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Mike Tyson defends his WBC, WBA and IBF World Heavyweight titles against one of the U.K.'s biggest punchers, Frank Bruno. This was Tyson's first professional fight without trainer, Kevin Rooney. More info below... (Sound starts at 0:25 sorry) Frank Bruno is one of England's most beloved boxers and celebrity personalities. He turned pro in 1982 following a successful amateur career in which he won the ABA Heavyweight Championship. Bruno won his first 21 fights by KO before being stopped himself by James “Bonecrusher“ Smith in 1984. Bruno would bounce back however and in 1985 he beat Anders Eklund to win the European Heavyweight title. In 1986 Bruno picked up the biggest win of his career to date when he knocked out former WBA World Heavyweight Champion, Gerrie Coetzee. The win against Coetzee earned Bruno his first world title shot against WBA World Heavyweight Champion, Tim Witherspoon. Unfortunately for Bruno he was stopped in the 11th round in a somewhat dull affair. Bruno won his next 4 fights by KO which included James “Quick“ Tillis and Joe Bugner among the victims, earning him another World title shot against a young and dangerous, Mike Tyson. Bruno entered the fight with a 32-2 record with an impressive 30 KO's! Mike Tyson at this point in his career was the biggest name in boxing. Undefeated in 35 fights and the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history, Tyson was seen as invincible. He turned pro in March 1985 and by November 1986 Tyson had won the WBC World Heavyweight title by knocking out Trevor Berbick. He followed this up by taking the WBA World Heavyweight title from James “Bonecrusher“ Smith and the IBF World Heavyweight title from Tony Tucker in 1987. Tyson had already defended his Unified World Heavyweight Championship 4 times against undefeated Tyrell Biggs, former long time WBC and IBF World Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes, former WBA World Heavyweight Champion Tony Tubbs and former Unified World Light Heavyweight Champion, Michael Spinks. His record was 35 wins which included 16 1st round KO's! Frank Bruno didn't back down from Tyson when they finally got in the ring together. Although Bruno was knocked down very early, it was more a slip than anything else, and he wasn't hurt. Tyson thought he could finish off Bruno in the first round but Bruno showed his toughness and stood his ground... although he was deducted a point for holding and hitting. Before the end of the 1st round Bruno caught Tyson with a solid left hook that wobbled Tyson for the first time in his career! The pro-English crowd went wild hoping for a KO but Bruno was unable to finish Tyson off. Bruno never came close again to putting Tyson away for the remainder of the fight and in round 5 it was finally all over with Tyson unloading on a defenseless Bruno who got trapped in the corner... Another KO win for Tyson. Bruno wisely took a near 3 year hiatus from the ring but successfully returned in November 1991 and picked up 4 wins a row, all by KO. In 1993 Bruno got another shot at a World title when he challenged WBC World Heavyweight Champion, Lennox Lewis. Although Bruno gave a good account of himself and was even possibly ahead on the scorecards, he was stopped in the 7th round. In 1995, Bruno got another shot at the WBC World Heavyweight title, this time held by Oliver McCall who had knocked out Lewis to win the belt. Although McCall had stopped Lewis by a sensational 2nd round TKO, many felt he simply got lucky... and Bruno solidified that opinion when he easily outpointed McCall over 12 rounds to finally realize his dream of being a World Heavyweight Champion! Bruno's time at the top was short lived however as in 1996 he met Tyson in a rematch and was put away within 3 rounds... Following the loss Bruno retired from the ring with a 40-5 record. In 2016, Bruno himself sparked rumors of a possible return at the age of 54...
