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Franklin Roy Bruno (born 16 November 1961) is an English former boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
 whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight
Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or boxing weight classes, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing Organization....
 championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests. Like Henry Cooper
Henry Cooper (boxer)

Sir Henry Cooper Order of the British Empire, Order of St. Gregory the Great in South East London, is a retired England heavyweight boxing and was the British, European and Commonwealth of Nations heavyweight champion in 1970....
 before him, Bruno has remained a popular celebrity
Celebrity

A celebrity is a widely-recognized or notable person who commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin verb "celebrare" but one may not become a celebrity unless public and mass media interest is piqued....
 with the British public since his ring career ended, and still appears regularly in pantomime
Pantomime

Pantomime is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar and Republic of Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season....
.

o became a professional boxer in 1980, quickly racking up a streak of twenty-one consecutive wins by knockout
Knockout

A knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving strike ....
.






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Franklin Roy Bruno (born 16 November 1961) is an English former boxer
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
 whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight
Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or boxing weight classes, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Organization, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing Organization....
 championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests. Like Henry Cooper
Henry Cooper (boxer)

Sir Henry Cooper Order of the British Empire, Order of St. Gregory the Great in South East London, is a retired England heavyweight boxing and was the British, European and Commonwealth of Nations heavyweight champion in 1970....
 before him, Bruno has remained a popular celebrity
Celebrity

A celebrity is a widely-recognized or notable person who commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin verb "celebrare" but one may not become a celebrity unless public and mass media interest is piqued....
 with the British public since his ring career ended, and still appears regularly in pantomime
Pantomime

Pantomime is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar and Republic of Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season....
.

Boxing career

Bruno became a professional boxer in 1980, quickly racking up a streak of twenty-one consecutive wins by knockout
Knockout

A knockout is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving strike ....
. This streak caught the attention of many international boxing magazines, such as Ring Magazine, KO Magazine
KO Magazine

KO Magazine is a popular United States boxing magazine. It was first published in 1979, to compete with Ring Magazine.During the 1980s, KO Magazine, nicknamed "The knockout boxing magazine", ran some popular features, such as a round-by-round section where the most important fights were described punch by punch, posters with the...
, Boxing Illustrated, The Ring En Espanol and many others. In March 1984, however, future world Heavyweight champion, American James 'Bonecrusher' Smith, then a boxing journeyman, halted that streak when he defeated Bruno by knockout in the tenth and final round of their bout, with Bruno leading on all three judges' cards. This would not be the last time Bruno went on to lose a contest he had been clearly winning and would have emerged victorious from had he survived until the final bell.

Bruno got back into title contention with wins over the likes of former WBA
World Boxing Association

The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level....
 champion Gerrie Coetzee
Gerrie Coetzee

Gerhardus Christian Coetzee , better known as Gerrie Coetzee, is a South African former boxer. He made history twice: he was the first boxer from the African continent ever to fight for the world Heavyweight title, and the first to win the world Heavyweight title....
 (by knockout in round one), and, in July 1986, he challenged Tim Witherspoon
Tim Witherspoon

"Terrible" Tim Witherspoon is an American boxer who was twice recognized as List of Heavyweight Champions by a professional boxing sanctioning organization....
 for the WBA world Heavyweight championship. After once again leading on the cards for most of the fight, he ran out of steam and was defeated by knockout, in round eleven. A comment often made was that Bruno, a fine physical specimen, had a bodybuilder's musculature rather than a boxer's, and carrying the extra weight of so much muscle sapped his energy and stamina over a long contest. The contrast between Bruno and the seemingly lard-laden Witherspoon was particularly marked, but the difference was that Witherspoon worked when he had to, and did enough over the course of the fight, whereas Bruno lacked the nous and the killer-instinct to press on when he had the initiative.

In 1989, Bruno challenged Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson, also known as Malik Abdul, is a retired United States Boxing. He was the List of undisputed boxing champions#Heavyweight and remains the youngest man ever to win a world heavyweight title at just 20 years old....
 for the unified world Heavyweight title. After being shaken in the opening minute, Bruno finished the first round by rocking Tyson with a left hook. However, Tyson recovered and beat Bruno when the referee stopped the contest in round five with the British boxer taking heavy punishment on the ropes.

