Frank Bruno ‘knows’ one opponent was doping for their fight: “It’s very scary”

Frank Bruno firmly believes that one of his former opponents, who had the power of “the baboon”, was likely addicted to performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

During his career, Bruno made three attempts at world titles, against Tim Witherspoon, Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, before finally fulfilling his ambition with a points victory over Oliver McCall in 1995.

Having been stopped in his previous three attempts, the stars finally seemed to align for the Londoner that night at London’s Wembley Stadium, as he convincingly knocked out McCall and captured the WBC heavyweight title.

Unfortunately for him, this achievement came at a time when he had already had more than 40 professional fights, was 33 years old, and was undoubtedly nearing the end of his career.

However, his reign might have been extended, even if only by two defenses, had it not been for his rematch with Tyson in 1996.

Their first meeting, some seven years ago, saw ‘Iron Mike’ put on a truly devastating display to stop the brave but defeated Bruno in five rounds.

Unsurprisingly, the rematch was quite similar, but this time, Tyson was able to get the job done in just three one-sided sessions.

So, Bruno’s story arc has been largely up and down, but when considering his career as a whole, the former world champion suspects he may have been unfairly damaged on more than one occasion.

Speaking with Clubhouse, Bruno insisted that many of his opponents were likely using PEDs, with one man, in particular, known for his extraordinary strength.

“I know some people who fought — I won’t say their names — but yeah, I know some people who definitely fought [taken performance-enhancing drugs]”.

“You know the strength of a person when you get into the ring, and when someone comes in like a baboon – now I’ve seen a baboon but this guy was very, very, very scary… I didn’t know [before I got in the ring] But I had a feeling. He’s a nice guy, but he’s not right. He was strong. If a gorilla walked into the room, it would be that kind of feeling. It’s dangerous. “He got away with it.”

Later in the interview, Bruno said he believed both Tyson and Evander Holyfield had some form of artificial advantage during their campaigns.

Bruno competed during an era when there was less testing and more monitoring, but many fans would say the situation isn’t much better today. Many fighters potentially escape punishment, and although many test positive, appropriate punishments are often avoided.