Big Frank Part One: Trouble, Eye Problems & Contract Disputes

 Frank Bruno

Franklin Roy Horatio Bruno was born on 16th November 1961 to his houseproud Jamaican mother, Lynette and Dominica father Robert Bruno, in Hammersmith, London. His father was a warehouseman in a bakery and suffered from chronic diabetes and his district nurse mother worked all the hours she could to be the backbone of the family and help to provide for her six children. Frank was the youngest of her brood and wanted for nothing.

He soon grew to be the biggest on the block, and trouble had a way of finding the young future heavyweight champion of the world. Bruno was not a nasty kid, but street fights, teenage gangs, trouble with the law and expulsion were just part of the ritual on the tough streets of Wandsworth, South London. “At school, he was a bully boy,” Lynette explained, “and I had parents of other boys constantly knocking on my door to complain. I punished Franklin by keeping him in but he was not evil. He didn’t bully other boys to hurt them. He just liked to fight.”

Bruno, at eleven years of age, got into an altercation with one of his primary school teachers whilst on a trip to Westminster. Legend had it that Bruno knocked the teacher out, but according to him they just wrestled each other to the ground. “He was being flash,” Bruno recalled. “He used to stand there with his shirt undone halfway down his chest, showing off to the girls at my expense. I didn’t have a problem being black and that but this guy just needled me all the time, so I hit him. And that was that.”

He was expelled from Swaffield Primary for the incident and was introduced to Oak Hall, a special boarding school for difficult youngsters in Sussex. At the time Bruno did not realise it, but it was the best thing that could have happened to him. Oak Hall taught basic subjects and concentrated largely on sports and physical skills.

After some turbulent times, including the death of his father in 1975, Bruno became a model student and was totally involved in the school, staying on an extra year, leaving at the age of seventeen. One of the biggest misconceptions of Bruno’s youth was that Oak Hall introduced him to boxing. Bruno did take part in the sport during his time at primary school, and he was a member of a boxing club, but because the Inner London Education Authority disapproved of boxing, they did not allow pupils to fight, though Oak Hall helped him develop the finer points of the noble art.

Bruno moved back into his mother’s terraced house in Wandsworth and had the arduous process of finding work. His first job was as a metal polisher. The salary was poor and he came home filthy after the long hours, much to the displeasure of his houseproud mother. Other jobs followed, humping bricks on building sites, general labouring, working in a Brixton sports shop, they were the best he could get for a boy who left Oak Hall with no qualifications.

Bruno, wanting a better life, decided to give boxing a try and joined the respected Sir Phillip Game club of Croydon, and found his raw, natural power was enough to put his opponents to sleep with regularity, despite his lack of finesse and silky skills. His coach, Fred Rix, also respected on the amateur circuit, put Bruno through his paces in a short-lived amateur career that spanned about a year and twenty opponents, which culminated in Bruno winning the 1980 Amateur Boxing Association heavyweight title, aged eighteen, the youngest to do so, against Welshman Rudi Pika.

Winning the ABA championship usually put the fighter on the road to Olympic glory, with Bruno being touted as a likely winner of a Gold medal, but Bruno had other ideas and looked at securing big purses, and that meant turning professional. Bruno asked his coach to seek out a professional manager and Fred Rix introduced him to Burt McCarthy.

Bruno trained with McCarthy, but after six months decided to look elsewhere and teamed up with Terry Lawless at his Canning Town gym. Whilst training with Lawless, Bruno signed a contract with McCarthy. This led to a row between the managers, who saw Bruno as a potential world champion and desperately wanted him in their respective stables. The row subsided somewhat when the British Boxing Board of Control denied the ABA heavyweight title holder a licence due to the specialists at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London finding him to have keratomileusis, a very rare form of acute shortsightedness, in his right eye. Bruno was told he could not box unless he had the matter fixed. Bruno was gutted, and a life in the menial rat race seemed to dominate his future. 

