Behind Enemy Lines is an occasional feature in which a boxer describes the experience of traveling to fight in his or her opponent’s country.
FRANK BRUNO
July 19, 1986, Wembley Stadium, London • Titles: WBA heavyweight
Tim Witherspoon became a two-time heavyweight champion when he picked up the vacant WBA title in January 1986 with close 15-round decision over Tony Tubbs.
Witherspoon subsequently tested positive for marijuana and was fined $25,000 for his indiscretion by the WBA but was able to keep his championship and had to face Tubbs in a rematch.
However, former European titleholder Frank Bruno won a March eliminator when he impressively stopped former beltholder Gerrie Coetzee in one round.
Overtures were made to Witherspoon (24-2, 16 KOs), rated at No. 3 by The Ring at heavyweight, to face Bruno (28-1, 27 KOs), No. 7, in England, in the summer. The way was paved when Tubbs accepted a reported $250,000 step aside fee.
“I was really positive, motivated, I was coming into somebody else’s country and defending my title, so I knew they had a lot of things on their side,” Witherspoon told The Ring. “I had to take everything serious and try to win that fight.”
The defending champion had around two months of preparation at Don King’s Orwell, Ohio, training camp. Whilst there Witherspoon sparred amongst others Fred Whitaker, Kenny McClain, former WBC cruiserweight titlist Alfonzo Ratliff and future WBC heavyweight titlist Oliver McCall.
Team Witherspoon left Orwell and drove to nearby Cleveland and flew to New York and then into London a couple of weeks prior to the fight.
They stayed in central London but were unhappy with where they were staying and switched to the Crest Hotel, Basildon, which was a 45-minute commute.
“There were a lot of distractions, there was woman, alcohol and partying, so my trainer, Slim Robinson, got in touch with Don and told him we cannot train there,” he recalled. “They deliberately put us there so we wouldn’t be on the right track.”
The two fighters met for the first time the week of the fight at the press conference.
“There was a lot of people there,” he said. “He looked me straight in my eyes, he wasn’t worried or scared at all. He knew that there was a lot of stuff behind him winning this fight. I could tell it in the way he was.
“I know he trained real hard. I had a lot on my shoulders too, coming from America to somebody else’s country. Everything on his side was positive and they were ready to take the title from me, and I just had to defend it.”
Interestingly, at Friday’s weigh in, the defending champion tipped the scales at 234¾-pounds, 7¾ more than when he won the title. Meanwhile, Bruno weighed a svelte 228.
“I had thought I would come in lighter,” he admitted. “Everybody was talking about my weight in America, if I show at this weight, I’m going to be good, but if I show up at a heavier weight, I’ll be sluggish and won’t really perform.
“When I flew into England, I was around 219, 220 and then I gained weight by eating when I got there.”
The fight took place at the Home of Football, Wembley Stadium and was the first boxing event there since Witherspoon’s idol, Muhammad Ali got off the canvas to stop Henry Cooper on cuts in five rounds, 23 years earlier. Both legends were ringside for the spectacle.
The fight sold very well at the gate, with 40,000 in attendance, most of whom had come in the hope of seeing Bruno become the first British fighter to win a heavyweight title since Bob Fitzsimmons in 1899. The challenger, who was the 12th British fighter to challenge for the heavyweight crown since Fitzsimmons, was the slight betting favorite.
“Everything was serious,” he said of waiting in the changing room ahead of his ring walk. “I really wasn’t scared of anything. This was my chance in life to really get something done. That was all in my mind. I can’t lose; I can’t lose.”
The fight which was broadcast in the U.K. on the BBC and ITV and in America on HBO, started at 1 a.m. local time.
Witherspoon settled any nerves he may have had and greeted Bruno with an overhand right that the popular Brit smothered.
“My trainer was telling me to keep my jab in his face, block his jab and hit him on the chin,” he recalled.
“Everybody was saying he can’t take it on the chin. I was like, ‘If I hit him on the chin [it’ll be over.]’ but I was hitting him on the chin and he was taking it, I said, ‘This guy can take a better punch than everybody thinks he could take.'”
The action was fast and frenetic in the opening exchanges and later became a battle of attrition as the pace slowed and both looked tired. Both fighters showed signs of wear and tear with swelling around their left eye.
With the fight up for grabs, a purposeful Witherspoon came out for Round 11.
“I was told, I would have to do more because I’m in another country, you can’t just beat him, you’ve got to do a little more because I’m in England,” he said. “I’m sure the promoters had some of the judges leaning toward Frank because they wanted him to win.
“I just had to win this fight. It was going back and forth and then when I caught him with that overhand right I said, ‘This is my opportunity.’ He went down. I was like, ‘Wow.’ And they called the fight. The fight was kinda close, I’m almost sure they would have gave him that fight. That was one of my greatest fights.”
Ultimately, “Terrible” Tim need not have worried, he was ahead 99-96, 98-96 and 97-94 at the time of the stoppage.
“After the fights, somebody could have got killed,” he vividly recalled. “We had chairs thrown at us; we had all kinds of stuff thrown at us.
“I had my kids’ mother right in front of me and the word [from the security detail] was, ‘Hey, do not fall because we won’t be able to save you, lift your feet up and get out of here fast.’ They were throwing everything at us. You could tell they loved Frank. When I saw this human being fly over the top of us – one of the security must have threw him – that’s when I knew it was serious, when I saw that, I got scared.”
Thankfully, Witherspoon and his team got out of the hostilities without any injuries and made their way back to their accommodation.
“When we went back, I think there was a party in the hotel,” he said. “I was happy, everybody was having fun, drinking, singing songs.”
Interestingly, Witherspoon had agreed to the fight without securing one significant detail.
“I didn’t know how money I was getting until I got back to America,” he explained. “I went home with like $200,000. I said, ‘Don, what’s this?’ Don said, ‘Well, Timmy, you got $500,000, Carl got half of that. Then I had all these expenses. I think I went home with 100 and something thousand [dollars.]”
Questions/comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on X @AnsonWainwr1ght.