(ominous piano music)
Downloaded from YTS.MX
- [Frank Bruno] I was hanging around
with the wrong sort of, like, people.
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
I was fascinated with bad guys.
I think, if I hadn't stopped
hanging around with them people,
I might not have been here today.
- [Lynette Bruno] He was always in a fight.
He used to fight the teachers, his friends,
he used to fight everybody.
- [Frank Bruno] My mom warned me that if I don't
behave myself and pull my socks up,
I'd be sent to a boarding school.
(train whistle)
I got expelled from my primary school
and got cast away to Sussex.
(school bell rings)
They taught me a lot of discipline, focus and manners.
Didn't have the education to be a lawyer or solicitor.
That's where I decided I'm going to be a boxer.
(crowd cheering)
(bell rings)
- [Ring Announcer] Oh, he's got a K.O. Second round.
And Bruno does it again.
- This guy is an awesome puncher.
- I don't think the men in the street
have any idea how powerful he is.
Just a touch, could floor your (indistinct)
(intense music)
- [Interviewer] Do you ever wonder why you
can hit people so hard?
You seem to have a gift for it.
- If you want something in life
and you want to be something in life,
you just work and go for it as they say in America.
Just go for it.
♪ We gone let them know my story ♪
♪ Take all their gold, their glory ♪
♪ My mama said, "You're going to be a champion." ♪
- [Frank Bruno] I'ma hope to be the
heavyweight champion of the world.
I've been a underdog for a long, long, long time.
- [Ring Announcer] Can Frank Bruno become our
first heavyweight champion this century?
- [Frank Bruno] Dreams do come true, just remember that.
- The heavyweight champion of
the world is the pinnacle.
Is the number one spot in sport.
- It's a rocky road, the boxing game.
- [Laura Bruno] He's got a family that adore him.
He's my Frank.
♪ My mama said, "One day you're going to be a champion." ♪
- [Frank Bruno] I had the family life,
ready to put on the table.
I had it all worked out, you know.
I could make as much money as I could boxing.
I would have reigned supreme,
if it weren't for Iron Mike Tyson.
- [Ring Announcer] Mike Tyson!
- [Frank Bruno] Mike Tyson is frightening.
- He's an animal,
he just loves to hurt people.
- [Frank Bruno] Psychologically, mentally and physically.
- [Mike Tyson] I feel I was born to fight.
I'll fuck you in your ass, you punk white boy.
They want my title, but they're not getting it.
- [Laura Bruno] Frank has got the support
that Mike Tyson will never have
because people truly love him.
- I don't want you to go daddy.
- Oh no, Rach, Rach, Rach, Rach, Rach, Rach, Rach, Rach.
(suspenseful music)
(birds chirping)
- I have a friend who's a judge
and when he gets a person
like he did this particular one who came.
The judge felt that in the sport there was some good.
Something worth saving there.
- [Mike Tyson] Gravy on there already.
- Mike Tyson, he had a tough upbringing.
He had been arrested 38 times by the age of 13.
And when legendary trainer, Cus D'Amato, met him,
he had no parents and no home.
So he adopted him as his son.
- He said, well, I always liked boxing.
I said, "If he's into boxing, I can tell you now,
I can do something with him."
Alright, Camille, are you going to be seated?
- Yes, I am going to be seated.
- Alright.
- [Cus] If he wants to be the fighter,
he says he wants to be.
He has to subject himself to those rules and the framework
of this house and the demands of the gymnasium.
(group chatter)
If I went to a restaurant, right?
And took off a very expensive coat and hung it up.
And on the coat you put it a little card
and on it, it says,
"This coat belongs to the
heavyweight champion of the world."
Turn back, the coat is gone.
There's a little card, another card.
"This coat was stolen by the
fastest runner in the world, come and get me."
(laughing)
- Is that for reals?
- [Mike Tyson] I was just very ambitious
and I wanted people to know my name.
I was just fed that,
I was fed that every day from my trainer.
You're the best ever.
People are going to know your name.
The world's going to know you.
People are going to name their children after you.
And I was worried, I didn't want to disappoint them
and make them look stupid.
- (indistinct)
My job is to take the spark and fan it.
Gotcha, see?
Ain't no way he's going to hit you now.
Right?
When it starts to become a little flame I feed it.
And I feed the fire till it becomes a roaring blaze.
(dramatic music)
- [Cus D' Amato] We'll do the uppercuts another time.
- [Narrator] By 20, he was the world's
youngest ever heavyweight champion.
- I wanted to make my mentor look correct.
And that was my main objective.
I wanted to make him happy
to have the youngest heavyweight champ.
- That was my first guest,
who certainly knows how to survive.
It's the people who are on the receiving end
of one of his punches that have the problems.
Will you please welcome the undisputed heavyweight champion
of the world, Mike Tyson.
(upbeat music)
(audience clapping)
- Is this some kind of truss that you've brought out?
- No.
- What's that?
- These are my championship belts.
- That's the WBC one.
- Yes.
- Yeah, look at that.
Fantastic, they're terrific.
You saw Frank Bruno today.
Is he in good shape?
- He looks in great shape.
- Does he?
- You sparred with Bruno.
- Yeah.
- Was this when you were an up and coming fighter?
- We were both young.
He was like 20, I was like 15,
when we first started.
- Frank Bruno has always said
that boxing really saved him from a life of crime.
Would that be true of you?
Because it has been said that you
were a pretty rough diamond when you were young.
- I came from a very wild and active neighbourhood
when I was a young kid.
But it's really difficult for me to believe
that Frank Bruno was saved from a life of crime...
- Cause meeting with the guy - Now, he always said that
- and talking with the guy,
I can't picture him being a fighter.
He's so thoughtful and he's such a sweet guy.
You want to give him a hug and give him a kiss.
- [News Reporter] Iron Mike has come a long way
since the days on the Brooklyn streets, open armed robberies
and muggings and house breakings.
- There was a tremendous excitement
about the possibility of Bruno and Tyson fighting.
And Frank with his big laugh,
the guy that trained above the Royal Oak Pub,
wanted to disprove the doubts that people had.
- [Interviewer] George has said, he's going to
turn you into an animal.
Now, you've always been the most lovable...
- Right?
- [Interviewer] Pussycat
- [Frank Bruno] Well I'll be an animal, Jimmy.
- [Jimmy] Will you?
- [Frank Bruno] Yeah.
- [Jimmy] In what way?
- In a lot of ways, you know,
because it's just so important to me.
- The '80s were boring
until Frank Bruno came along.
He changed how people looked at the sport.
Every time he fought on TV,
the public would go wild about it.
- Frank Bruno's unthreatening nature
was the secret to his success.
- You know, as long as I keep my feet on the ground
and don't start being a Playboy and everything like that,
I should build up all the time.
- [Prof Ben Carrington] In Britain, Bruno came to
represent the acceptable face of black masculinity.
- [News Reporter] His parents came from the West Indies.
They were among the first immigrants
to settle in this part of the world.
And then he became, well,
as Cockney as steak and kidney pie.
- You took a bit of a stick from some of the critics,
didn't you at the beginning?
And now I know this,
they're all coming around
and saying that you're really good at it.
- And I'm here, I'm just a ducker and diver,
just trying to make a living, you know.
(laughing)
(audience laughs)
- Frank cared about other things.
He cared about what other people wanted.
He cared about what people thought about him.