Bruno kept winning fights, helping him to retain his spot as one of the world's leading Heavyweights. In 1993 he had a third world title chance against young Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, Order of Canada, Order of the British Empire is a retired boxing who won gold for Canada at the Boxing at the 1988 Summer Olympics as an amateur boxing....
, who was making the second defence of the belt (his first of three championship reigns). Lewis beat Bruno on a stoppage in round seven, Bruno again failing to take his title chance after leading the contest on points up until what proved the final round.

On 24 September 1994, Oliver McCall
Oliver McCall

Oliver "The Atomic Bull" McCall is an American professional Heavyweight boxer known for his outstanding ability to take a punch and winning the World Boxing Council Heavyweight Championship 1994 as a result of knocking out Lennox Lewis in the second round, in Lewis' home town of London, England....
 beat Lewis with a shock second round knockout victory at Wembley Arena, and, after outpointing Larry Holmes
Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes is a former world heavyweight boxing champion. Holmes has spent the majority of his adult life in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the state's Lehigh Valley region, giving rise to his boxing nickname, The Easton Assassin....
, he came to England to defend the WBC title against Bruno. On 2 September 1995, Bruno finally became world champion by outpointing McCall over twelve rounds. McCall was an emotional mess, and cried on his way into the ring. Bruno did not last long as champion: his first defence was a rematch with Tyson. Tyson beat Bruno on a stoppage in round three, in what turned out to be Bruno's last bout as a professional.

Bruno's publicist throughout most of his career was sports historian Norman Giller
Norman Giller

Norman Giller is a prolific English author, a sports historian and television scriptwriter.With eighty-one books to his name, Norman Giller is a prolific author who served his writing apprenticeship as a notable Fleet Street journalist....
, who wrote three books in harness with Frank: Know What I mean, IEye of the Tiger and From Zero to Hero His manager for all but his last five fights was Terry Lawless
Terry Lawless

Terry Lawless , was a boxing Coach and Athletic trainer who worked in London, most successfully during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.Lawless was based at the Royal Oak gym in the Canning Town district of London, close to the famous York Hall boxing venue, where he worked with the East End of London trainer Jimmy Tibbs....
, who signed him as a professional shortly after he had become ABA heavyweight champion at the age of eighteen.

Outside boxing

Bruno grew up with five siblings in a terraced house in south London, where his parents had settled after moving to England from the Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
. In 1990, he married his partner Laura at a small church in Hornchurch
Hornchurch

Hornchurch is a town in the London Borough of Havering in East London, England, England. It is a suburban development located east north-east of Charing Cross....
, an area of Greater London
Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The administrative area was officially created in 1965 and covers the City of London , the City of Westminster and the other 31 London boroughs....
 near the border with Essex. They had three children. However, their relationship deteriorated, and they divorce
Divorce

Divorce or dissolution of marriage is a legal process in which a judge or other authority dissolves the bonds of matrimony existing between two persons, thus restoring them to the marital status of being single....
d in 2001.

Bruno has remained a popular figure with the British public. His cuddly bear image was enhanced by his relationship with the avuncular BBC boxing commentator Harry Carpenter
Harry Carpenter

Harry Carpenter , was a BBC sports Sportscaster from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1994. His speciality was boxing. He was presenter of programmes such as Sportsnight and Grandstand and also anchored coverage of The Championships, Wimbledon and golf tournaments....
, his appearances on the early Comic Relief
Comic Relief

File:Comic Relief.svgComic Relief is a British charity organisation that was founded in the United Kingdom in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis in response to famine in Ethiopia....
 programmes in the 1980s and his frequent appearances thereafter on television and on stage (in pantomime).

In December 2005, Bruno announced that he was to become a father for the fourth time since finding new romance with old friend Yvonne Clydesdale. The pair, who first met five years ago at a health resort, began dating months after bumping into each other at a wine bar near his home. Yvonne gave birth to baby Freya on 10 May 2006.

In 1995, the year of his world championship, he released a cover version of "Eye of the Tiger
Eye of the Tiger

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song performed by the United States rock music band Survivor from the album Eye of the Tiger , released in 1982. It was written at the request of Sylvester Stallone for the film Rocky III....
", the theme song of the movie Rocky III
Rocky III

Rocky III is the third installment in the Rocky . It is directed by and stars Sylvester Stallone as the Rocky Balboa, with Carl Weathers as former boxing rival Apollo Creed, and Talia Shire as Rocky's wife, Adrian_Pennino....
. It reached #28 in the UK charts.

