Skip to main content
Remembering Mike Tyson v Frank Bruno

“I WOULD’VE reigned supreme, if it weren’t for Iron Mike Tyson.”

So boldy states Frank Bruno in an upcoming Sky Sports documentary on his historic bid to become the first ever bona fide British world heavyweight champion when he faced Mike Tyson on February 25 1989 at the Las Vegas Hilton Centre.

Older readers will recall the fight as one of the most eagerly anticipated sporting events in years, and even perhaps of the eighties, one offering up a Manichean struggle between a symbol of absolute good in the shape of the most beloved and jovial British heavyweight since Henry Cooper, and in Tyson a man who emitted an aura of such pristine malevolence you would not have been surprised to learn that he routinely basebatted his own reflection for looking at him the wrong way.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Chris Eubank Jr (left) and Conor Benn face-off during a press conference at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London. Picture date: Thursday April 24, 2025
Men's boxing / 25 April 2025
25 April 2025

JOHN WIGHT previews the much-anticipated bout between Benn and Eubank Jnr where — unlike the fights between their fathers — spectacle has reigned over substance

Dave
Men’s boxing / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
JOHN WIGHT takes us on a journey back to a decade defined by union power, pop stars, and gritty football icons - no boxer embodied the heart and soul of 1970s Britain quite like Dave Boy Green
George Foreman yells, October 15, 1974, in N'Sele, Kinshasa,
Men’s Boxing / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
JOHN WIGHT pays tribute to the late great George Foreman who defied the odds throughout his life and career to become a household name and legend of the sport
John H. Stracey (right) who is to defend his European welter
Men’s boxing / 14 March 2025
14 March 2025
JOHN WIGHT writes about the fascinating folklore surrounding the place which has been home to some of the most ferocious bareknuckle and unlicensed fighters throughout history
Similar stories
Cus D'Amato (right) with Floyd Patterson in August 1957
Men's Boxing / 17 January 2025
17 January 2025
JOHN WIGHT writes on legendary boxing trainer and philosopher, Cus D’Amato
Boxer Tyson Fury (right) and Oleksandr Usyk (left) face off
Men’s boxing / 20 December 2024
20 December 2024
JOHN WIGHT discusses how top-flight boxing is today a ‘late stage capitalist entity’
Jake Paul lands a left to Mike Tyson during their heavyweigh
Men’s boxing / 22 November 2024
22 November 2024
JOHN WIGHT reacts to last weekend’s bizarre spectacle between the veteran boxer and the upstarting social media influencer in Dallas, Texas
Anthony Joshua (left) and Daniel Dubois in the IBF World Hea
Men’s boxing / 27 September 2024
27 September 2024
JOHN WIGHT questions Anthony Joshua’s status as the man who single-handedly turned boxing into the mass spectator sport it has become in Britain after his loss to Dubois at Wembley