

It looks better in hindsight (compared to most of the dross that came after him). I think most people respect Bruno. The only time he didn't show up for a fight was the Tyson rematch (which was a shame). He was a good heavyweight - a level below the very best. Great jab, excellent power and always turned up in shape trying to win.

Well I'm no boxing know all, but my take on frank is... He was stiff and awkward moving but the jab was great and he could certainly punch. Ultimately let down by lack of natural fighting instincts  when hurt... And stamina issues from lumping all that muscle around. These were probably more of an issue than his chin.

As said, the only risible performance was Tyson 2. This was a past his best Tyson, and frank had given a decent account of himself against a much better version (got off the floor and shook him up in a cracking first round)... But obviously carried the mental scars of the defeat into the second fight. He looked terrified.

I think Witherspoon probably showed that a quality heavy would  always have Frank's number. I think in general he gets his dues on here. Seen as a decent contender, dangerous opponent but probably a bit lucky to get a belt... but by no means a joke fighter.

Wlad was made for Frank..............Wlad is a straightline fighter with no chin and Frank punched straight....

"A quality heavy would always have Frank's number ??.........

Let's not forget Witherspoon upset Larry in his 13th fight (Bollox to the cards)..........and was probably one of the most underrated heavies of alltime......

I think Witherspoon beats Holyfield and gives Tyson nightmares (If he's in shape)............Forget the second Bonecrusher fight he already said he threw that so he wouldn't have to fight for King again and I believe him........Got seven times less for the Bruno fight than Frank did !! and ended up with 35g' for Larry when Scott Frank got 150 a fight later..

Just because Witherspoon outlasted Frank saying any quality heavy beats Frank is bizarre even for you.. ....Different fighters have different skill sets...

How dare Starling beat Honey after losing to Curry...

I think his personality and mental problems lead to him becoming underrated rather than his boxing. I would favour him to beat Klitschko or Fury.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Wlad was made for Frank..............Wlad is a straightline fighter with no chin and Frank punched straight....

"A quality heavy would always have Frank's number ??.........

Let's not forget Witherspoon upset Larry in his 13th fight (Bollox to the cards)..........and was probably one of the most underrated heavies of alltime......

I think Witherspoon beats Holyfield and gives Tyson nightmares (If he's in shape)............Forget the second Bonecrusher fight he already said he threw that so he wouldn't have to fight for King again and I believe him........Got seven times less for the Bruno fight than Frank did !!  and ended up with 35g' for Larry when Scott Frank got 150 a fight later..

Just because Witherspoon outlasted Frank saying any quality heavy beats Frank is bizarre even for you.. ....Different fighters have different skill sets...

How dare Starling beat Honey after losing to Curry...

off your high horse trussy, I don't need a lecture on styles making fights . Accept it was lazy phrasing though... by quality I meant any decent champion. Frank had some honourable defeats but who did he actually beat?  Oliver McCall. Not that McCall couldn;t be a handful when in the mood, but he was a drug addict.  With that exception, frank was saved by the ref whenever he stepped up in class. At the elite level, a piston ramming jab for 6 rounds isn't generally enough.

Always rated the spoon, Frank was awkward for him early, but the end game looked clear from half way. Spoon holy would have been a very interesting fight and I always fancied him to be the one guy who might cause Tyson trouble. So no argument there.

I think Bruno generally does get his dues on here, Bonecrusher aside, he only lost to world class fighters and whatever you think of McCall you cant really fault Bruno's performance that night. When we look at the HW scene of the last 5 years how many of the top 20 do we see beating Bruno? How many hit harder? Very few in my opinion.

I was always a big supporter of Frank. Granted he played up to his "friendly, lovable guy" persona, but once in the ring he usually despatched his opponent with particularly violent force. There weren't many who hit harder than Bruno and he also had that unusually long reach with a very good jab. He had heart and would not go down easily, which was probably his biggest downfall. When he was tagged, his senses deserted him and he tended to stay upright like a dazed statue, usually forcing the referee's intervention rather than be knocked on the floor.

Most of his beaten opponents did not see the final bell, and to criticise Frank as being immobile is showing a bit of disrespect to the big guy. When he fought Tyson in '89, he did at least give it a good go, despite being a heavy underdog, and save for holding back and admiring his handiwork when he stunned the almost Mythical Prime Tyson in round one, he could have performed a stunning upset. Could have being the operative words. Lennox was out-jabbed by Frank (not an easy thing to do) until he succumbed to heavy shots from Lewis in the 7th, and if I remember rightly, he was (just) ahead on the cards at the time of the stoppage. There was also the knockdown that never was in that fight, which should have been a 10-8 for Bruno.

