How good could Frank Bruno have been if he hadn't trained like a body builder?

[GJC]

True. How his trainers never got on to his case about that earlier is beyond me!

Good for Frank though, I hope he really enjoyed those few months.

I think Terry Lawless overprotected him, he did that with a fair few of his fighters.
At a certain point a fighter has to move up in class and test himself, worse case he loses, learns and comes back more experienced for it. I think Bruno could have been developed into a better fighter than he was but the endless line of tomato cans, has beens and never was did little to help him.

[Sugarj]

I think Floyd Patterson said it best about Bruno when asked about his fistic chances early on in his career. He said 'Frank needs to come to the gyms of America...the gyms of America!'


But no, I dont think Frank ever used roids.

He was a well known exercise junkie, no suprise that he had a superb physique to compliment it.

I remember Terry Lawless once being asked about Frank having a stamina problem....just before the McCall fight. He said 'I dont think Frank has ever had a stamina problem, but hes a big muscular guy and when he tenses up it can be a problem'. They worked on loosening him up for McCall, I guess it was an improvement judging on the result. But hell he still looked super cut!

[Toney616]

He was a well known exercise junkie, no suprise that he had a superb physique to compliment it.

Its very hard to put on muscle when you are involved in a high endurance sport. Due to the fact that your body will turn to converting muscle into energy to fuel itself if you fat reserves are below a certain level, which is why I think its strange that a guy in boxing like Bruno can keep on packing on muscle the way he did.


1993-04-24 222 Carl Williams
1993-10-01 238 Lennox Lewis
1996-03-16 247 Mike Tyson
Thats a lot of muscle to put on

[Sugarj]

I'm a bit of a gym/track/roadwork junkie myself and I'm not too worried by those stats.

The 1993 stats obviously show a 16 pound increase in six months which for a 160Lb guy like me is too much lean muscle to easily put on in that time frame, but for a guy of Frank Bruno's size, its not terrifying......just over a stone in weight.

It wouldn't strike me as odd if much of Frank's training was based around strength training, explosive anaerobic drills, speedwork on track etc. He doesn't strike me as much of a distance runner. Of course, were he running 10 miles every day.........he would have to be eating huge amounts to maintain that weight.

[StarshipTrooper]

Not doing all those weights would most certainly have improved his stamina and reflexes: That alone would have made him a better fighter. His other problem of freezing when hurt, I honestly don't know what could help with that.

Poet

[Toney616]

His other problem of freezing when hurt, I honestly don't know what could help with that.
Poet

He said in his autobiography, that his trainers had told him to clinch when hurt or to take a knee, but he said that went against his fighting philosophy. I'm told he was holding a lot during the last couple of rounds with McCall, when he was clearly dead on his feet

[Toney616]

The 1993 stats obviously show a 16 pound increase in six months which for a 160Lb guy like me is too much lean muscle to easily put on in that time frame, but for a guy of Frank Bruno's size, its not terrifying......just over a stone in weight.

Two points:
1: I have read that the most muscle a guy can put on naturally is around 4 lbs a month
2: From the way it was explained to me is that when you are doing high intensity training(running, sparring etc) your body at first uses carbs to get energy, after that it turns to fat, if your body fat drops below a certain amount then it turns to muscle to fuel itself. This is the reason why long distance runners tend to be slim etc. So it should always be damned hard for a fighter to put on that much muscle

It wouldn't strike me as odd if much of Frank's training was based around strength training, explosive anaerobic drills, speedwork on track etc. He doesn't strike me as much of a distance runner. Of course, were he running 10 miles every day.........he would have to be eating huge amounts to maintain that weight.

That would of helped him in his fights with Smith, McCall and Witherspoon

[StarshipTrooper]

Two points:
1: I have read that the most muscle a guy can put on naturally is around 4 lbs a month
2: From the way it was explained to me is that when you are doing high intensity training(running, sparring etc) your body at first uses carbs to get energy, after that it turns to fat, if your body fat drops below a certain amount then it turns to muscle to fuel itself. This is the reason why long distance runners tend to be slim etc. So it should always be damned hard for a fighter to put on that much muscle

That would of helped him in his fights with Smith, McCall and Witherspoon

The problem is, I think, that Bruno's body was that of a weightlifter first and a fighter second. From that perspective he was more of a weightlifter who happend to box rather than a boxer who happend to lift weights.

Poet

[CiganoBoxer]

Sometimes I wonder if he used roids or something, to get that big

Nah Bruno was naturally built like that .....

[Toney616]

From that perspective he was more of a weightlifter who happened to box rather than a boxer who happend to lift weights.
Poet

lol
I guess thats one way of looking at it, although him and his trainers must of noticed that he was fading during the later rounds of sparring sessions. Fights were 15 rounds when he first started fighting, I just cant see how he could of ever lasted that long. He was clearly tired by around round 9 of the Witherspoon fight, also I noticed he had no answer to Witherspoons overhand right. If a fighter cant adjust in fights then he is aking for trouble