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Big Frank Part Four: The Battle of Britain

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Frank Bruno Great Britain had been waiting for a world heavyweight champion since Bob Fitzsimmons defeated James J. Corbett in March 1897, only to lose it in his first defence against James J Jeffries in June 1899. Fitzsimmons also failed in his attempt to regain the title from Jeffries in July 1902. Other British challengers like Tommy Farr versus Joe Louis, Don Cockell against Rocky Marciano, Brian London facing Floyd Patterson, Henry Cooper, Joe Bugner and Richard Dunn challenging Muhammad Ali, and Frank Bruno’s two attempts against Tim Witherspoon and Mike Tyson, respectively, all ended in failure. That all changed when Lennox Lewis was awarded the WBC heavyweight belt in December 1992, after Riddick Bowe, who defeated Evander Holyfield for the undisputed title the month before, refused to face his mandatory challenger Lewis, and elected to dump his green and gold belt into the bin. Lewis, born in West Ham on 2nd September 1965, moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada with his mother a...
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Big Frank Part Three: Tyson

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Frank Bruno  The journey towards Frank Bruno’s second world title shot against undisputed champion Mike Tyson was a long and complicated process. The terms for the fight was originally agreed in February 1988 and scheduled for 3rd September at Wembley Arena, meaning Bruno had been out of the ring for eleven months. However, Tyson was embroiled in legal proceedings to sever ties with his manager Bill Cayton. The champion wanted six to eight weeks off after settling out of court, pushing the bout back to 8th October. The fight was pushed back again when Tyson broke his hand in a street fight with ex-opponent Mitch ‘Blood’ Green in August 1988, with a new date of 22nd October. Again that date was rescheduled to 17th December when Tyson was knocked unconscious in September 1988 when he drove his BMW into a tree. Also, in October 1988, Robin Givens, Tyson’s wife, filed for divorce, with Tyson countersuing her. The champion wanted to be close to his lawyers, and Bruno’s challenge was not...
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