Terry Lawless had other ideas and disagreed with the Board’s ruling because modern-day laser treatment had made the procedure relatively easier to correct. “Nobody is more convinced than I that the Board doctors have done a wonderful job,” Lawless said at the time, “but on this aspect I think they should reconsider.”

The BBBofC refused, and Lawless spent days trying to find an eye surgeon who could help. To his surprise, only two such surgeons in the world existed - one in the Soviet Union and the other in Colombia. Lawless chose the South American, and in February 1981, sent Buno off, alone, to Senor José Ignacio Barraquer’s clinic in Bogota, who personally carried out the delicate surgery to the back of the eyeball. Bruno had time to recuperate and had to wear a patch over his right eye, in what was one of the world’s most violent cities, where life is worth less than a dollar.

Though the procedure was a success, the Board were reluctant to grant him his coveted license and made him wait for their final decision. Bruno, whose chances of getting the green light from the BBBofC were less than fifty-fifty, continued to train, much to the surprise of Lawless. “What impressed me most during that period was the fact that, for eighteen months, when Frank knew he might never get a licence to box, he never missed a day’s training," recalled Lawless. “Seven days a week he was at it, keeping himself in magnificent shape. He never gave up hope, never let his dream go. It’s from that kind of dedication that you find champions.”

It was during this agonising wait that Bruno met his future wife, Laura Mooney whilst rollerskating in Battersea Park in the summer of 1981. Though their romance started as platonic at first, love began to kindle, and by the time the BBBofC granted Bruno his licence to fight in February 1982, Laura was three months pregnant with their daughter, Nicola.

Lawless wasted no time and organised Bruno’s professional debut for 17th March 1982 at the Royal Albert Hall against American Lupe Guerra. The thirty-year-old, ten years Bruno’s senior, boasted a 17-6 (6 KOs) record. Burt McCarthy was none too pleased and told the press, “I have the only contract signed by Frank Bruno and it’s lodged with the Boxing Board of Control. I’m his manager. Under no circumstances will there be any prospect of Frank appearing stripped for action in the Albert Hall.”

Terry Lawless believed the 1981 contract with McCarthy was not binding, and he would pay any costs or damages if it was found that Bruno was in breach of contract. “I have done everything according to the regulations,” retaliated Lawless. “We’ve been together for two years now and that’s how it will stay.

A hearing was held two weeks before the Albert Hall date in front of Mr Justice Walton. McCarthy’s solicitor told the court: “The fight arranged by Mr Lawless for Bruno is a total mismatch which could ruin the boxer’s career at the outset. He is too inexperienced and this could be dangerous for a first fight. I am not suggesting it is physically dangerous but it could damage his reputation and his professional career. A boxer’s first fight is desperately important.” The solicitor also asked the court to stop Bruno from signing with any other manager and to put a stop to the 17th March debut.

The barrister representing Bruno and Lawless told the court that Bruno did not know what he was doing when he signed the contract with McCarthy. “At the time of signing, he was training in Mr Lawless’ gym. Frank was of limited intelligence and education and had signed the document after Terry Lawless was run down and Burt McCarthy was built up.” He then added that Lawless had paid for the trip to South America and the eye operation and had stood by Bruno when all seemed lost.

“These allegations are absolute nonsense," McCarthy responded. “I have evidence that I made substantial payments to Bruno to assist him. I was the first person to speak to him about his professional career when he was introduced to me by his trainer Fred Rix.” 

Two days before his debut, Mr Justice Walton decided the fight could take place. He believed there was no contract between McCarthy and Bruno as the fighter was unlicensed when he signed and did not obtain a licence within the stipulated twenty-eight-day time frame of the agreement. He ruled that the only contract in force was the one signed with Terry Lawless, although he did add that McCarthy could win substantial damages from Bruno in a full trial of dispute because the boxer did not give him the first option on the right to manage him when he came to fight.