Massive credit to the guy from me - he never gave up chasing his dream of being World Champ and finally achieved it in 1996. I genuinely think he'd give most heavies a hard fight, not just from this era, but his own. He would not necessarily win them all, but it would be fun watching him. I think he'd have destroyed fighters like Ruiz, Moorer and Briggs.

Bruno gets the credit he's due I think, especially from British fans. I don't know how much he gets outside of Britain though. Let's be honest, he was a big fish in a small pond which enabled him to make plenty of money and get four title shots.

True, he only ever lost to four world champions but how many world class fighters did he beat? I can easily imagine him losing to Bowe, Holyfield, Moorer, Tua, Page, Thomas, Mercer, old Foreman and old Holmes (the Holmes that lost to Spinks would have beaten Bruno with ease I think).

Good thing about Bruno was that he always showed up in shape. Bad thing about Bruno is that towards the end, I hated his image.

Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Witherspoon, Tyson and Lewis are more than world class..........Two top 15 and one 20/30 heavy...

Tyson apart he gave the other two plenty of problems..

Smith won the lottery..............9 rounds to 0 and caught Bruno right at the close of the last round !!!

Smith got a boxing lesson.....

Can't hold Smith against him...

I think he got too much credit probably up until the second Tyson fight and his reputation took a huge backlash after that. He was overrated in Britain for a while and because people got so disappointed in him he became a figure of fun and vastly underrated in the end. There was no shame in his career. Did far more than David Haye ever will. But ultimately was not the man people had hoped him to be.

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

sohotnot wrote:

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

his victory over mccall made him a legitimate world champion in my eyes, a mccall who had beaten lewis to win the tilte. thats more than the names above have done. others may have held belts that have been gifted or opponents picked very well but none won a world title against a legitimate champion

compelling and rich wrote:

sohotnot wrote:

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

his victory over mccall made him a legitimate world champion in my eyes, a mccall who had beaten lewis to win the tilte. thats more than the names above have done. others may have held belts that have been gifted or opponents picked very well but none won a world title against a legitimate champion

Wasn't Haye a legitimate champion, at least as legitimate as Bruno? I'm not a big fan of Haye's but at least he managed to make a couple of defences. Yes, Bruno lost his title to Tyson, who was better than Ruiz and Harrison, but he looked petrified in doing so.

Bruno was a genuine world class fighter and was a legitimate world champ, a division below the very top heavyweights but good enough to beat the rest, 4 world title shots, had a good career.
How much more credit are boxing fans supposed to give him, you can't make him into something he wasn't.

Frank has the"nearly" tag firmly due to quality of opponents he lost title fights to that he was winning ( not Tyson of course). Apart from Witherspoon, Bonecrusher,Lewis and Tyson I don't think he lost a single non title fight.

I remember the gloom and frustration felt by loads of people who tuned in to see if he could do it this time to be disappointed . The papers were full of the build up in a way not seen now.

I guess any lack of credit is rooted in this "nearly" tag as he was ahead on points in all bouts bar Tyson until stopped. Never seen so people so animated literally screaming at the TV "for godsake Frank HOLD him, push him back" then "Aw God..NO" when he lost.

I think perception is fair - great powerful jab, clearly good timing (Lennox face never been so busted up after a fight) and so solid...but he couldn't up it to that elite level and really fight when his opponent closed the distance and turned it on.

armchairwarrior wrote:Frank has the"nearly" tag firmly due to  quality of opponents he lost title fights to that he was winning ( not Tyson of course). Apart from Witherspoon, Bonecrusher,Lewis and Tyson I don't think he lost a single non title fight.

I remember the gloom and frustration felt by loads of people who tuned in to see if he could do it this time to be disappointed . The papers were full of the build up in a way not seen now.

I guess any lack of credit is rooted in this "nearly" tag as he was ahead on points in all bouts bar Tyson until stopped. Never seen so people so animated literally screaming at the TV "for godsake Frank HOLD him, push him back" then "Aw God..NO" when he lost.

I think perception is fair - great powerful jab, clearly good timing (Lennox face never been so busted up after a fight) and so solid...but he couldn't up it to that elite level and really fight when his opponent closed the distance and turned it on.