That could have been a weakness.
- [Prof Ben Carrington] Tyson, on the other hand,
was untamed.
He was feared.
The media loved to hate Tyson.
- [Press] We all think now of a fight
of you against Bruno.
Is that something you're looking forward to?
- We're looking forward to
the possibility of fighting Bruno.
- A lot will depend on how the Bruno goes against Tillis.
- The crowd and Bruno know that he
has to do a really good job tonight.
If he does, it could put him on the path
to the world heavyweight title.
And the man who holds the world heavyweight title,
I'm delighted to say is sitting right beside me
and is going to help me with the commentary tonight.
Mike Tyson, welcome to Wembley, Mike.
- Thank you very much Harry.
- [Frank Bruno] My dreams is win championship of the world.
I got my chance, not letting it pass me, you know.
(bell rings)
- [Harry] Bruno's entire career at stake here.
- Frank never was great with speed,
but he had a right hand, like, you know, it was
probably like getting hit in the head with a tree trunk.
(crowd cheering)
- [Harry] Good uppercut from Bruno.
Tillis is badly hurting and he doesn't want to fight on
and the referee stopped it anyway.
(crowd cheering)
Maybe one of these days Mike, you'll be in there with him.
- I commend you, you came out very well
and I'm very impressed.
- That's very kind of you, Mike.
- And I look forward to meeting you in the future.
- I look forward to meeting you as well.
- Thank you very much. - Nice one.
- I think you're a great man. - Thank you.
Same to you, Mike.
- [News Reporter] Mike Tyson has signed to fight
Frank Bruno in London,
the richest fight in British boxing history.
- Frank Bruno is hoping to beat the American, Tyson.
And so become the first Britain, this century,
crowned as the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- [Press] Do you really believe you can win this fight?
- There's no man unbeatable at all and there's only one God.
- Boxing is a business.
Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno were going to be
the biggest fight ever in this country.
90,000 people and Frank had the opportunity
to make more money than ever before.
- Frank face this way slightly.
- [Dave Davies] He was going to get a million quid.
- [Press] Some people would say
you're just doing it for the money.
- The money does help pay the light bills
and put petrol in the car.
- [Press] He's supposed to be something
of a tiger in the ring.
He's demolished some pretty hard me, hasn't he?
- Right, it's people like you that are
making him sound like he's monster.
I'm one stone heavier than him
and he's fighting in my country, so I'm happy.
- [Narrator] But Frank sadly did not get his dream.
(ominous music)
- [News Reporter] Tyson's car skidded off a wet road
and slammed into a tree knocking the fighter unconscious.
- [News Reporter] He was taken to a local hospital
and then transferred to one in New York City.
All the while his wife tried to keep the media away.
- Give us a break!
- [News Reporter] In an interview with
ABC television this evening,
Givens had called her marriage to Tyson, pure hell,
describing the heavyweight champion
as a manic depressive who terrorised her.
- It was humiliating.
Tyson's demons were being laid bare on national TV.
And he just sat there and said nothing.
- I went from one corner on the wall,
bounced off that corner of the wall to another corner
and then I was out.
- [News Reporter] October's world heavyweight fight
between Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno is off.
Tyson suffered head injuries in a car crash at the weekend.
He will fight Bruno eventually, but it's not known when.
- It's sad, you know, because I've done a solid
four months, training for this fight.
And I've been away from home for four months
and it's been hard taking it to be quite honest.
I've been putting in a lot of work.
A lot, a lot of work.
You hear all crazy questions about people saying
you shouldn't go in the same ring as him,
he's busted his hand, he's done his rib in,
he's done his brain in and he's confused at the moment
so wouldn't you think I have much more of a better chance?
(church bells ringing)
- I think being wrapped up
in the whole Mike Tyson story only
propelled Frank further into the limelight.
In 1989 in Britain, really, no other sportsman
had anything like his profile, but he was in limbo.
And the only way he was going to get to the title
was to go and meet Tyson in person
and try to beg him to confirm a fight date.
- [News Reporter] British boxer, Frank Bruno
has set off to Los Angeles to meet the man
he wants to fight for the world heavyweight title.
Which has been postponed five times since last June.
- [Paul Dempsey] By December, the fight had been delayed
and delayed and delayed.
And I think Frank felt like
the opportunity was slipping away from him.
- [Press] Do you think it was any deliberate attempt
to try and unsettle you?
- He might've been trying to unsettle me,
but I've been training nearly every day.
I'm a little bit old now and I'm a man,
I could stand up towards that sort of thing.
I'm very, very confident it's going to be on this time,
I'm not going there for the suntan.
- [Press] What will you be saying
to Mr. Tyson when you get there?
- I'm not too sure, all I wanna know is
that he's going to be in the opposite corner.
(aeroplane engine roaring)
- [Paul Dempsey] The plan worked.
Frank finally got his fight
and a bigger payday for his trouble,
but there was a catch.
- Now 2 million pounds is the purse.
Presumably that's because the venues changed.
It won't take place in Britain, but Las Vegas.
Does that bother you?
- It does bother me a little bit because my true fans
you know what I mean?
Sort of like wanting to see the fight.
The fight was made in England,
And it's a little bit disappointing.
- The sun's coming up Frank.
- Yeah.
- He hated being away from home.
He was very homesick.
- [Interviewer] You bring the family over?
Your mom come over?
- My mom's coming over for the fight.
My lady's coming over.
My brother and sisters are coming over
and there's 2000 people from England.
- 2000 people from England?
- 2000 coming over. - And they're all staying
at your place?
- No.
(laughing)
- Does your mom, does she sit right up in and..
- No. She's just coming to Vegas just to come to Vegas.
She's an evangelist so she doesn't really like boxing.
(laughing)
- I can't think of a better place
for evangelists than Vegas.
- I've never been there before.
And I think he chooses that I should be there this time.
I mean, you have got to bend over backwards at times
to please everybody, especially in your family.
And I'm doing just that.
- I miss home, I miss England,
but it's a job where I've got to do.
- Do you think it would help if
you could have the children or see the children?
- It's lifestyle, I moved away
after Christmas from seeing them.
I miss them.
I speak to them nearly every single day and I love them.
And if they're listening.... - Will you speak to them now?
Because I have them. - Where are they?
- I have them here.
You'll be able to see them.
- You're joking. - Here they come,
that's Rachel and Nicola.
(upbeat music)
(audience cheering)
(audience clapping)
- [Frank Bruno] I love you Darling.
You be good for Mommy.
(audience cheering)
- If there was one guy to beat Mike Tyson,
it was Frank Bruno, because he had the stature,
the strength and the power.
- [Frank Bruno] It's all about the will to win.
- [Des] This was a great moment
of opportunity for Frank, because Mike Tyson
seemed to have completely lost his way.
- [Press] So how's the training going?
Because Bruno is kind of hoping you're
not going to be fit enough.
I mean, what's the word on that?
- Great shape, great shape.
- [Press] Are you feeling in great shape?
- Well not great shape but I'm in good enough
shape to fight.
(laughing)
- [Frank Bruno] The guy had a car crash,
he damaged his hand.
His mind is not on the game.
His mind is not conditioned for this fight.
And I was confident before all this happened.
I think this is the prime time to beat Mike Tyson.
- [News Reporter] If Bruno can find the punch of his life,
then he believes he can fulfil what he says is his destiny,
the heavyweight championship of the world.
