FRANK Bruno mixed it with some of the biggest names in the heavyweight division, beating Oliver McCall to claim the WBC belt in 1995 but also losing to Tim Witherspoon, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson (twice) in title fights.
He was the most popular fighter in Britain for a decade but even he couldn’t pull in 94,000 fans. That’s the number of tickets sold for Saturday’s showdown between WBC champion Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium and many more applicants were disappointed.
Bruno will be there, though, running the rule over both fighters at ringside and he’s anticipating a memorable evening in north-west London. Indeed, such is the interest in the fight that pay-per-view stations in the USA are charging aficionados $70 to watch it.
“That shows you there’s a demand for this contest,” said Bruno. “I just hope they both come out of it unharmed – at those prices they could have a draw and a rematch!
“One thing you can guarantee is that neither fighter will take any nonsense off the other one. I was a little surprised that Dillian has chosen not to take part in any of the press conferences to publicise the fight, though.
“Then again, he might have been advised to stay away because Tyson would have just put him down and, if his dad turns up, there could have been chairs thrown around so maybe it’s best that he didn’t turn up.
“Fury’s an exciting fighter. I don’t think you’ll ever see a No.1 like him again - he says he can drink 15 pints the night before a fight and then get into the ring and still box well.
“It’s not a good idea but that’s what he tells me. Maybe that’s why he did the Ali Shuffle when he got up after being knocked down by Wilder!
“Dillian’s a hard puncher and he has plenty of heart and guts but he needs a little more seasoning, do you know what I mean?
“To be fair to him, he’s fought everyone that’s around. He came close against Joshua, beat [former WB0 champion] Joseph Parker and he’s also been in twice with Dereck Chisora and won both times.
“I’ll be at Wembley on Saturday, working for BT Sport. I’m looking forward to it – it’ll be a good fight.
“Dillian is a dangerous opponent, mainly because he’s brave rather than due to his boxing skills, although he does have a good left hand and he can hurt you with his body shots,” he insisted.
“However, if he boxes smart, I have to go for Tyson Fury, although Dillian will give him a run for his money while it lasts and he definitely has a puncher’s chance.”
Even so, the bout which would create most demand remains a contest between Fury and Anthony Joshua, assuming the former prevails next weekend and the latter can regain his WBA, WBO and IBF titles from Oluksandr Usyk this summer.
“Fury v Joshua is the big one, the fight everyone wants to see and I just hope they can come up with the right money to persuade both of them to meet,” he said.
“I don’t know what happened in that first fight against Andy Ruiz [when Joshua was floored four times]: something weird went on. I just hope he can keep himself together and do what he needs to do when they meet again.
“There’s something wrong when he gets hit in the head. If you go lower then he’s not so suspect but punch him in the face and he starts breakdancing.”
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