Bruno was behind on all 3 judges cards against Witherspoon before being stopped.

Was he?..Was it by much?..I stand corrected on that

armchairwarrior wrote:Was he?..Was it by much?..I stand corrected on that

97-94, 98-96, 99-96 all in Witherspoons favour.

Witherspoon said he thought the fight was even and all to play for....

Judges cards are garbage...

Interesting...Regardless, apart from Tyson, Frank was not "dominated" by all these guys who are held in pretty high esteem. Lewis admitted after the fight that Bruno was better than he thought and that the fight was hard...

I'd say Frank would have given Wladimir a very tough fight given Wlad hates a tear up and would be intimidated by his strength, heavy jab and Sunday punch (as he called it).might even have won as the one thing that his opponents did to win was up the game and take it to him. Wlad never really does that...does he...

armchairwarrior wrote:I'd say Frank would have given Wladimir a very tough fight given Wlad hates a tear up and would be intimidated by his strength, heavy jab and Sunday punch (as he called it).might even have won as the one thing that his opponents did to win was up the game and take it to him. Wlad never really does that...does he...

I agree, Bruno would have been quite capable of knocking Wlad out, IMO Bruno would have had a great chance of beating Wlad.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Witherspoon said he thought the fight was even and all to play for....

Judges cards are garbage...

It was a close fight, but Bruno was starting to fade. And it's not like Tim was in his very best shape. He was a 220lb fighter at his best.

Frank's ramrod jab, helped by his long reach for his size made him difficult to outbox. I think all the guys who beat him were surprised by him to some degree and gave him credit afterwards. As other have said, he always came in shape and tyson 2 apart, always gave his all. I haven't checked but he probably matches wlad for reach, so its entirely possible he take wlad's jab away... and we saw what happened to him when that happens... so it's certainly possible frank gives wlad plenty to think about.

Ultimately though, his only win of any note was mccall, and he kept getting title shots because he was a meal ticket. Assorted valiant defeats tell us he was a hard test for the best, but the record books say he made it just past halfway against lewis, 11 rounds in a 15 rounder with witherspoon, and splattered by tyson twice. He was Knocked out by smith and saved by the bell against cummings.

He deserves his dues as he was giving as good as he got (in some cases better) in some of those fights... and compared to guys today you can rightly point out that his first 3 title shots were against the quality they were. But we're not talking about Mr unlucky here. He found his level.

armchairwarrior wrote:Interesting...Regardless, apart from Tyson, Frank was not "dominated" by all these guys who are held in pretty high esteem. Lewis admitted after the fight that Bruno was better than he thought and that the fight was hard...

I think that was probably the poorest version of Lewis there ever was in a professional ring (even taking into account the McCall defeat). He was absolutely awful until he landed that left hook. Still, not Frank's problem. He fought a very good fight until he caught one.

armchairwarrior wrote:I'd say Frank would have given Wladimir a very tough fight given Wlad hates a tear up and would be intimidated by his strength, heavy jab and Sunday punch (as he called it).might even have won as the one thing that his opponents did to win was up the game and take it to him. Wlad never really does that...does he...

I'd pick Wlad to beat Bruno.

What up and coming fighter did Bruno ever beat? All the fighters that I remember Bruno beating were all on the downsides of their careers.

Atila wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

sohotnot wrote:

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

his victory over mccall made him a legitimate world champion in my eyes, a mccall who had beaten lewis to win the tilte. thats more than the names above have done. others may have held belts that have been gifted or opponents picked very well but none won a world title against a legitimate champion

Wasn't Haye a legitimate champion, at least as legitimate as Bruno? I'm not a big fan of Haye's but at least he managed to make a couple of defences. Yes, Bruno lost his title to Tyson, who was better than Ruiz and Harrison, but he looked petrified in doing so.

i dont consider picking the easiest possible route via valuev as a legitimate world champion. valuev will go down as one of the worse world champions in history. his defences weren't nothing special. after defeating lewis you could easily consider mccall the man at the weight, its either that or a 50 year old foreman. in a one belt world champion bruno would have been one, haye definitely wouldnt

Really?...possibly close. I think Wlad would be intimidated by Brunos jab (which was very very hard and effective as most of his opponents testified ) and when Wlad tries to jab jab grab, Frank would be strong enough to man handle him.

Point being, Wladimir never opens up with the right hand until his opponent is griddled, fried and spent..hell, he only went for it after 11.5 rounds with Fury and he must have known before then he was behind.