In January 2001, Bruno announced that he wanted to stand as the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservative Party, is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom....
 candidate in the traditionally safe Tory seat of Brentwood and Ongar against the independent Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
, Martin Bell
Martin Bell

Martin Bell, Order of the British Empire, is a United Kingdom UNICEF Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician....
. His proposed slogan was "Don't be a plank, vote for Frank!" However, this idea was quickly dismissed by Conservative Central Office.

On 22 September 2003, Bruno was taken from his home near Brentwood in Essex by medical staff assisted by police
Police

Police are agents or agencies, usually of the executive , empowered to enforce the law and to ensure public and social order through the legitimized use of force....
 officers, under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983
Mental Health Act 1983

The Mental Health Act 1983 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom but applies only to people in England and Wales. It covers the reception, care and treatment of mentally disordered persons, the management of their property and other related matters....
. He was taken to Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford
Ilford

Ilford is a district of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is a suburban development situated east north-east of Charing Cross and one the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan....
, where he underwent psychological
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
 and psychiatric
Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a Medicine Specialty devoted to the Treatment of mental disorders, Biomedical research and Prevention of mental disorder. The term was first coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808....
 tests. He had been suffering from depression
Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive depression , low self-esteem, and anhedonia in normally enjoyable activities....
 for several months beforehand. He was later diagnosed as having bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a Classification of mental disorders that describes a category of mood disorders, or mood swings, defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania....
. The psychologist Professor Cary Cooper
Cary Cooper

Cary Cooper Order of the British Empire is an United States psychologist and Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University Management School....
 expressed the opinion that the end of Bruno's boxing career, the breakdown of his marriage, and the suicide
Suicide

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"....
 of his former trainer George Francis
George Francis (trainer)

George Francis was a United Kingdom boxing athletic trainer who trained world champion Boxing such as Frank Bruno, John Conteh, John Mugabi, and Cornelius Boza Edwards....
 in 2002 all contributed to his condition. On 9 October 2005 he admitted that his cocaine
Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine....
 use, which began in 2000, contributed to his mental health problems. Media coverage of Bruno's problems raised controversy, the principal accusations were gross intrusion and insensitivity. Particular criticism was aimed at The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun is a tabloid daily newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland with the highest Newspaper circulation of any daily English-language newspaper in the world and the biggest circulation within the UK, standing at an average of 3,121,000 copies a day between January and June 2008 and with a daily readership of a...
, whose headline in the first editions the next day read "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up". Second editions retracted the headline and attempted to portray a more sympathetic attitude towards Bruno and mental health
Mental health

Mental health is a term used to describe either a level of cognition or emotional Quality of life or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychol...
 in general. As an attempt at atonement, the paper established a charity fund for the victims of mental illness, although some mental health charities condemned The Suns latter action that day as being grossly cynical in the light of the former. On 24 February 2008 Frank Bruno offered his support to former footballer Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne

Paul John Gascoigne , often referred to as Gazza, is a retired England football , who is widely regarded as one of the most gifted players of his generation....
, who on 21 February had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act

On 10 October 2006, Bruno and his partner Yvonne Clydesdale were jointly awarded £50,000 damages for libel against The People
The People

The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a United Kingdom tabloid Sunday-only newspaper, owned by the Trinity Mirror Group....
 newspaper and publishers MGN
Trinity Mirror

Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, The People, Sunday Mail and Daily Record....
 in respect of false claims made about the pair's relationship.

By 2005 Bruno was able to appear on BBC Radio as a guest expert at a boxing match, as well as appearing on television again. Frank now regularly makes personal appearances and he also sells autographed items of memorabilia.

Frank now lives with one of his sons in the village of Little Billington
Billington, Bedfordshire

Billington is a parish in Bedfordshire about three miles south of Leighton Buzzard. There are two settlements: Little Billington and one that is now called Great Billington ....
, on the outskirts of the town of Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard is a town near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire, and is between Luton and Milton Keynes. It adjoins Linslade and the name Leighton Buzzard is sometimes used to refer to the combination of the two towns; parts of this article also apply to Linslade....
 in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a county in England that forms part of the East of England Regions of England.Its county town is Bedford, Bedfordshire. It borders Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire....
.

Movie Appearances

Bruno has a cameo appearance in Cass
Cass (film)

Cass is a 2008 in film British crime drama film. It stars Nonso Anozie as Cass Pennant and is directed by Jon S. Baird...
, the subject of which is a friend of Frank Bruno's who was a football hooligan. He is standing next to the pub doors in the last few minutes of the movie. His only prior movie appearance would have been as the bus driver in Spice World, but he walked out due to a dispute with the producers.