- Don King has tried to make my Tyson out to be Superman,
but I got kryptonite to beat him.
Thanks very much.
(crowd cheering)
♪ There's only one Frankie Bruno ♪
♪ One Frankie Bruno ♪
- Win or lose, white Britain had embraced Bruno.
- [Crowd Chanting] Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!
- [Announcer] They would like to hear Bruno
give a preview of what you can expect in the ring Saturday.
- A new heavyweight champion from England.
- Anybody who hits like Frank
has got a chance with anybody in the world,
because you only have to hit somebody once
in the right place at the right time.
- And you've won.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] It's a story of hard work
versus raw talent.
Bruno lived by the rules,
he lived to serve his country.
(crowd cheering) - [Announcer] Frank Bruno
weighs in at 228 pounds.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Tyson, on the other hand,
was framed by the U S media as a dangerous deviant.
- [Announcer] Mike Tyson weighs in at an even 218 pounds.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Two men, so much in common.
Were loved and hated in equal measure.
- Welcome to ringside in Las Vegas.
- Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!
(crowd cheering)
- Everybody's had an opinion
about what would happen when Frank Bruno
entered the ring against Mike Tyson.
Well, we're about to see.
Bruno is on his way to the ring.
The most important night of his life.
A momentous occasion in the history of British boxing.
- [Commentator] And there comes the gladiator.
- [Commentator] Mike Tyson makes his way
to the ring.
Can Bruno pull off the greatest British win of the century?
You ready Harry?
- I'm ready Des, is Frank?
- [Ring Announcer] This is the main event of the evening
for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.
In the blue corner, the challenger, Frank Bruno!
(crowd cheering)
And in the red corner,
the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world,
Iron Mike Tyson!
(crowd cheering)
(music intensifies)
(bell rings)
- [Des] Here is the moment of truth.
(crowd cheering)
- In round one Tyson's like a bull.
He just charges at Bruno.
- [Harry] And there goes Bruno.
- [Narrator] Bruno's hurt
and he's only in the first few seconds.
It's disaster time.
- [Harry] He cut Bruno. He was wobbled
and then another right hand cut him up over the shoulder,
got him off balance.
- [Des] That must've been a dreadful blow to his morale.
- I think Tyson thought that this was gonna be one way.
It was going to be easy cake,
but Frank was fighting to win.
- [Des] Get in there Frank!
But fighting back (indistinct), Tyson.
(crowd cheering)
He knows he can hurt him now.
- [Harry] One strike gets him in a good right
and a left hook and that wobbled Tyson!
- [Commentator] Tyson gets down with a left hook,
Tyson looks wobbly.
- I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing.
- [Des] And nobody has hurt Mike Tyson before,
but Bruno did.
- I'm out of my seat, I'm absolutely out of my seat.
Cause you just think he could actually win.
- [Des] Bruno, pumping out punches!
- [Harry] Tyson, trying to fight back.
That the first time I've seen Tyson stagger.
(bell rings)
The bell ends round number one and the crowd loves it!
So Bruno went down, but not hurt
and Bruno tagged Tyson and then hurt him.
(crowd cheering)
- [Narrator] It must've been a fantastic feeling
to go back to the corner for Frank.
The first round had gone much better
than anybody had really hoped.
- [Teddy Atlas] Nobody likes to get the hit in the head
by anybody, much less a big strong guy like Bruno.
And I'm sure that from a mental standpoint,
Tyson's expectations were turned.
- [Commentator] It will be interesting to see
if he's like a wild man in round two.
- [Des] Frank had some other
good moments in rounds two and three.
- [Narrator] Good left hook from Bruno again.
- [Narrator] But Tyson started to take control back
and he went up a gear immediately.
(intense orchestral music)
- [Harry] Tyson is punishing Frank Bruno right now.
- [Des] He's loving right hand hook Bruno.
- [Harry] Bruno, he can't let Tyson come in
and again he hangs on.
- [Narrator] Frank was taking more and more punishment.
And in the fifth round the end was inevitable.
- [Harry] Tyson trying to attack now
to finish him off.
Lands a big right hand!
Bruno's in big trouble now.
He's ready to go.
- [Des] But Bruno was too brave for his own good.
- [Harry] He's still in big trouble,
the uppercut catches him, the right hand catches him.
- [Des] He's put up a wall of resistance,
but I think it's going.
He can't stop the man coming to him.
His mouth is bleeding, his nose is bleeding.
- [Harry] Tyson knows he's got him in big trouble.
(orchestral music intensifies)
- [Harry] Richard Steele has moved in
and has stopped the fight.
- [Des] Bruno's brave challenge has come to an end.
- [Harry] Micheal Tyson wins on a fifth round.
T.K.O (echo)
(crowd cheering)
(harp music)
- Okay, give some room, (indistinct).
(group chattering)
- You did us proud, you did us proud.
- You weren't intimidated at all, Frank?
- Not one little bit, I'm more intimidated by you.
- Good luck.
- Frank left the ring,
but there's no way he's a loser.
Because he's got the support
that Mike Tyson will never have,
because people don't truly love him.
And they love Frank.
If Tyson walked out that ring a loser,
he'd have nobody.
He hasn't got what Frank's got.
Frank's got a family that adore him
and he's never a loser to us.
Cause he's ours, he's our Frank.
- Ah. You have done a good job.
- Cheers mom.
I haven't seen my kids for nearly two months
so that's the first thing I want to see.
Thank you everybody, cheers.
- [Cameraman] Thank you very much.
(group chattering)
- He found his composure, did he ever hurt you Mike?
- Well, he he was throwing hard punches.
I got hit with some hard punches,
but I refused to be hurt.
- [Colin Hart] Tyson regarded himself
as being invincible.
And there was no reason to doubt
his invincibility at that time.
- [Narrator] We were all blown
away by the performance of Tyson.
On that night, Bruno had probably
faced the best Mike Tyson ever.
- I knew that he was going to be tough,
because I knew that he read the papers
and he was so psyched out and that he said,
"this is the peak time to beat Mike Tyson".
(laughing)
And I knew he had that in his mind
and I knew he was serious to fight.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] You would have thought that
this would have ended Frank's moment in the limelight.
But I think it was the manner
in which he lost that made the public
love him even more.
- It's so difficult, you know,
like I was a, I went in there
a hundred percent confident and I got knocked down.
So that messed up my confidence, my balance and everything,
but I'm not making no excuses.
Mike Tyson is a good fighter
and I can't take nothing away from him.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] He got lifted aloft and carried
on people's shoulders throughout the nation,
everybody was patting Frank Bruno on the back.
- [Security] Move back!
(upbeat 80's pop music)
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] But that's really
not what he wanted,
he wanted the heavyweight championship of the world.
- [Narrator] He'd spent 15 years of his life
working toward producing a performance
that would give him a victory.
- I thought he was fantastic what he'd done.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] If someone like Mike Tyson
was at the helm.
He was always going to have an impossible task
of fulfilling his ultimate dream.
(music slows and softens)
- [Narrator] The problem really for Tyson was as good
as he performed against Bruno,
there was this sense of impending chaos, all around him.
(roaring crowd)
- Anyone growing up the way Mike Tyson grew up
would have a deeply flawed personality.
He grew up on the streets, fighting for his life.
- When his mentor Cus D'Amato died,
Tyson had nobody to keep him under control.
- He needed a father.
