ONE of the talking points of an eventful week was the Frank Bruno comeback, or at least his desire to come back at the grand old age of 54.
I can’t make my mind up as to whether this was said with his tongue in his cheek, or an actual honest decision that he truly wants to fight again. I do think Frank still misses the amount of hero worship that he once received, but this was always going to wane as time went on, and the generation that supported Frank Bruno find other things to take up their interest as they too grow older. And as morbid as it may seem, a percentage of those supporters die, others fall out of love with the sport that is changing. In short, one era closes and another starts.
The younger generation that are now following the sport have heard of Frank Bruno and Lennox Lewis but their status is now taken by Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Bruno, I believe, is struggling to come to terms with this but he still has the same charisma, and tremendous support as the attention created by his announcement proves.
If Frank is serious about fighting again, the British Boxing Board of Control have already said they will not consider his application for a licence. What is really worrying, though, is that if Bruno is really serious – and looking at the condition that his body looks in he appears to be – he must be protected from himself because the BBBofC are not the only body in the world he can apply to. There are people that will promote this opportunity to make a swift dollar, and also organisations that have their own world title, and with Frank Bruno in the state of mind that he may be in, he would find the lure of another world title, even a spurious one, too hard to resist.
For that reason, along with several others, we should guard one of our national treasures with a passion and make sure he grows old gracefully.
