{"id":331208,"date":"2025-12-06T15:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/331208\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T15:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T15:01:06","slug":"frank-bruno-compares-prime-mike-tyson-and-lennox-lewis-id-rather-fight-him-5-days-a-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/331208\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Bruno compares prime Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis: &#8220;I&#8217;d rather fight him 5 days a week&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Frank Bruno\u2019s road to a world title was a long, punishing one, <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/the-triumph-of-frank-bruno\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">marked by detours and setbacks that made his eventual triumph as much about perseverance as ability<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One of British boxing\u2019s most beloved figures, Bruno was a formidable physical specimen with a strong jab and serious power \u2014 yet doubts about his durability followed him every time he came up short.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the greatest heavyweights of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/mike-tyson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mike Tyson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/lennox-lewis\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lennox Lewis<\/a>, stood unmoved by the nation\u2019s desire to see \u201cBig Frank\u201d crowned champion. Tyson dealt with him in typically savage fashion; Lewis, by contrast, was cold, clinical and precise.<\/p>\n<p>Bruno\u2019s brave but brief effort against Tyson in 1989 is often remembered for Harry Carpenter\u2019s famous cry as Bruno stunned the seemingly invincible champion early in the fight. But just as in their 1996 rematch \u2014 when Bruno entered as WBC champion \u2014 the affable Londoner was ultimately overwhelmed by Tyson\u2019s ferocity.<\/p>\n<p>Arguably, his defeat to Lewis in 1993 was even crueller. Ahead on the cards and having rocked Lewis more than once, Bruno appeared closer than ever to fulfilling his dream. But a perfectly timed left hook in the seventh round changed everything, and referee Mickey Vann soon stepped in to halt the contest.<\/p>\n<p>It was little surprise, then, that Bruno became the ideal man to compare Lewis and Tyson when the two finally met in their past-its-sell-by-date megafight in June 2002. Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/boxing\/a\/2002\/0604\/1390696.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ESPN<\/a>, Bruno said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI boxed Tyson twice and I boxed Lennox Lewis, and I would rather box Lennox Lewis five days a week than to fight a Mike Tyson. He\u2019s awkward, short, dangerous, and when he\u2019s fit, he\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By then Tyson\u2019s best days were well behind him, and Lewis had little trouble neutralising what remained of the former \u201cbaddest man on the planet\u201d, easing to an eighth-round knockout victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frank Bruno\u2019s road to a world title was a long, punishing one, marked by detours and setbacks that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-331208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}