The time he only had he gave him how to fight,
that's about all, but actually how to live,
he didn't have enough time.
- The Bernardsville Police Department received a call
indicating a disturbance was in progress
at the Tyson residence.
- [News Reporter] Robin Givens fled to California
from her husband, the heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson.
And today, Marvin Mitchelson
filed for a Given's divorce from Tyson.
- [Alan Dershowitz] After Mike and Robbie Givens broke up,
emotionally he was destroyed.
That's what enabled Don King to take over
- Anything, just call on me.
I got mucho dinero, no problem.
(laughing)
- [Alan Dershowitz] He's one of the great
con artists of all time.
- I'm telling you, you better talk to me
cause I don't like what's going down here.
I paid fighters more money
than anyone in the history of this sport.
Only thing I could be guilty of is hitting them
in the head with hundred dollar bills.
- [Alan Dershowitz] Don's motive was to put Mike back
in the street punk mentality,
because Mike's attorneys were Don's attorneys.
- [News Reporter] Turbulent Tyson slipped away
from training for an unannounced trip to Vancouver
to visit his estranged wife, Robin Givens.
While there, he'd assaulted a TV crew.
It all added to the speculation that
he may be in no fit emotional state.
- They don't care about Mike,
they care about money.
- [Teddy Atlas] The undoing of Tyson
had started already.
The reckless behaviour, the chaos,
it was allowed more.
Add an arsonist in your midst,
problem with King was he'd give him matches.
- [Island Man] I have been shipwrecked on this Island
for three long years.
I was becoming weary of the same old food.
Then one day I came across a wooden case,
inside I found a curry sauce, a chilli sauce
and spicy tomato, all from HP.
My food was now much improved.
I wish I could say the same for Friday.
He still can't get my name right.
- Pass the sauce, Harry.
- [Island Man] Add variety to life
with the new sauces from HP.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] I think any fighter in Frank's situation
at that time, did need a period away from boxing.
Commercially, Frank was a
hotter proposition than ever before.
And he did take the opportunity to maximise that.
- This is 1989, the days of just having a guy
as a boxer was one thing.
If you've got a guy with a personality like Frank,
then there's obviously lots of opportunities
in television, advertising, sponsorship,
that sort of thing.
- He could even go on to have
a long future as a TV personality.
- What is your requirements, Michael?
- [Interviewer] Why do you think that is?
- I think it's because he's just such a nice guy
- [Interviewer] And it doesn't matter if he's a loser?
- Exactly.
(upbeat music)
- Do you think you are more an entertainer than a fighter?
- I'm just a ducker and diver, you know,
I do a little bit entertaining, a little bit of boxing.
- You wouldn't find Mike Tyson doing that, would you?
- But that's my sweetie money, you know?
(laughing)
(crowd cheering)
(group chattering)
- And go, and in.
- [Together] Bome!
- Right, that's
the sort of thing. - Yeah I understand.
- When you do pantomime, it doesn't do your boxing
any favours, you know, the two don't really mix.
- [Interviewer] How are you enjoying your first acting role?
- It's a different experience, its pretty nice.
very different, unusual.
- [Interviewer] Bit different from boxing though.
- Yeah, totally different.
- [Host] I'm delighted to say he's joining us
live from Las Vegas right now.
The undisputed heavyweight champion of the world,
Iron Mike Tyson.
- Mike in honourable a position as
the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world
and for maintaining your unbeaten record in 1989.
I'm very happy indeed to present you with
the BBC's overseas sports personality of the year award.
Congratulations. - Thank you very much Harry.
(audience clapping)
- [Host] Well alongside me is the man
that I suppose you dealt with back in February,
Frank Bruno.
You've got anything to say here to Frank?
- How you doing Frank?
He's singing nowadays.
Give us a little verse, let's hear what you gonna sing.
- No, no, you got me on the spot.
You know I can't sing.
- Of course, we don't really know Frank,
whether there's any prospect of
you two getting together again.
- Well I was just going to ask him
if he's still on, you know.
You just let him go.
- Well of course, for the moment
you are otherwise engaged, aren't you?
Do you mind if we have a little look
at your most recent performance Frank?
(crowd cheering)
- I think there were moments that
he would probably go back to the hotel room afterwards
and think, Oh God, I'm not doing my career anymore.
He didn't have a purpose.
He never got that buzz that he got from boxing.
- Hello Beautiful.
- Thanks Darling, but I'm only acting.
(laughing)
- [Host] Ladies and gentlemen,
Frank Bruno was a great spot.
(audience clapping)
- [Rachel Bruno] I knew something wasn't right.
He was down.
He wasn't happy.
(male voiceover)
- I'm still in great shape
and there's no way I can lose.
- [Press] In terms of sports psychology and so on.
Do you have a method?
- No.
- [Press] None at all?
- I fight, nothing better.
You can have a psychiatrist,
you can have whatever, you can't fight you (beep).
(bell rings)
(crowd cheering)
- [Commentator] Douglas looks pretty dangerous
with that right.
Tyson is having his problems.
Oh and Douglas there, really looking
to explode the right hand.
Look at that right uppercut!
Tyson is down!
Tyson is down for the first time in his career!
(James Buster Douglas voiceover)
- [Commentator] We never thought we'd see this.
You may be watching the biggest sensation
in heavyweight history.
It is all over.
The title has gone from Mike Tyson.
- Tyson didn't really
take Buster Douglas too serious
and when you don't, you know, history happens.
- [Commentator] Buster Douglas is the new
heavyweight champion of the world!
(James Buster Douglas voiceover)
- [Interviewer] What do you think went wrong?
- I mean, I just wasn't right, you know what I mean?
Took it for granted.
Took my body for granted.
Took my skills for granted.
I mean, you have to leave the girls alone,
leave late nights alone.
Just concentrate on what you doing.
The King is dead.
Mike Tyson's reign as heavyweight champion is over.
Frank Bruno, does that make it any easier
for you to make a decision to come back?
- The way people were talking about Tyson
as if he was King Kong.
I'm not running down Tyson now,
cause he's got beaten or anything,
but no one is King Kong.
Nobody's invincible.
(church bells ringing)
- I put the hat on.
- [Press] It's been quite a year for you,
you've been in panto, you've got married.
- You've got on with it. - Yeah.
I've been ducking and diving.
Yeah. I'm here talking to you press guys.
It's been quite an exciting year for me.
So many commentators enjoyed the demise of Mike Tyson.
But in semi retirement, Frank was still a hero.
- Thank you very much gentlemen.
♪Pump up the jam ♪
♪Pump it up ♪
♪While your feet are stomping ♪
♪And the jam is pumping ♪
♪Look ahead, the crowd is jumpin' ♪
- [Dave Davies] Frank was a very wealthy man.
He was able to hire helicopters,
fly in celebrities for his children's birthday parties.
♪ A place to stay ♪
♪ Get your booty on the floor, tonight ♪
♪ Make my day ♪
But it didn't matter how things went in his personal life,
Frank wanted that title.
- It's like being married and your wife
running away from you and you love her
and she just won't come back.
You know, always in your heart.
- [Commentator] It is all over!
The title has gone from Mike Tyson.
- Any normal person would have
taken that loss and learned
a real lesson from it.
But not Mike Tyson.
His attitude was still one of,
I can take whatever I want,
I can do whatever I want.
And nobody's going to stop me.
