Now a Bruno joins the ranks of sons hoping to punch above their famous fathers' weight, writes Steve Bunce
Frank Bruno's son, Franklin, made his debut last Friday
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Your support makes all the difference.East Ham Working Men’s Social Club is the type of venue where Frank Bruno took his first, hefty baby steps in the boxing business nearly 40 years ago. It all ended a long way from the subsidised pints one bad night in Las Vegas.
Bruno fought illegally for a time when he was 16 and had to make out he was a year older, a senior in amateur boxing terms. The subterfuge was needed so that he could get fights against men in now vanished pits like the Cat’s Whiskers in Streatham, the Hatcham Liberal Club in Peckham and Penge Town Hall. He was simply too powerful and nobody would match him against another 16-year-old; once he fought a bus driver from Catford at a show run by Frank Maloney near the Elephant and Castle. I was there, it’s not a fantasy.
Last Friday, Bruno was back ringside, watching his son, Franklin, make his debut for Brentwood Youth at the East Ham venue in a fight that lasted just 37 seconds. The son of Frank is 20, a bit smaller than his father was at this age, but as raw and powerful.
Franklin Bruno is the just the latest son of a former world champion to turn to boxing in what is a steady line of second generation battlers. Ricky Hatton’s son, Campbell, had a couple of amateur bouts; one of Joe Calzaghe’s sons is boxing; Nigel Benn’s son is training in Manchester with Hatton; and then there is the Chris Eubank father-and-son show.
When Eubank Jr decided to box, his dad tried to stop him. “I told him no, it’s that simple,” said Eubank Sr, who now wishes to be known as English. (The name change, by the way, is in honour of his father, who celebrated all things English, and also to limit confusion with his son). The pair work together and English is a constant presence and occasional second in the ring, where he has had to modify his clothing to satisfy the boxing board’s dress code.
Conor Benn has fought 22 times as an amateur in Australia, where his dad is a preacher, and he is now based in Manchester, set on entering the domestic amateur championships in January and then turning professional later in 2016. “It’s what I wanted to do and Dad has been there supporting me,” said Conor.
“It’s what he wants to do,” said Nigel. “He has the talent, the attitude and Ricky is the right man. It’s his dream, not mine, and that’s why he is not training with me.”
The famous sons of rich and famous boxing fathers fight under a hefty burden of expectation and, with the exception of Eubank, do so with a degree of welcome anonymity. Even Eubank went under most radars when he fought, alongside his brother Sebastian, as an amateur on a circuit so low key and alien that first-time visitors are not sure if what they are watching is actually legal and connected to what they have seen on television. It is, at times, like a sport lost in a distant epoch.
Steve Collins Jr can remember watching his father fight, sitting or hiding behind the sofa as a boy of six or seven and looking on as Collins beat Eubank twice and Benn twice. Every single round was savage, a horror show for a boy that young. He started to fight after playing rugby and did so only to stay fit, hitting bags at his uncle’s gym in Dublin; he soon went straight to the professional ranks in 2013 and is unbeaten in five.
“The name means that some people want you to fail and some want you to win,” said Collins Jr. “It’s a lot of pressure – he was the best in the world and I’m new at the sport. It can be hard and, let’s face it, everybody wants to beat up Steve Collins’ son.”
Curtis Gargano also had a famous fighting dad, a man who fought dozens of champions and leading contenders – sometimes even with a week’s notice.
Des Gargano is a legendary figure in the boxing world: a smoker, a joker and loser of 87 of his 122 fights. Curtis followed his dad into the boxing business and, just like his father, his record is deceptive: he is without a win in nine fights.
“I went to loads of his fights, more or less lived in the gym with him,” said Curtis. “The night before he boxed Naz [Naseem Hamed], he went for an eight-mile run, worked all day on a building site and still went four rounds – everybody else was getting done in two.” Hamed had a soft spot for Gargano. “I remember him having broken ribs and having to fight most weeks even with the injuries. He could never afford to get stopped – that meant a long break and no money.”
That is a real fighting father. Franklin Bruno, meanwhile, will be in action again at the end of the month on another invisible, amateur boxing show, somewhere in Essex.
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