I think unless Wlad found something else, he would be out pointed or stopped.

Valuev was not "easy". Freakishly large and so so awkward in this respect. The fact it would be difficult to hit him in a target area at all for most is enough. Haye being much much smaller took a gamble which was by no means foregone especially as Holyfield "won" ..but didn't (never mind his age at that point, Holy fought a good fight on his toes and most thought he was robbed)

If Bruno catches Wlad early on there's no chance Wlad would open up with Bruno, more likely Wlad goes into his shell and tries to Knick a decision.

Wlad would have to learn how to fight on the retreat...Forget the shell...

KO 1...

I used to pick Wlad, but Bruno would knock him out. I don't think Bruno beats Vitali, but he would give him a great fight.

compelling and rich wrote:

Atila wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

sohotnot wrote:

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

his victory over mccall made him a legitimate world champion in my eyes, a mccall who had beaten lewis to win the tilte. thats more than the names above have done. others may have held belts that have been gifted or opponents picked very well but none won a world title against a legitimate champion

Wasn't Haye a legitimate champion, at least as legitimate as Bruno? I'm not a big fan of Haye's but at least he managed to make a couple of defences. Yes, Bruno lost his title to Tyson, who was better than Ruiz and Harrison, but he looked petrified in doing so.

i dont consider picking the easiest possible route via valuev as a legitimate world champion.  valuev will go down as one of the worse world champions in history. his defences weren't nothing special. after defeating lewis you could easily consider mccall the man at the weight, its either that or a 50 year old foreman. in a one belt world champion bruno would have been one, haye definitely wouldnt

Without wishing to be pedantic, Lewis wasn't considered the top man at that time when McCall beat him. Bowe was widely regarded as the Champion, so I can't see how McCall can be seen as a legitimate world champion, and l'm fairly sure that Bruno would have lost to Bowe or Holyfield. In a one belt world I doubt Frank ever becomes champion.

Bruno would punch Vitali's head in...Guy had no defence..

Cut to ribbons after 3..

Truss I think you are mixing Bruno up with George Foreman.

horizontalhero wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

Atila wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

sohotnot wrote:

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

his victory over mccall made him a legitimate world champion in my eyes, a mccall who had beaten lewis to win the tilte. thats more than the names above have done. others may have held belts that have been gifted or opponents picked very well but none won a world title against a legitimate champion

Wasn't Haye a legitimate champion, at least as legitimate as Bruno? I'm not a big fan of Haye's but at least he managed to make a couple of defences. Yes, Bruno lost his title to Tyson, who was better than Ruiz and Harrison, but he looked petrified in doing so.

i dont consider picking the easiest possible route via valuev as a legitimate world champion.  valuev will go down as one of the worse world champions in history. his defences weren't nothing special. after defeating lewis you could easily consider mccall the man at the weight, its either that or a 50 year old foreman. in a one belt world champion bruno would have been one, haye definitely wouldnt

Without wishing to be pedantic, Lewis wasn't considered the top man at that time when McCall beat him. Bowe was widely regarded as the Champion, so I can't see how McCall can be seen as a legitimate world champion, and l'm fairly sure that Bruno would have lost to Bowe or Holyfield. In a one belt world I doubt Frank ever becomes champion.

You're not being pedantic at all. I too doubt that Bruno would ever have become champion in a one belt world. However, when Lewis lost to McCall, it was Moorer who was recognized as the "real" champ. If you believe in the linear stuff then neither Lewis, McCall or Bruno was the 100% legitimate champion.

Atila wrote:

horizontalhero wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

Atila wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

sohotnot wrote:

Atila wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:Bruno gets his dues by boxing fans, decent Heavy but the genuine world class fighters he fought, Lewis, Tyson, Witherspoon, Smith and McCall all took Bruno's best shots and all beat him apart from McCall, so at the highest level Bruno's power was unable to trouble the above.

Yep, apart from the odd punch, Bruno's power didn't help him much at the absolute top level. The problem was that for all his power, he was a ponderous and slow fighter. He had some skills but he wasn't a quick puncher with a lot of snap. Good jab though.