Mike Tyson was only in town for 24 hours,
but in those 24 hours he blew in like a tornado.
He was by himself
so he decided to just go ahead
and show up at Miss Black America.
- Oh, I'm in a dream day after day.
Beautiful women (indistinct).
What can I say?
- Yeah, definitely.
That's sounds better.
- No, I'm only playing.
- [Jeff Modisett] It turned out to be
the worst mistake of Mike Tyson's life.
- He put his arm around me
and I thought it was going to my waist,
but it went to my rear end
and he rubbed it and squeezed or whatever.
- Doing some little moves here.
Cause you know this, I'm going in and out, laterals.
You know, being horizontal.
Working it over.
(giggling)
- [Jeff Modisett] He was clearly out of control.
He almost had kind of a roving hunter look to him.
- You look good 14.
I forgot.
(indistinct)
- [Jeff Modisett] He had all of these women
clearly enamoured with him, including Desiree Washington.
- Hello. My name is Desiree.
- [Jeff Modisett] He was obviously taken with her.
She was a very pretty girl.
And Desiree was thrilled and he took advantage of that.
- Because I love a man who loves to debate.
(recorded call audio)
(sombre music)
- A special grand jury returned
a four count indictment
charging Michael Tyson with one count of rape,
two counts of criminal deviant conduct
and one count of criminal confinement.
- Desiree Washington and knows what happened in that room.
I know what happened and I know I'm innocent.
- [Narrator] It's a terrible moment for Mike Tyson.
All it does for the rest is open up opportunity.
- Frank Bruno is tonight waiting
for the verdict of the
British Boxing Board of Control
on whether he'll be allowed to fight again.
- Frank had evidence of a significant eye injury
related to his fight with Mike Tyson two years earlier.
So I advised Frank that they should
seriously consider retiring.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] It looked like Tyson might
be going away for a long time
and Bruno desperately wanted to come back.
The doctors said it was way too dangerous,
but Frank just refused to give up on it.
- I've just got to wait until I have operation.
That's when I can give you more information.
I've got a torn retina, that's all I can really say.
- [Press] Do you know when that will be?
- I'm not too sure yet.
- [Press] You don't know?
- No, really.
- [Press #2] Do you fear for your future in boxing?
- You've got to take that into consideration,
but I'll just wait and see, you know.
- Unfortunately, like every other boxer I've dealt with
he chooses to ignore my warnings in that respect.
- We're all crazy in this world.
I'm crazy for wanting to come back,
but it's in my blood.
And I would like to get it out once and for all.
- [Commentator] This is where the comeback begins,
after almost three years out of the ring.
- Bruno's retina was severely damaged
and he should have retired.
But that was just not going to stop him.
- [Commentator] One has to say that he returns the ring
amid deep public concern for his well-being.
- [Narrator] Frank knew the risks,
he knew that things could go horribly wrong,
but it was a part of the challenge that he accepted.
(crowd cheering)
- [Commentator] And I think that will put everything
beyond any possible doubt.
It's official, Frank is back.
- [News Reporter] And the main news again;
in America, the boxer, Mike Tyson has been found guilty
of raping a beauty pageant contestant.
- [News Reporter] The judge sentenced Tyson
to six years in jail and four years
of psychotherapy after that.
- I followed the Tyson case.
I was a big boxing fan.
And when he was convicted, I was not surprised.
- [News Reporter] Tyson's fall from grace is now complete.
From heavyweight champion to convicted felon.
- [News Reporter] His boxing career is over.
- [Alan Dershowitz] Then I got a call from Don King.
And he said, Mike Tyson would to meet you
and consider hiring you to be his appellate lawyer.
And so I flew to Indianapolis
on the night before he was to be sentenced.
I meet Don King and he takes me up to Mike Tyson's suite.
This is Mike Tyson's last night of liberty for a long time
and he's with his entourage
and they're having a couple of beers
and Mike says, "Oh, you're Dershowitz, the lawyer".
I say yeah.
"Well let me ask you some questions."
"Do you believe I'm innocent?"
I said, Michael, I have to be very honest with you.
From what I know about the case
you are an absolute schmuck.
He looks at me, I thought he was going to hit me.
He said, "why are you calling me a shmuck?"
I said, because you went up to a hotel room alone
without witnesses with a woman who you had just met.
And you put yourself in a position
where you could be extorted, framed.
You're a schmuck for doing that.
He looks at me, growls.
Then he looks to his retainers, to Don King.
He said," that guy called me a schmuck."
"He's right."
"That was your job to stop me from going up to that room."
"Alan, you're hired."
Mike Tyson was guilty of the crime of stupidity.
- [Narrator] Tyson might've been out of the way,
but Frank still faced a huge uphill struggle.
- [News Reporter] He may be the wrong side of 30,
but Bruno's confidence at least, remains in peak condition.
- I'm 31 and I feel the best I've ever felt in my life.
I'm mature, I've got more hairs on my chest.
Look at that.
You know what I mean?
I feel stronger than I did when I was 28, 25.
- [Narrator] The age was starting to
creep up, certainly,
but Frank was still in such amazing condition.
He had to start to work his way up from the bottom.
But all the time he was thinking,
I can still climb the mountain
- [Announcer] From Miami in the United States of America,
José Ribalta!
- [Commentator] That's a good one.
And down goes Ribalta.
The big punch from Bruno has absolutely
rendered him unconscious.
- [Announcer] From South Africa,
Gerrie Coetzee!
- [Commentator] Bruno's right hand suddenly came through.
Towel has come in from the South African corner.
Its all over.
- [Announcer] Jesse "The Boogieman" Ferguson!
- [Commentator] Frank's going for the big win here
and he's gone inside a round.
- Frank Bruno was on a mission.
The flame that was burning inside of him
to be heavyweight champion of the world
was still burning bright.
- [Commentator] Its all over.
- [Frank Bruno] Every fight is a step closer.
You know what I mean?
Because if you lose there's no more stepping.
You've just got to step backwards.
- This man is going to go
and win the world title for Britain.
- It's supposed to produce a citizen
who comes out better than when he went in.
Will it do that?
- Not my opinion, my opinion, only that I base is
it doesn't rehabilitate you, more so debilitates you.
Because I find myself doing things that I never dreamed
I'd be capable of doing.
And saying things I'd never think I'd be capable of saying.
- Does this have any bearing on your fighting again?
I'm the best in what I do.
I'm just the total best.
The other guys out there are great,
they're great fighters,
but they could do anything else.
This is all I want to do.
- Mike Tyson, more than any other athlete
in modern memory was the most
spectacular rise and fall that we've seen.
Bruno, he was still our Frank.
Loved by the wider white society,
but he was viewed with some suspicion
by the black community,
because he was seen to be a comic pantomime character.
- Enough with the pantomime, this is real.
Enough with the pantomime, this is real.
- My fans were out there, man.
- Yeah, where's your skirt today?
- My skirt is at home mate
and the suspenders as well. - Yeah, that's good.
(laughing)
- [Prof Ben Carrington] Many black Britains
thought that Bruno had sold out.
He'd sold out his race, his black identity,
in order to appease white audiences.
- You're a living embarrassment.
- I'm a thespian so don't mess about.
- Well at least I'm not a sell out as well.
- I'm a thespian.
- I think the only time he
got really upset was fighting me.
I remember calling Frank a coconut
and he got basically, one of the best lawyers
in London to serve me a writ.
