Tyson Could Lose . . . but Not Tonight : British Challenger Bruno Is Modest for a Reason

We all know what’s going to happen, eventually.

One day, in the midst of all the laughing and snickering over Mike Tyson’s opponents, one of them is going to knock him into yesterday.

History teaches us this. Eventually, nearly all the champions go tumbling down. Jack Dempsey had his Gene Tunney, Floyd Patterson his Ingemar Johansson, Muhammad Ali his Leon Spinks, and Larry Holmes his Michael Spinks.

One day, surely, one of these 220-pound heavyweights, some hopeless 6-1 shot, in the fury of an assault by Tyson, is somehow going to get his feet planted and, at just the right second, deliver the blow that no one thought possible. History also seems to teach us that Frank Bruno, Tyson’s opponent tonight at the Las Vegas Hilton, is not that man.

Colin Hart, boxing reporter for the London Sun, says Bruno gives new meaning to the British definition of modesty .

“When Winston Churchill was once told that Clement Attlee had described himself as ‘a modest man,’ Churchill responded by saying, ‘He has a lot to be modest about,’ ” Hart said.

“That’s how we feel about Frank. Wonderful fellow, but as a boxer, he has a lot to be modest about.”

Fact is, if you were to design the perfect opponent for Mike Tyson, the sort of guy least likely to beat him, your creation would be something like Frank Bruno. He is relatively immobile, throws one punch at a time, stands upright, tires rapidly after four or five rounds and does not protect his chin much.

At least, that was the Frank Bruno the world saw in his two most important bouts, against Bonecrusher Smith and Tim Witherspoon. Against each, in London, Bruno built early leads, wilted and was knocked out.

Bruno’s record is 32-2, with 31 knockouts. Tyson is 35-0, with 31 knockouts.

For both, combat tonight ends long layoffs.

Tyson hasn’t fought since June 27, when he knocked out Michael Spinks in 91 seconds. Bruno didn’t fight at all in 1988. In his last appearance, on Oct. 25, 1987, he knocked out Joe Bugner in London in eight rounds.

Since his loss to Witherspoon in the summer of 1986, Bruno has knocked out James Tillis, Chuck Gardner, Reggie Gross and Bugner.

Tyson weighed 218 pounds at Friday morning’s weigh-in, Bruno 228. Immediately afterward, the two glared at each other. Then Tyson did sort of a half-flash to his opponent, half-dropping his bikini briefs. No one could say what the gesture meant, least of all Tyson, who doesn’t have much of anything to say these days.

This bout was supposed to have been held last October, in London. But it was postponed five times because of the champion’s considerable personal problems since the Spinks fight. Tyson refused to go to London after first agreeing to do so.

When it was switched to Las Vegas, British promoters, Bruno and the operators of Wembley Stadium had to be compensated. As a result, Bruno should gross about $3.6 million for his appearance. Tyson, counting the $4 million he’ll make from HBO, will gross about $8 million.

About 2,000 British boxing fans will be in the 9,200-seat Hilton Center tonight, and several hundred of them were a rowdy presence at the weigh-in Friday. They sent up a chant--”Bru-no! Bru-no!”--when their man appeared, and cheered him when he flashed them a smile and a victory sign, Churchill-style.

Bruno seemed loose, which could mean he’d just been brought out of a trance.

He has been seeing a Las Vegas psychiatrist here, one who puts Bruno under hypnosis. Relaxation therapy, it’s called.

Bruno said he wasn’t sure if hypnosis was helping him relax, because, he said, he was relaxed.

“I’ve been in the States seven weeks,” he said. “I’m feeling no pressure. I’m enjoying myself. I’m enjoying my runs, the training, listening to music, playing a little blackjack.”

He said he has grown since his beatings by Smith and Witherspoon.

“Losing is like having a man run off with your wife,” he said.

“It hurts. But I can’t commit suicide over it. Life goes on. I’m more of a man than I was against Witherspoon, both mentally and physically.”

Bruno said he isn’t pressured by all the British heavyweights who have gone down before American heavyweight champions. Tonight, he will become the 13th British heavyweight to fight an American for a heavyweight title in this century.

All the others have lost.

Aside from Bruno, the most beloved of all British heavyweights was Henry Cooper, who twice, in the 1960s, lost to Ali, the second time when Ali was champion. “Our ‘Enry,” as the British call Cooper, will be at ringside tonight.

Most of the British here figure that Bruno is strong enough and hits hard enough to beat Tyson, but that he simply won’t be able to handle the pressure Tyson will apply.

Odds makers agree. Tyson has held steady as a 7 1/2-1 favorite all week.

What little hope Bruno’s backers have is based on what is believed by some to be the Englishman’s best punch, a right uppercut. Conceivably, the theory goes, Bruno could catch the shorter Tyson in close. Bruno is almost 6-foot-5, Tyson 5-11.

Trouble is, Tyson’s uppercut is a jaw breaker, too. The uppercut has become the champion’s most effective punch lately.

“When Frank knocked out Mike Jameson in Chicago (in Bruno’s only other U.S. appearance, in 1983), he did it with a right uppercut--one of the greatest shots I ever saw,” said Hart, the London journalist. “Jameson’s legs were twitching while he was counted out.”

The expectation, though, is that Bruno will wind up looking like one of Tyson’s sparring partners.

Jay Bright, the trainer who replaced the dismissed Kevin Rooney in Tyson’s camp, talked about that.

“The guys who spar with Mike look like dead meat when they finish,” he said. “Mike has just looked great. Mike’s very focused on the fight.”

Apparently. Tyson’s no-show list reached three Thursday. He failed to show up for live call-in television shows last Friday and Monday. On Thursday, he stiffed HBO. The network’s announcers and production crew normally meet with fighters two days before an HBO fight.

Tyson skipped the meeting, and never mind that HBO is paying him $26 million for rights to seven of his fights.

There are two other championship fights tonight.

In a World Boxing Council super-featherweight bout, champion Azumah Nelson, 29-1, will meet Mario Martinez, 47-4-2. And the World Boxing Assn.’s junior middleweight champion, Julian Jackson, 34-1, will defend against Francisco DeJesus, 25-2.

And in a bit of a twist, Trevor Berbick will fight James Douglas in a heavyweight bout on the undercard. On Nov. 22, 1986, in the same building, Tyson knocked down Berbick three times and won his first heavyweight title, the WBC championship.

Martinez is out to avenge a disputed-decision loss to Nelson at the Forum a year ago. Jackson is defending his junior middleweight championship for the second time since winning it by knocking out South Korean In-Chul Baek in 1987. His only loss was a knockout by Mike McCallum, in 1986.