Some good points there and basically the reason why he fell short at the very top. I feel the loss to Lewis was one of his better performances funnily enough. So where do people rate him in the UK HW rankings? Better than Chisora, Williams, Haye, Akinwande?

his victory over mccall made him a legitimate world champion in my eyes, a mccall who had beaten lewis to win the tilte. thats more than the names above have done. others may have held belts that have been gifted or opponents picked very well but none won a world title against a legitimate champion

Wasn't Haye a legitimate champion, at least as legitimate as Bruno? I'm not a big fan of Haye's but at least he managed to make a couple of defences. Yes, Bruno lost his title to Tyson, who was better than Ruiz and Harrison, but he looked petrified in doing so.

i dont consider picking the easiest possible route via valuev as a legitimate world champion.  valuev will go down as one of the worse world champions in history. his defences weren't nothing special. after defeating lewis you could easily consider mccall the man at the weight, its either that or a 50 year old foreman. in a one belt world champion bruno would have been one, haye definitely wouldnt

Without wishing to be pedantic, Lewis wasn't considered the top man at that time when McCall beat him. Bowe was widely regarded as the Champion, so I can't see how McCall can be seen as a legitimate world champion, and l'm fairly sure that Bruno would have lost to Bowe or Holyfield. In a one belt world I doubt Frank ever becomes champion.

You're not being pedantic at all. I too doubt that Bruno would ever have become champion in a one belt world. However, when Lewis lost to McCall, it was Moorer who was recognized as the "real" champ. If you believe in the linear stuff then neither Lewis, McCall or Bruno was the 100% legitimate champion.

Correct, although up until the McCall debacle, many believed Lewis to be the best fighter in the division (even if he wasn't recognised as the real heavyweight champion - due to the fact Bowe refused to fight him).

Bruno only became a title-holder because Frank Warren had hooked up with Don King at that point (King brought Nunn over to the UK, Frank Liles, Steve Little, McClellan etc.). King had been busy rounding up ABC belts prior to Tyson's release (so that Tyson would sign with him when he hit the streets). Hence the fact Foreman's belts began disappearing pretty quickly when he elected not to face King fighter Tony Tucker. The idea was for King to keep the belts within his stable until Tyson hit the front gate. Bruno vs McCall was a no-brainer (big fight at Wembley - winner contracted to King/Warren). If we're being honest, Bruno was also pretty fortunate to have faced a McCall who'd lost his way after Steward left him for Lewis. McCall fought like a sparring fighter (a stoned one) for most of the bout until Bruno ran out of gas (as he generally did).

So, when Bruno won his title, we had Lewis in exile (learning from his jedi master), Bowe and Holyfield fighting for the "People's Heavyweight Championship" on HBO, while Foreman - the man who'd beaten the man - lost all his belts (mainly to King fighters - King lobbied the ABCs incessantly). Botha won the IBF - only to get busted for steroids (leaving the door open for Moorer to regain it - bad luck Don). I think the WBA ended up being contested by Tucker and Seldon (both King's).

It was a clusterf*** of an era, the 90's. Thankfully we had good fighters around. Imagine that mess with the dross we've had over the past decade!

I think looking at the title of this thread, we have to consider that Frank Bruno was a household name through his repeated attempts to win a title. Most people rooted for him, he was a bit like Henman on that way. Frank is probably on balance given lots of credit for trying and loved for it despite the heartache when he lost.

Also most people I know always bring up famously"that punch" in the first Tyson fight as an example where Frank was just not an instinctive fighter and couldn't follow through on the heat of the moment.

Fancy Frank not being able to finish one of the greatest heavyweights in history......Shame on him..

Frank was one dimensional but he had a cracking jab and that right put people to sleep.....

Tyson was too quick for Frank !!...He was too quick for Spinks, Holmes, Tubbs, Thomas, Berbick, Williams, Tucker, Smith and Biggs too.......Many of whom weren't one dimensional...

Lewis and Witherspoon both got outboxed early mainly because Frank had with Lewis, Biggs, Holy and Holmes one of the best jabs of the last 35 years........

Lewis did improve after Frank but he'd still have struggled early....

The second fight with Tyson..... Frank took the money and ran.....Should have failed the medical.

Considering Vitali has no defence and Wlad is a straight line mauler it's more than enough Frank's jab and right......

Don't disagree about Tyson Trussman, I was looking at what people thought at the time and how it seemed like a so so close moment for Frank to deliver.

Imo the Frank that faced Tyson the first time would have intimidated the hell out of any heavyweight today...

The honesty of Tyson post fight was commendable. He said he had never been hit so hard, and when he knocked Bruno down briefly in the first round he even said he thought "o man this guy means buisness" at the look in Franks eyes when he got up