Bruno stepped through the ropes weighing 217½ pounds (98.66 Kg), whilst the Nebraska-born Guerra weighed 196 pounds (88.90 Kg). Burt McCarthy needn’t have worried about Bruno’s lack of experience, as he took just 151 seconds to knock out his opponent.

Bruno stopped his next thirteen opponents in four rounds or less, before facing the biggest name on his record to date in the guise of Scott LeDoux in May 1983. The thirty-four-year-old American had a record of 33-12-4 (22 KOs) and graced the ring with George Foreman, Leon Spinks, Ron Lyle, Ken Norton, Mike Weaver, a WBC heavyweight title challenge to Larry Holmes, Greg Page and Gerrie Coetzee, and was facing Bruno on the back of four straight wins.

The Londoner delighted the Wembley Arena crowd by flooring LeDoux in the opening round, before referee Larry O’Connell stopped the fight due to a nasty cut over the American’s left eyebrow, with LeDoux never boxing again.

Three more stoppage wins boosted Bruno’s perfect record to 18-0 (18 KOs) before he faced Chicago’s Floyd ‘Jumbo’ Cummings at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1983. Cummings was convicted of murder at the age of seventeen and sentenced to prison for fifty to seventy-five years. He took up boxing whilst inside and became a good amateur, and was allowed to leave prison on numerous occasions to take part in amateur bouts. He wanted to try for the 1976 Olympic team, but prison inmates were ineligible.

In July 1979 Cummings was paroled and turned professional the following month, going 14-0 before losing a ten-round unanimous decision to Renaldo Snipes in March 1981. That December, thirty-seven-year-old former heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier, came out of retirement after a five-year hiatus and selected Cummings as his opponent. After ten rounds the judges declared the bout a draw, with the Associated Press reporting: "Frazier had a roll of fat around his middle - he weighed 229 pounds (103.87 Kg) - and he showed his age and the effects of his long absence from the ring."

Frazier never fought again, and Cummings never won again, losing to Jeff Sims, Larry Frazier (no relation to Smokin’ Joe), Mitch Green and Tim Witherspoon before his trip to London to take on Bruno.

Cummings nearly stopped his four-fight losing streak when a right hand at the end of the first round had Bruno out on his feet, with Terry Lawless working wonders in the minute respite to get his charge ready for the second round.

Cummings swarmed all over Bruno but could not find the punch to finish the shaken Londoner, and much to the delight of the Royal Albert Hall crowd, their man somehow survived to stop the American in the seventh round with a right to the temple.

Bruno had two more knockout victories before putting his 21-0 (21 KOs) resume on the line against 13-1 (11 KOs) James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith at Wembley Arena on 13th May 1984. Thirty-one-year-old Smith lost his professional debut to James Broad in November 1981 via a fourth-round knockout, before outscoring future world cruiserweight champion Rickey Parkey in his second bout, on his way to facing Bruno.

9,000 spectators roared Bruno on as he was looking to close out the ten-rounder behind his jab. With about two minutes of the bout remaining, the American suddenly lived up to his ring name and leapt into action, trapping Bruno on the ropes and unleashing a barrage of punches. The Londoner, inept at tying up his opponent to weather the storm, simply took the shots flush on the chin until he crashed to the floor. Sensing Bruno would not beat the count, Bonecrusher danced with joy in his own corner. It was a devastating setback for Bruno, who said: "I'm not crying or making excuses - he beat me. But don't worry, I'll be back. Every great fighter, including Joe Frazier and even Ali, have been stopped in their time."

"I hit him with a hook followed by a right and then I just kept throwing punches. I was surprised he stopped moving in the last (round). I figured he would move off the ropes. It was the toughest fight I've ever had. I would like to meet him again - why not for the world title?” said Smith, who went on to unsuccessfully challenge Larry Holmes for the IBF title in his next fight.

