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As Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois prepare to face off this weekend, Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno recall their fight 31 years ago
It was 31 years ago when Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno appeared in the first world heavyweight title contest between two British boxers. It was on a rain-swept early October night at the old Cardiff Arms Park, a blockbuster event, and a defence of the World Boxing Council heavyweight title that Lewis remembers well.
Having stopped three other British rivals: Gary Mason, Derek Williams and Glenn McCrory, Lewis was attempting to win the hearts and minds of British fight fans after having won Olympic gold for Canada.
“This was definitely the fight [when] Lennox became a star for British fans,” Kellie Maloney, Lewis’s manager, told Telegraph Sport.
“We needed a new British heavyweight star and Lennox was the man. He had beaten the others, and Bruno, who was the darling of the British fans, needed to be beaten. That was a night that shifted the way Lennox was to be seen in our country.”
Lewis, who was born in West Ham, but moved to Canada at the age of 12, this week looked back on a pivotal moment in his career. “Me and Gary Mason, first, was a great fight, an all British fight,” he said. “It was almost like a street fight in the sense he had a lot of respect amongst street people. And beating him first was like the first test for me.”
But Lewis wanted to “conquer” all his British rivals, and knew he wanted victory over the fans. As well as Bruno. “It’s like a conquering thing, “Lewis added. “Taking his fans and making them believe in me, who was basically an Olympian, young and talking so confident. It was all about proving the point on the way to becoming undisputed champion.”
Lewis had beaten Mason in 1991, at Wembley Arena, stopping him in the seventh round, but Bruno was the mega-fight of its time, two years later.
“We had a deal with Cardiff, so we went there, I think it was 25,000 fans… it would have been bigger at Wembley – in fact it probably would have sold out there today today, like Dubois-Joshua – but we didn’t mind because we knew fewer fans would travel and there would be fewer against Lennox,” added Maloney.
“But you have to do what is best for your fighter. I can remember the night and the fight – running around the ring in the early rounds worrying about the scorecards because Frank was boxing really well.”
Lewis recalls that the fans were behind Bruno, then on his third attempt at a world title, having lost to Tim Witherspoon and Mike Tyson. “I was confident in the fact I wanted that fight and I couldn’t believe the people who didn’t see me as the champion – why are they believing in him?” he said. “He was older than me and didn’t have the type of boxing quality I had going to the Olympics and all that kind of thing.”
Maloney explained: “Let’s be blunt about it – they try to kill each other, and then they are friends afterwards. Look at Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder recently. Lewis was in the last era of the great heavyweights, in my opinion.”
There was needle back in 1993, too. Lewis admits he wound his opponent up, calling him an “Uncle Tom”, but insists that he and Bruno “are good with each other” although Bruno has also said that Lewis “was upsetting me at the time by saying some stupid things”.
“I shouldn’t have let him,” recalled Bruno in an interview with Telegraph Sport. “Only a two-faced rat could say someone is an Uncle Tom when his mother comes from the same Jamaica as my mum. I would never call anyone that, but he hit that low. That was very nasty to say a thing like that. I should have beaten him. But the better man won on the night.”
Now, it seems, the two great fighters are friends. “Me and him have spoken about it, we are good now, no problem,” added Lewis.
“Styles do make fights, but the occasion is key; it’s like a different world championship, it’s like the championship of Britain, when two Brits fight here for a world title,” added Lewis. “Me and Frank Bruno were really trying to knock each other out. It was more than just trying to show each other skills. We were trying to show skill, but with a stamp on it. He started off really fast, I started off fast. I think he could see every punch I was throwing. And then I calmed down and caught him with a good punch.”
Then in the seventh round, a looping left hook from Lewis finished his foe. “It was big. I had conquered Europe with the victory over Bruno. It was just like what Daniel Dubois has to do in his era of boxing.
“There is a point where you have to fight the top British guy. This is what he has been fighting for, to get to this point against Anthony Joshua. Now he is here, he knows what it takes. He has done all the work to get there, is he a finisher and can he complete his goal? This is his chance.”
Lewis sees other similarities with his Bruno fight.
“For Daniel, he has to go out there and not be over hyped, over exerted, throw these heavy punches. Both guys are going to be wary of each other’s power because they both have that knockout power. It’s going to be an interesting fight. It’s whoever can last. I would say Anthony Joshua has more experience, the two fights against Oleksandr Usyk. That’s the advantage I give to him. He’s had better trainers as well. The world experience is key.”
Lewis will be a TNT Sports pundit for the Dubois/Joshua fight at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Watch Riyadh Season Card: Joshua v Dubois, live on TNT Sports Box Office from 4pm on Saturday, September 21. Find out more
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