Posts

Big Frank Part Five: Fourth Time Lucky

-
Image
 Frank Bruno When Frank Bruno lost his world title challenge to Mike Tyson in February 1989, he spent thirty-three months out of the ring. However, when he lost to Lennox Lewis, he ignored all calls for retirement and told his manager, Mickey Duff, to get him another fight. Within five months, Bruno faced thirty-six-year-old American Jesse ‘Boogeyman’ Ferguson at the bp pulse LIVE Arena in Birmingham. Ferguson started in the paid ranks in January 1983, going 13-0 (10 KOs), with wins over Reggie Gross via a third round TKO, and a ten round majority decision against future undisputed heavyweight champion James ‘Buster’ Douglas, before Carl ‘The Truth’ Williams stopped him in the tenth and final round of their match in August 1985. Ferguson then lost eight of his next thirteen fights; a sixth round technical knockout against Mike Tyson, points defeats to James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith, Anders Ecklund, Orlin Norris and Oliver McCall, a fifth round retirement against Bruce Seldon, and ten ro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Big Frank Part Four: The Battle of Britain

-
Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more