Frank Bruno says he would have backed himself against both Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury in his prime but admits their Cardiff superfight is “too close to call”.
Joshua and Fury meet at the Principality Stadium on December 11, bringing an all-British heavyweight superfight back to the city where Bruno met Lennox Lewis in 1993.
Frank, 64, said: “Although I can’t get in the ring myself anymore, I still get very excited about the big fights. Anthony Joshua against Tyson Fury has all the makings of a classic.
“Who will win it? I reckon it’s too close to call. Sorry to sit on the fence, but you could make a strong argument for either of them.
“Tyson is a very, very tricky character. But Anthony’s no mug, and if he gets his head straight he could pull it off.”
Writing in his new book, Bruno: Still Fighting, Frank continues: “People often ask me who I’d have fancied out of the two of them in a fight. Well, I never feared anybody.
“If you’d put Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury in the opposite corner from me in my prime, I’d have backed myself. That’s how you’ve got to think if you’re going to become heavyweight champion of the world.”
Frank also believes Joshua could be inspired by the memory of two close friends and team members killed in a car crash in Nigeria last December. Joshua suffered minor injuries in the collision.
He writes: “I was very sad to read about the tragic death of AJ’s trainers in a car accident. Having lost my [trainer] George far too early I know the impact that will have on AJ. Perhaps there’s part of him that will want to win the Fury fight in their memory.”
Frank has also defended retired fighters who accept big-money offers to return to the ring. Mike Tyson, who wrote the foreword to Frank’s book, is among those to have pocketed tens of millions, while Oliver McCall, beaten by Frank for the WBC title in 1995, has been back in action since 2024 and is reportedly up for one more fight.
Frank said: “Once you’ve got boxing in your blood, it’s hard to shake it off. And if someone’s going to offer you ten million pounds to box some fella off YouTube, why wouldn’t you take it? I still get offers today, believe it or not.
“People have waved a million pounds under my nose to fight again. And I’m not going to lie, at times, it’s tempting. The eye injury which ended my career is no worse than it was the day I retired.
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“But, even so, I’ve got to listen to the doctors and be a good boy, so I won’t be getting back in the ring. Sorry to disappoint anybody hoping otherwise.”
To buy a signed copy of Bruno: Still Fighting, visit https://www.frankbruno.co.uk/product/frank-bruno-signed-new-book-still-fighting/
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