(crowd cheering)
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Other boxers would kind of play
on this, that Bruno was a bit of an Uncle Tom,
that he doesn't love his people.
And it's clear that that really, really hurt Bruno.
- If they think I'm scared just move out the way
and I would knock him out right here.
- I would love you to come and try brother.
- I'm definitely not your brother Uncle Tom.
You trying to fit in.
You don't even respect your own people when you out here.
- It's not nice.
- I mean, the things what he's been saying.
To be coming out with that crap, you know what I mean,
that is really serious, serious stuff
what he's coming up with there, you know,
and I don't want to be associated with people like that
to be quite honest.
(chattering)
1995, I had a family to provide for.
(baby crying)
I had the two girls and one boy
and the kids is worth fighting for.
Gonna weigh you now. - [Nurse] Yeah. Sorry.
- [Frank Bruno] It gave you more fire,
more energy and more power.
You know what I mean?
The only bad thing for me, that Tyson was
coming out of prison and he was gunning for me.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Tyson wasn't going to
always be off the scene.
It was only going to be a question of time before
he got out of prison.
- [News Reporter] Wearing the white cap
and black smock of a Muslim convert.
He emerged at dawn amid a phalanx of bodyguards.
Seldom has a convicted rapist
left here in a stretch limousine.
- [Duke McKenzie] I don't know anybody
that's been to prison, that's come out and been the same.
Tyson was at the top of his game before he went inside.
Would he be the same when he come out?
- There's been a lot of speculation about my plan
and here they are, I will fight again.
May Allah bless you all.
Thank you.
- [Announcer] The featured attraction of the evening,
the WBC heavyweight championship of the world,
please welcome, making his way to the ring,
the challenger, Britain's Frank Bruno!
- [Narrator] This was Frank's fourth attempt
to become a world heavyweight champion.
- And now ladies and gentlemen,
here is the defending the world champion
from the United States, Oliver McCall.
- [Duke McKenzie] Bruno knew this was probably his last shot
that was ever going to get at becoming
heavyweight champion of the world.
- [Narrator] Three times he had been beaten.
Time was running out.
It was truly now or never.
- [Ring Announcer] It's show time!
- [Commentator] Here we go.
(crowd cheering)
That's a tremendous right uppercut by Bruno.
A very good left hook from Bruno too.
That's encouraging for Bruno.
That knocked McCall back.
Bruno deserves a world title,
but if it was a popularity contest
he would have won it years ago.
So we're just entering this phase of the fight
where you start to worry about whether
Frank's petrol tank might run dry.
- One thing that Frank lacked was stamina.
After the halfway mark of these championship fights,
he use to run out of steam.
- [Duke McKenzie] Bruno was out on his feet,
he was desperate,
he had nothing left,
but if he could just get through
those last couple of minutes
he was going to be the heavyweight champion of the world.
- [Commentator] We never thought we'd see
him become a world heavyweight champion,
but he seems so close now.
- [Colin Hart] In that desperate last three minutes,
hearts were in mouths.
He dredged up the last remnants of his strength
and hung in there.
- [Commentator] Is this Frank's moment of destiny?
- [Duke McKenzie] He boxed in an almost superhuman fashion.
- [Commentator] The bell is gonna go any second!
(bell rings) - Bruno must be (indistinct)
and he must defend.
The world heavyweight champion with that final bell.
(crowd cheering)
- [Frank Bruno] All my life I wanted to hear, "and the new".
That's what I was looking for.
- [Ring Announcer] The winner and the new...
(crowd cheering)
- [Frank Bruno] That's all I heard.
It just brings tears to your eyes.
If I won the 10 million pounds,
it wouldn't mean as much as this to me.
You know?
I'm just grateful, it hasn't really sunk in.
But I got this belt and it's like a dream come true.
All these years I've been dreaming for this.
I'm thankful to all the people standing behind me
and persevering and sticking with me.
And I thank my wife, I thank my mom
and it was tough in there but I done it.
You know, I done it.
I love my people.
I'm not an Uncle Tom.
I'm not a sell out.
- He's finally got there
and he's mentally and physically exhausted.
And in that moment of vulnerability,
what does Frank Bruno talk about?
He talks about his race.
- I'm not an Uncle Tom man, no way.
I love my brother, I'm not an Uncle Tom.
- [Prof Ben Carrington] It wasn't just about
him fulfilling a professional goal.
In many ways, Bruno was carrying the hopes
and aspirations of black Britain
and he's saying to them, I love my people.
- And I'm no Uncle Tom, believe that.
Please, please, please.
Just believe that I'm not Uncle Tom.
Thank you very much everybody - Well I don't think
anybody's seriously saying you are.
Well done Frank.
- Cheers, thank you.
Rachel, love you Darling.
Love you to the bone.
(firework sparks)
- Ladies and gentleman,
WBC heavyweight champion of the world,
Mr Frank Bruno!
(crowd clapping) (trumpets)
- [Narrator] It took Frank 13 years to
become world heavyweight champion.
13 years to do what Mike Tyson had done in two years.
- Its been a hard, hard long slope.
Lot of sticks here and there.
Lot of bruises, verbal bruises, everything.
But I came through.
(upbeat music)
- [Colin Hart] This great, lovable giant
who had failed so many times,
had at last through bloody mindedness got there.
(upbeat music)
- He's brilliant.
- He's a family man.
- I'm not really a big boxing fan, but when its Bruno.
- He's just a hero, isn't he?
- It's a nice feeling being
heavyweight champion of the world,
it hasn't really sunk in as yet.
Like a dream come true.
- Lot of blood, sweat and tears,
but that makes it all worth it.
- The man has finally achieved his goal.
So now that it's all come through, it's like a dream.
Absolutely fantastic.
- [Narrator] That should have been thank you
and goodnight for Frank Bruno.
- [News Reporter] What does the future hold for Frank,
do you think?
- [News Reporter #2] I'd love to see Frank
call it a day, because he's reached
a pinnacle of his career
and I'd love to see him go a winner.
- [Narrator] The problem was Mike Tyson.
Tyson's presence still loomed large in his mind.
- [Duke McKenzie] Tyson was always going to be
like a thorn in Frank Bruno's side.
- [Narrator] Now, Bruno had what Tyson
and his backers wanted.
- [Press] Obviously, as a mother, you must be
naturally afraid of Frank going into the ring with Tyson.
- Well, no.
The same God that brought him here will take him over.
- [Narrator] He knew, even in that moment,
that Tyson would want that belt back.
- We're here today to announce
Frank's title defence against Mike Tyson
which will take place on the 16th of March
at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
- In the world's eyes Mike Tyson is still up there,
he's out of prison,
he's a boxer.
And to beat him, knock him out and wipe him off the map,
you know, it goes down in history.
- [Narrator] It's all on the line going into
the second fight.
His health, his belt and his self-respect.
- You don't want me to kiss him, do you?
- [Narrator] But if he could see off Mike Tyson,
then truly there would be nothing else left to achieve.
- If he wants to take it away from me,
he's got to rip my heart out,
my ears off, my arms,
everything, just come and take that away.
And he won't do that.
You know what I mean?
Cause this time I would stop him of knocking me out.
Going to wish the kids goodnight.
Rach, - [Rachel Bruno] Yeah
- [Frank Bruno] where are you?
- Oh, hello.
