Frank Bruno Net Worth 2025

Frank Bruno

MBE

Bruno in 2022
Personal information
Nickname	True Brit[2]
Born	Franklin Roy Bruno (1961-11-16) 16 November 1961 (age 64) Hammersmith, London, England
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[1]
Weight	Heavyweight
Boxing career
Reach	82 in (208 cm)[1]
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	45
Wins	40
Win by KO	38
Losses	5
Medal record Men's amateur boxing Representing  England English National Championships 1980 London Heavyweight

Franklin Roy Horatio Bruno MBE (born 16 November 1961)^[3] is a British former professional boxer who fought orthodox and competed from 1982 to 1996. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title from 1995 to 1996. At the regional level, he held the European heavyweight title from 1985 to 1986. As an amateur, he won the ABA heavyweight title in 1980.

During his professional career, Bruno scored 40 wins and 5 losses, scoring 38 by knockouts, giving him a 95% knockout-to-win ratio; his overall knockout percentage was 84.44%. Bruno was ranked among BoxRec's 10 best heavyweights in the world twelve times, reaching his career-high ranking of world no. 3 at the conclusion of 1984.^[4]

Since retirement, Bruno became a television personality and entertainer; He was voted Sports Personality of the Year in 1989 and 1990.^[5] He was awarded Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1990 New Years Honours List.^[5]

Bruno was born on 16 November 1961,^[6] in Hammersmith, London, England,^[3] and was the youngest of six children.^[6] He took up boxing aged 9 after joining the Wandsworth Boys Club.^[5] He attended at Oak Hall Community School in Heathfield, East Sussex,^[6] and joined the Sir Philip Game Amateur Boxing Club.^[6] He won 20 out of his 21 fights as an amateur, the only defeat by Irish International, Joe Christie.^[5] Bruno represented Young England at boxing, and achieved becoming the youngest ever ABA Heavyweight champion when he won the title in 1980 at the age of 18.^[6]

Bruno's first fight a professional boxer was a win against Lupe Guerra in March 1982 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, which he won by knock-out.^[3] He went on to achieve 21 consecutive wins by knockout.^[7] This streak caught the attention of international boxing magazines, such as The Ring, KO Magazine, Boxing Illustrated and Ring En Español.^[3] During this period Bruno stopped former world title contender Scott LeDoux in May 1983,^[7] the fringe contender Floyd Cummings in Oct 1983,^[7] Belgian champion Rudy Gauwe,^[7] British contenders Tony Moore,^[7] and Eddie Nielson,^[7] and some strong journeymen such as Bill Sharkey,^[7] Walter Santemore and Ken Lakusta.^[7] However, in May 1984, that streak ended when Bruno was defeated by knockout in the tenth and final round of the bout, despite Bruno leading clearly on all three judges' cards, when losing to the up-and-coming future world heavyweight champion, American James "Bonecrusher" Smith.^[7]

To get a shot at the title, Bruno beat fringe fighter Jeff Jordan on 6 November 1984.^[7] Bruno was taken the distance for the first time in November 1984, by the useful world rated Phil Brown,^[7] He went on to fight former European champion and world title contender Lucien Rodriguez in March 1985, defeating him in one round.^[7] and Bruno became the EBU European Heavyweight Champion with a KO over Sweden's Anders Eklund, on 1 October 1985.^[7]

Bruno got back into title contention with a quick one-round KO win over former WBA champion Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa,^[7] and, in July 1986, he challenged Tim Witherspoon for the WBA heavyweight title. After once again leading on the cards for most of the fight, he ran out of steam and was defeated by knockout in round eleven.^[7]

Bruno once again got himself back into title contention with wins over former contender James Tillis and journeymen Reggie Gross and Chuck Gardner.^[7] In October 1987, Bruno faced the veteran Joe Bugner in an all-British match-up.^[7] Bugner, although long past his peak, was coming off good wins over Greg Page, James Tillis and David Bey. Bruno won by TKO in the 8th round, the referee stopping the bout.^[7]

