The Boxing History Blog

 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 ...

Lloyd Honeyghan Lloyd Honeyghan was born in St Elizabeth, Jamaica on 22nd April 1960. He learnt his boxing in Bermondsey’s Fisher Club, after his family moved to London as a youngster. Honeyghan represented England as an amateur and won the London championship, before turning professional under the guidance of Terry Lawless. On 08th December 1980 he outpointed Mike Sullivan, who was also making his debut, over six rounds. In January 1983 he outpointed Lloyd Hibbert over ten rounds in a British title eliminator. Two months later he picked up the Southern Area British welterweight belt, which was also a final eliminator for the British title when he knocked out Sid Smith in the fourth round. He finally challenged Cliff Gilpin for the vacant British title on 05th April 1983, winning a twelve round points decision, after suffering a knockdown in round two.  At the start of 1985 he knocked out future IBF light-middleweight champion Gianfranco Rossi...