- [Frank Bruno] What do you want to say to me?
- Goodbye daddy, I love you.
- [Frank Bruno] Yeah?
You gonna miss me?
I'm gonna miss you as well.
- I don't want you to go Daddy.
- [Frank Bruno] Aw no. Rach, Rach, Rach.....
- Seven years ago Mike was
the undisputed champion of the world.
He took on Frank Bruno from England.
He beat Frank Bruno in five rounds.
And now seven years later as the world turns,
Frank Bruno was the champion of the world,
Mike is the challenger and all the unanswered questions
will be answered on Saturday night.
- [Lennox Lewis] I felt that Bruno just wanted
to correct the Mike Tyson situation.
You know, he just wanted another stab at it.
- The second time my dad fought Mike Tyson, I was nine.
It was literally the first time I'd ever seen him box live.
- [Commentator] You can hardly hear yourself
think here already, because the British fans
have been making a thunderous noise.
(crowd chanting "Bruno") He's overcome two lots
of eye surgery.
And has proved many people wrong.
Glen, still Bruno for you?
- I still think he can do it.
- [Rachel Bruno] We were sat outside Dad's dressing room.
Tyson's team and him came out first.
- This guy looked like an absolute monster
and we both were sitting there and we was petrified.
- [Rachel Bruno] He was scary to me.
He just was an animal.
- [Commentator] For the first time in his life
in the United States Mike Tyson emerges to a chorus of boos.
(crowd booing)
(ominous music)
- [Commentator] Frank Bruno has so much support here.
- As I watched crossing himself on that walk to the ring,
my immediate thought was,
he looks like a man walking towards the gallows.
- You could have all the support.
You could have a whole country, like Bruno did.
But then, when you get in that ring,
it's you,
the referee
and the other guy.
That's lonely.
- [Ring Announcer] Mr Tyson, Mr Bruno,
let's get it on!
(bell rings)
- [Commentator] Tyson's cap have warned
that he will start explosively.
Let's see.
Tyson trying to let go with the right hand.
Bruno's gonna have to be careful
as he's caught with that right hand.
Big right hand, Tyson, and a left hand.
Stand up Bruno.
(crowd cheering)
- [Rachel Bruno] I didn't like watching him box,
I was hysterical,
absolutely hysterical.
- [Commentator] Bruno is badly staggered and he is cut.
Bad cut by the left eye.
- [Nicola Bruno] As a young girl, seeing your dad
hurt like that.
I just wanted to run in there and cuddle him
and get him out of there.
And also I kind of wanted to hit Mike Tyson as well.
I was angry.
- You're getting fucking slower and slower.
Now listen to me, Frank, this is all you've fucking wanted.
Throw the uppercuts with some fucking venom.
Now come on, you know you can win the fight.
Well fucking well win it.
Right?
- [Duke McKenzie] The hardest person to knock out
is a guy that's got nothing to lose.
- [Commentator] Short left hook there,
Tyson has not lost his punch.
- [Commentator] He just can't find the answer
to the rushes that Tyson's throwing at him.
(thudding)
- [Commentator] Bruno staggered a little bit again.
He can't keep on taking it like this.
(thudding)
Okay, Bruno.
(indistinct)
By three, four, five punch combination.
Right uppercut, staggering.
Bruno's in desperate trouble.
It's going to be stopped.
Its over.
Bruno's lost his title.
And Iron Mike is champion all over again.
(crowd cheering)
It was too much for Bruno and his reign is over
after six and a half months.
- [Narrator] It had always been Frank's dream
to become the world heavyweight champion.
He worked so hard to achieve it.
And then within six months
it'd been taken away from him again.
- [Duke McKenzie] With hindsight, I wish Frank Bruno
would have retired.
He could have gone out as the world champion.
It wasn't about money.
He was at the top of his game
and now he'd been ruined.
- [Announcer] The new WBC heavyweight champion of the world,
Iron Mike Tyson!
- I tried for England, I tried for my family.
I tried for myself and I couldn't do no more than that.
I'm sorry.
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
- [Narrator] It's very, very cruel.
But then again, it's a very, very cruel business.
- [Press] What will you do now Frank?
I mean people will say,
well is that the end of the Bruno story or what?
- I've had a good time in my life
and at the moment I want to sort of like just sit down.
I don't want to make no haste.
Hasty decisions and make a fool of myself.
(sombre music)
- When I saw him again,
Frank had, in fact,
total retinal detachment.
He had further surgery which was able to
reattach the retina,
but because of the nature of the injury,
the centre part of the vision has
unfortunately, been irreversibly damaged.
I had to tell him firmly and finally that, that was it.
- Hello there. Alright
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you very much for coming in.
I'm just here to say that I'm officially retired,
and any questions you want to ask.
- [Nicola Bruno] Tyson was the one that my dad
lost to twice.
He's always going to be his demon.
He was the reason for his career-ending,
that must've been tough.
(harp music)
- Training with George Francis, he goes,
"your hardest fight is going to be when you retired."
I didn't know what the hell he was talking about
But blimey, when I retired,
I definitely knew what it was all about.
You put on weight and you get lazy.
Your aggression starts priming,
the mental health starts kicking in and it's drama.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] A lot of fighters,
when they retire from the sport,
are left feeling very empty.
It would have been like absolute hell on earth.
- [Teddy Atlas] When you've been doing something
that's as part of your existence as that
and it's taken away from you,
you don't exist anymore.
I know you still breathe, you know
and you still walk around,
but in reality for yourself for what counts,
for how you feel, you don't exist anymore.
(aeroplane engine roaring)
- Boxing was dad and dad was boxing.
That was him.
That's what he lived for
and that's all he knew.
- I could see things getting more strange
with mum and dad and things.
They weren't getting on king of thing.
So I knew something wasn't right.
- [Nicola Bruno] He just didn't know
what to do with himself.
He just struggled to sleep and he struggled to settle down.
I just remember the thinking,
that's not my dad anymore.
You never think it's going to be a point
where you need to get doctors or anything involved,
because I just thought we just having like a bad patch.
- [Colin Hart] And he goes on to drugs and drink.
And physically he went downhill
and mentally he went downhill even quicker.
He ended up with his eldest daughter
insisting on getting him sectioned.
And he ended up in a mental hospital.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Bipolar disorder could be linked to
Bruno having to wrestle with these questions of
who he is as a person and what he represents.
We cannot understand the pressures that he was under,
what he had to go through and him wrestling with
these kind of different versions of Frank Bruno.
♪ Notorious No-no-no-Notorious. ♪
We can't tell the Frank Bruno story
without the Mike Tyson story.
- I'm looking quite forward to it.
Here we are.
I haven't seen him for ages.
I've got a lot to catch up with him.
Hope he doesn't bite me ears off.
(laughing)
- When did I first hear about Frank Bruno?
Doesn't that seem so long ago?
Seems like a thousand light years away.
I was a totally different kind of person.
I can't believe I am who I am now.
Who the hell is this guy?
(peaceful piano music)
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Bruno and Tyson weren't just
significant boxers, they were cultural icons
in their respective countries.
- I'm here for you baby. I'm here for you.
There you go brother.
- You okay yeah?
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] Their paths crossed
at certain moments
in their lives and each and every moment
Tyson was there, thwarting Bruno.
He became the kind of the, this kind of spectre.
- Have a seat over here.