In February 1989, Bruno challenged Mike Tyson for the undisputed world heavyweight title. In the opening seconds, the fighters came together with huge punches, and Bruno was on the ropes.^[8] However, he recovered and continued, then rocked Tyson with a left hook, in the final moments of the first round.^[8] However, Tyson recovered and eventually overpowered Bruno, who was taking heavy punishment on the ropes when the referee stopped the contest in round five.^[8]

Bruno kept winning fights, helping him to retain his spot as one of the world's leading heavyweights. He defeated journeymen such as Jose Ribalta, Pierre Coetzer, Dutchman Jan Emmen ^[7] and then contender Carl Williams,.^[7]

In 1993, he had a third world title chance against Lennox Lewis, who was making the second defence of the belt (his first of three championship reigns). The Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno fight was the first time that two British boxers had fought for the world heavyweight title.^[9] Bruno failed to secure his title chance after being shaken by Lewis in the seventh round, and despite Bruno leading the contest on points at that time, the fight was stopped by the referee in favour of Lewis.^[9]

Bruno again regrouped, in his next fight dispatching Jesse Ferguson in one round,^[7] and fringe contenders Rodolfo Marin and Mike Evans early on, in his next two bouts.^[7]

On 2 September 1995, Bruno finally became world champion by outpointing WBC Champion Oliver McCall over twelve rounds.^[7] After an even start, Bruno built up a strong lead in the middle rounds before appearing to run somewhat out of steam in the last couple. However, unlike Bonecrusher Smith and Tim Witherspoon earlier in Bruno's career, McCall was unable to find a way through Bruno's defences to force the late stoppage he needed. Bruno won unanimously on points, only the second time he had taken an opponent to the judges.^[7]

Bruno's reign as champion was brief: the contract he signed to get McCall meant he had to face Mike Tyson in his first defence. Tyson beat Bruno on a stoppage in round three,^[10] Bruno performed unusually poorly in what turned out to be his last bout as a professional due to the recurrence of an eye injury, originally caused during his first fight with Tyson, which had already necessitated experimental surgery to allow him to fight again after that defeat.^[10]

After the second Tyson fight, Bruno was advised not to fight again to avoid running the risk of causing any more damage to his eye, which could result in permanent blindness.^[6] He retired soon afterwards.

During his career, Bruno scored 40 wins and 5 losses.^[3] He won 38 by knockouts, giving him a 95% knockout-to-win ratio; his overall knockout percentage was 84.44%. Bruno was ranked among BoxRec's 10 best heavyweights in the world twelve times, reaching his career-high ranking of world no. 3 at the conclusion of 1984.^[4]

He was awarded Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1990 New Years Honours List.^[5]

On 22 September 2003, Bruno was taken from his home near Brentwood in Essex by medical staff assisted by police officers, under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983. He was taken to Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, where he underwent psychological and psychiatric tests.^[11] He had been suffering from depression for several months beforehand. He was later diagnosed as having bipolar disorder.^[12] On 9 October 2005, Bruno admitted that cocaine use, which began in 2000, had contributed to his mental health problems.^[13] Media coverage of Bruno's problems raised controversy, the principal accusations being gross intrusion and insensitivity. Particular criticism was aimed at The Sun, whose headline in the first editions the next day read "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up". Second editions retracted the headline and attempted to portray a more sympathetic attitude towards Bruno and mental health in general.^[14] As an attempt at atonement, the paper established a charity fund for people suffering from mental illness, although some mental health charities condemned The Sun's latter action that day as being grossly hypocritical in the light of the former. On 24 February 2008, Bruno offered his support to former footballer Paul Gascoigne, who on 21 February had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.^[15] Bruno also spoke on his own personal experiences in the mental health system at a conference run by Hari Sewell, on 22 June 2009.^[16] Bruno was sectioned again in 2012 and taken to St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton for five weeks.^[17] In December 2013, Bruno spoke to the Daily Mirror in support of their mental health campaign, stating: "Mental illness is a terrible thing to have to cope with but I've learnt it's a fight you can win if you live your life the right way".^[18]