Bruno bolstered his record with two more stoppage wins against Ken Lakusta (second round kayo) and a third round technical knockout overJeff Jordan, before being taken the full ten rounds for the first time, recording a points victory over America’s Phillipp Brown.

Another first-round knockout followed, before Bruno challenged the giant Swede Anders Eklund for his European heavyweight crown on 1st October 1985. Eklund made the powerful-looking Bruno appear small, standing at six-foot-six-and-a-half-inches (199cm) and weighing 244½ pounds (110.90 Kg), compared to the Englishman’s six-foot-three-inch (191cm) frame and weight of 224½ pounds (101.83 Kg). Despite Eklund’s physical advantages, he did not have a stellar career, losing in the first round to journeyman Noel Quarless in 1983 and dropping a majority decision to a thirty-three-year-old Joe Bugner in 1984, though his best win was defeating the unbeaten EBU champion Steffen Tangstad of Norway, bringing his record to 11-2-1 (7 KOs).

On the day of the fight, Bruno was in the High Court watching Terry Lawless settle the legal wranglings over his contract dispute with Burt McCarthy. Finally, Bruno was free of McCarthy and could give his full attention to winning his first professional title.

Bruno started fast, putting the bigger man on the backfoot with his powerful punches.

Eklund used his size and weight to full advantage in the second round, hurting Bruno with a couple of rights to the head. The course of the contest soon changed in the following round when the challenger found his range and let his power do the talking. Nothing was coming back from the Swede in and Bruno caught the champion early in the fourth with a right uppercut and two heavy head shots that put the big man flat on his face.

The new European heavyweight champion closed out 1985 with a second-round stoppage over American Larry Frazier. Bruno was then nominated to face ex-WBA heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee in an eliminator to face WBA title holder Tim Witherspoon at Wembley Arena on 4th March 1986.

Coetzee was born in Boksburg, Gauteng, South Africa, as Gerhardus Christian Coetzee on 8th April 1955. He started his pro career in September 1974, winning twenty-two bouts on the spin, before losing on points in 1979 to John Tate - undefeated in nineteen bouts - for the vacant World Boxing Association belt in South Africa. 

A year later, Coetzee had a second bite at the WBA title against Mike Weaver, again in South Africa. Weaver, making his maiden defence, stopped Coetzee in the thirteenth round. In 1983, the South African faced Michael Dokes in the United States, again for the WBA title. Coetzee made it third time lucky, knocking out the defending champion in the tenth round.

Coetzee lost the title in his first defence with a controversial eighth-round stoppage against Greg Page in front of his South African fans. The official stoppage time is recorded as three minutes and three seconds of the round, but there were many suggestions that the round had gone over 40 seconds past the three-minute mark. After much confusion, the WBA later stated they recognised Page as their legitimate champion. In a message to South African boxing authorities, Elias Cordova the WBA’s chairman of the championships committee said he was satisfied the fight had been conducted in accordance with the rules.

Coetzee returned to the ring in September 1985, winning a ten-round points decision over James ‘Quick’ Tillis, bringing his record to 30-4-1 (18 KOs), before facing the 27-1 (26 KOs) Bruno, who was a slight betting favourite, despite many boxing experts favouring the tough South African. 

With all his experience, it was seen that Coetzee would find the chin of Bruno at some point in the fight. However, the difference between the two boxers was evident; Bruno was in magnificent shape and the South African was not.

Bruno started fast, pumping out his ramrod jab, as Coetzee went backwards in a straight line, Bruno detonated a right to the jaw. The former world champion and number one WBA contender hit the canvas. Coetzee got up as blood trickled down his left cheek. The action continued until Bruno unleashed a jaw-jolting left-right combination to leave Coetzee spreadeagled through the ropes, with no chance of beating Guy Jutras, the Canadian referee’s count of ten.

Bruno was now the new number one contender and had WBA champion Tim Witherspoon very much in his sights.

All the best fight fans

Lea

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