- [Prof. Ben Carrington] I think in some ways it's been
a bit sad at times to see Bruno so haunted by Mike Tyson.
(laughing) - Yeah. Yeah.
How you doing brother?
- Very good man.
Went a bit rocky here and there,
- That's good, you look good. - but on the right path.
- In London and walking the streets, what is it like?
- It's nice.
It's nice vibes.
You've still got a lot of people that love you
and respect you.
You know what I mean?
They follow you and worship you.
- Don't you think,
this is what I brought this to my life.
You're Frank freaking Bruno.
- You're Mike Tyson.
I remember when he was in the Cus school when he was 15
and we sparred together
and I met you from there, but I watched you grow up.
- You met Cus, you knew Cus.
That was so amazing.
- When Cus is talking, he's like a pastor
as well as a no nonsense man.
You know what I mean?
- You were the European champion, I think, then.
- Yeah.
- And they had high hopes for you.
- Yeah.
But you was bad one.
The puncher was gonna stop my high hopes and you did.
But no regrets.
(laughing)
- We're gonna be so many things before the time we die,
till we die, we figure this is who I am.
You reach that place of,
this is where I want to be when I leave.
Life has been a learning lesson
and life has been re-educating myself.
- Getting rid of the hangers on-ers.
- Yeah those people leave when you have nothing left,
you don't have to get rid of them.
You hit the rock bottom and they leave.
- Whoa. Heavy.
Heavy man.
Mike had a wife called Robin Givens.
- You remember that?
- I remember that like it was yesterday.
The girl, one minute Mike was crashing his car into a tree.
- She got me good.
- The fight was postponed about five or maximum, six times.
- I was horrible in love, but love was just disaster.
They just wipe you out man.
They wipe you out.
Ah man.
I needed to be in the mental ward.
I wasn't well.
We have to live the life.
- Yeah. Definitely.
- God made us to learn and to remember.
- Yeah.
I do remember, unfortunately, a lot.
- [Interviewer] I all the delays just stressed him out.
They really messed with his head.
- Well I was hoping they did.
I don't know, I just went out there,
the first round I tried to knock him out.
I'm trying to catch him with a solid shot.
And the shot I was hitting him with, he was taking them
and he came back a couple of shots
and he was fighting really good.
As a matter of fact he staggered me,
hit me with a good shot in the first round.
It was like electricity hits you.
I saw the white lights.
You don't know if you're really knocked out.
You think you might be down.
You don't know if you're down or not.
Boom! It's exploding,
It's walking through a bomb.
And he was at his best at that time.
That was a tough fight for me.
- When I fought you for the second time,
I shouldn't have been there,
but I got a family that I got to provide for.
You don't want me to go and rob a bank.
And I had to go in there with a detached retina.
One of the doctors, American doctors,
he stopped the fight, you know?
And he's looking at me kind of strange,
like my eye was flickering.
But it's no excuse.
That's boxing. - I agree.
- If you bust your arm, you got the other hand.
If you ain't got nothing then you got your head.
- [Interviewer] You know, the doctor told him
"you might lose the sight in your eye if you fight again".
But he was determined to keep going.
He was amazingly brave.
- That's what fighters do.
That's why it's very few of us.
He had more fire, more vigour
in the first fight than he had in the second fight.
Before I even got out of prison
the contract was already signed.
(thudding)
Being champion again,
that was the only thing in my mind.
I wanted to know that I can do it again,
even after I've been locked up.
And then keep going away and all that stuff, you know.
- You've been through whatever you've been though,
but I've been through it myself.
But unfortunately, it's been slapped all over the papers
like saying cuckoo, madness or whatever.
And if you can handle it, I can handle it.
You know what I mean?
- Listen, we're all crazy.
Frank Bruno went into one mental health facility.
I've been around 10 of them.
Okay. So this is what we have to go through sometimes.
You know, I don't feel sorry for nobody,
because I know this is our journey
that we have to deal with.
We have to go through this journey.
I don't want no one to feel sorry for me as well.
Can you imagine if we fought again?
- Yeah.
- Frank would probably win.
(laughing)
- I would never hit him.
The Frank Bruno legacy moves on.
It moves on.
Yeah, definitely.
- Hey listen right. I got the title.
I got the title of the baddest man in the world.
I'm the scariest fighter that ever lived.
And that's just, it's really funny.
I'm just, one of those scary fighters.
I come across as ferocious, because it's my fear.
It's like fire.
You can use it.
You can command it.
It can warm you up.
But if you get afraid, you let it get out of control.
It can kill you and everything around you.
- Mike, you look after yourself.
- You too brother. You look good man.
Good, really good. - Cheers brother. Nice one.
You too. Respect man.
- I don't think about much of anything.
But I know this,
I know me, Michael Tyson, Michael Gerard Tyson's brain.
My mind, forget my brain.
My mind is a torture chamber.
And it's not my friend.
So I have to control it
in order to have any kind of stability in my life.
And that's my biggest.
And that's my biggest,
my biggest problem today.
Yeah. Staying in control.
- [Frank Bruno] You wouldn't know what it was like
meeting the real Mike Tyson, away from all the entourage,
sitting down, chilling.
Everybody has their criticism,
but I've got the greatest amount of respect for Mike.
I had my run-ins.
He had his run-ins, you know what I mean?
Good days and bad days, feeling down.
Can't motivate yourself.
He's been in prison,
crashed his car before he was supposed to fight me
and he's been through rocky roads.
You know what I mean?
I'm glad I met him today.
Cause it took a lot of pressure off me mentally.
If you think I've been through a hard time,
if you check him, Mike Tyson,
what he's been through and he's happy.
I feel like a close brother to him.
You know what I mean?
- Look after yourself, yeah.
- Thank you so much. - Respect Boss.
Respect Boss.
It was nice meeting you Boss.
I'm going back to England
a very, very, trillion times a happy man.
(crowd cheering)
- Frank, not only got to the top of his tree
and became the best in the world,
but when Frank lost against Mike Tyson,
he came back a hero.
People loved him as much as if he had won.
That is his legacy.
- [Rachel Bruno] It's kind of made me the person
I am kind of thing.
And made me want to push
and strive and be successful in my life.
I thank him for that, giving me that drive.
- I just know that they love him over there,
in England and he should take advantage of the love
that the people have for him.
- Meeting Mike Tyson again,
just put it all down to perspective.
I thought I had problems.
I'm happy the way things have gone.
There've been good days, there've been bad days.
But overall I'm a blessed boy from South London.
So I got to thank God.
- [Nicola Bruno] As a kid I didn't see how much
he was putting on the line to give us
the life that he wanted to give us.
I'm very proud of him.
Very, very proud of him,
everything he went through to give us the life that we got.
- [Ring Announcer] The winner
and new WBC heavyweight champion of the world,
Frank
Bruno!
(crowd cheering)
♪ Soon we'll come to the end of life's journey ♪
♪ And perhaps we'll never meet any more ♪
♪ Till we gather in Heaven's bright city ♪
♪ Far away on that beautiful shore ♪
♪ If we never meet again this side of Heaven ♪
♪ As we struggle through this world and it's strife ♪
♪ There's another meeting place somewhere in Heaven ♪
♪ By the side of the river of life ♪
♪ Where the charming roses bloom forever ♪
♪ And where separations come no more ♪
♪ If we never meet again this side of Heaven ♪
♪ I will meet you on that beautiful shore ♪