In December 2005, Bruno announced that he was to become a father for the fourth time since finding new romance with old friend Yvonne Clydesdale.^[19] The couple, who first met five years previously at a health resort, began dating months after bumping into each other at a wine bar near his home. Yvonne gave birth to baby Freya on 10 May 2006. On 10 October 2006, Bruno and Clydesdale were jointly awarded £50,000 damages for libel against The People newspaper and publishers MGN in respect of false claims made about their relationship.^[19] In 2006, Bruno published an autobiography Frank: Fighting Back. It won the Best Autobiography category of the British Sports Book Awards. As of May 2012, Bruno was living in Glasgow with his new hairdresser girlfriend, Nina Coletta in the Gorbals area of the city.^[20]

After retirement from boxing, Bruno has spent much of his time supporting The Frank Bruno Foundation, dedicated to improving the mental health of men around the world.^[21]

In 2025, his daughter Rachel appeared as a contender in the second series of Gladiators, citing her father's sporting success as being the inspiration for her participating.^[22]

Bruno's image was enhanced by his relationship with the BBC boxing commentator Harry Carpenter, from which, in their many interviews, his most-quoted phrase, "Know what I mean, Harry?" originated. He appeared on Comic Relief programmes in the early 1980s and made frequent appearances thereafter on television and on stage (in pantomime).^[5]

In 1991, he opened "The Ultimate" at Lightwater Valley, which was, at the time, the longest roller coaster in the world.^[23] In 1995, the year of his world championship, he released a cover version of "Eye of the Tiger".^[24] It reached No. 28 in the UK charts. In 1999, he featured on the celebrity special in the second season of Fort Boyard.^[25]

In January 2001, prior to that year's general election, Bruno announced that he wanted to stand as the Conservative candidate for the Conservative seat of Brentwood and Ongar against the independent Member of Parliament, Martin Bell.^[26] His proposed slogan was "Don't be a plank, vote for Frank!" However, this idea was quickly dismissed by Conservative Central Office.^[26][27] In 2006, he was one of a number of celebrities including Sir Geoff Hurst and Bill Pertwee, who recorded the World Cup song, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Jurgen Klinsmann?".^[28]

On 15 August 2009, he beat Duke McKenzie in the final of The Weakest Link - "Boxing Special", competing against the likes of Barry McGuigan, and John Conteh.^[29] He had a small role in the 2008 British crime drama Cass. Bruno made brief guest appearances in episodes of the ITV comedy show, Harry Hill's TV Burp in February and October 2011.^[30] In 2011, he made a guest appearance in Sooty.^[30] On 20 April 2012, Bruno was featured in the ITV series Piers Morgan's Life Stories.^[31]

He supports West Ham United F.C. whilst also having an affinity for the Scottish team, Aberdeen F.C.^[32]

Bruno completed the 2011 London Marathon, which is the third marathon he has run successfully.^[30] He has also run half marathons.^[30] Bruno regularly makes personal appearances and also sells autographed items of memorabilia.^[33] On 23 July 2013, Bruno was featured in the BBC Three documentary with his daughter Rachel in Rachel Bruno: My Dad and Me.^[34][35]

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 crisis, Frank Bruno joined a group of celebrities called The Celebs, which included Kellie Shirley and X Factor winner Sam Bailey to raise money for both Alzheimer's Society and Action for Children. They recorded a new rendition of "Merry Christmas Everyone" by Shakin' Stevens and it was released digitally on 11 December 2020, on independent record label Saga Entertainment. The music video debuted on Good Morning Britain the day before release. The song peaked at number two on the iTunes pop chart.^[36][37]

In 2024, Bruno joined fellow London boxers – Lennox Lewis, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank for Four Kings television mini documentary.^[38]

^[7]

• Official website
• Boxing record for Frank Bruno from BoxRec (registration required)
• How Bruno's troubles began at BBC Sport