Partial Career Record

|- |align="center" colspan=8|40 Wins (38 knockouts, 2 decisions, 0 disqualifications), 5 Losses (5 knockouts, 0 decisions), 0 Draw |- | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Res. | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Opponent | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Type | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Rd., Time | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Date | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Location | align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes |- | LOSS | Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson, also known as Malik Abdul, is a retired United States Boxing. He was the List of undisputed boxing champions#Heavyweight and remains the youngest man ever to win a world heavyweight title at just 20 years old....
 | TKO | 3 | 1996-03-16 | MGM Grand, Las Vegas | WBC Heavyweight Title Fight |- | WIN | Oliver McCall
Oliver McCall

Oliver "The Atomic Bull" McCall is an American professional Heavyweight boxer known for his outstanding ability to take a punch and winning the World Boxing Council Heavyweight Championship 1994 as a result of knocking out Lennox Lewis in the second round, in Lewis' home town of London, England....
 | Decision (unan.) | 12 | 1995-09-02 | Wembley Stadium, London | WBC Title Fight |- | WIN | Mike Evans | KO | 2 | 1995-05-13 | Glasgow, Scotland | |- | WIN | Rodolfo Marin | KO | 1 | 1995-02-18 | Bath & West Country Showground | |- | WIN | Jesse Ferguson | TKO | 1 | 1994-03-16 | National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham | |- | LOSS | Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis

Lennox Claudius Lewis, Order of Canada, Order of the British Empire is a retired boxing who won gold for Canada at the Boxing at the 1988 Summer Olympics as an amateur boxing....
 | TKO | 7 | 1993-10-01 | Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom | WBC Heavyweight Title Fight |- | WIN | Carl Williams | TKO | 10 | National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham | 1993-04-24 | |- | WIN | Pierre Coetzer | TKO | 8 | 1992-10-17 | The Arena, Wembley, London, United Kingdom | |- | WIN | Jose Ribalta | KO | 2 | 1992-04-22 | The Arena, Wembley, London, United Kingdom | |- | WIN | John Emmen | TKO | 1 | 1991-11-20 | Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London | |- | LOSS | Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson, also known as Malik Abdul, is a retired United States Boxing. He was the List of undisputed boxing champions#Heavyweight and remains the youngest man ever to win a world heavyweight title at just 20 years old....
 | TKO | 5 | 1989-02-25 | Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | WBC , WBA , IBF heavyweight title Fight |- | WIN | Joe Bugner
Joe Bugner

J?zsef Kreul "Joe" Bugner is a United Kingdom/Australian former heavyweight Boxing.Born in Szoreg, Hungary, Bugner and his family fled after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and settled in England....
 | TKO | 8 | 1987-10-24 | White Hart Lane (Tottenham FC) | |- | WIN | Reggie Gross | TKO | 8 | 1987-08-30 | Nueva Andalucia Bullring, Marbella, Andalucía, Spain | |- | WIN | Chuck Gardner | KO | 1 | 1987-06-27 | Palais des Festivals, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France | |}

Trivia

  • He is a member of the entertainment charity the Grand Order of Water Rats
    Grand Order of Water Rats

    The Grand Order of Water Rats is an entertainment industry charitable organization based in London, England.The Water Rats were founded in 1889 by comedian Joe Elvin....
    .
  • He starred in the video game Frank Bruno's Boxing and was also doing promotion for the compilation Frank Bruno's Big Box.
  • He supports West Ham United F.C.
    West Ham United F.C.

    West Ham United Football Club is an England association football club based in Upton Park, London Borough of Newham, East London, England. They have played their home matches at the Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904....
     whilst also having an affinity for Celtic F.C.
    Celtic F.C.

    The Celtic Football Club is a Scotland Association football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League....
  • Bruno has 38 knockout wins from 40 victories; which is a 95% knockout record and gives Bruno one of the highest knockout percentages in heavyweight boxing history.
  • Frank Bruno's straight punch was 6320 newtons and the punch took only 0.1 seconds from start to finish.


  • One of his sons plays for Brentwood RFC where Frank often goes to watch him


See also

  • List of heavyweight boxing champions
    List of heavyweight boxing champions

    This is a chronological list of world heavyweight boxing champions since the introduction of the Marquess of Queensberry rules:...


External links

  • - Tribute on britishboxing.net
  • - BBC News profile 22 September 2003
  • - BBC Sport article 23 September 2003