Frank Bruno was Britain’s most popular fighter when in October 1987 Matchroom sought to match him with Joe Bugner at Tottenham Hotspur’s White Hart Lane.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was eight years old, and his father Barry – inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014 – was best known for his success with Matchroom in snooker, partly because he had by then only promoted two fights involving the late Gary Mason in a small hall in Southend.
Barry Hearn was at lunch with his wife Susan in the same town in Essex when he told her of his plans to more seriously expand into boxing, and the fight he was hoping to make.
“What are you talking about?”, he recalls her then saying to him. “You’ve never done a big fight. You don’t know anything about it. You’ve done two little fights with 1,000 people in Southend – now you think you can do this?”
It was in 1971 when Bugner had been awarded a controversial decision over Henry Cooper, among Britain’s most-loved fighters, in a fight for the British, Commonwealth and European titles, forever ensuring that British fight fans would treat him with disdain.
Hearn saw in him the ability to be the villain to the hero of Bruno; a fight to cross over into the mainstream media and to be broadcast on the terrestrial television channel ITV.
Bruno’s availability to fight owed in part to the collapse of his proposed contest with Trevor Berbick. His career was being rebuilt after his defeat by Tim Witherspoon; Bugner’s had been winding down, as his past five fights being in Denmark, and then Australia, where he had moved, showed.
Before he had even left the restaurant that day Hearn moved to secure Bugner as an opponent. “I said to the lady behind reception, ‘Can I use your phone?’ She thought I was phoning a taxi. I phoned Australia.
“A voice went: ‘G’day?’ ‘Joe, you don’t know me – my name’s Barry Hearn. I do a bit of snooker. I’d like you to come over to England and fight Frank Bruno.’
“‘That’s gonna cost you a lot of money, mate.’ ‘I’ll cut to the chase – I’ll give you £250,000.’
“He went very quiet, and then he said, ‘And what plane do you want me on?’ That was it. The deal was done, and I went back, sat with my wife, and went, ‘I’ve got one of ‘em.’”
In an attempt to secure Bruno’s participation, Hearn made the then-25-year-old an offer of £300,000 and demand he signed the contract because of the risk – which he lied about – of losing Bugner if he didn’t do so that very night.
“I wanted to do it at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane, so I spoke to the club chairman Irving Scholar and agreed to the worst deal he’ll have ever signed – 10 per cent of the gate after they’d paid the costs,” Hearn continued.
“My next step was to speak to the BBC, but I was told, ‘We don’t think this is a fight for the British public’. So I went to LWT – London Weekend Television – and spoke to [later FA chairman] Greg Dyke.
“We got on like a house on fire, and he wanted the fight. ‘How much do you want?’ he asked. I quoted £200,000. I don’t believe you can deliver it, but if you do I’ll give you £250,000.”
Bugner, then 37 and in a promotional context the consummate professional, predicted a first-round knockout of Bruno, who he dismissed as a “C-class fighter”. The combination of he and Bruno combined to sell 35,000 tickets, and therefore generate a gate of £1,000,000.
He had boxed Muhammad Ali twice, and Joe Frazier once, but against the considerably more flawed Bruno, Bugner’s lack of ambition left Hearn alarmed.
“Bruno’s dressing room was like a morgue,” the promoter remembered. “No one was talking, and he was sitting with his head between his hands. I wished him luck and left.
“When I went to Bugner’s dressing room I could hear the music from outside – it was like a party in there. ‘Joe, I’ve got to say thanks – I’m new to the game and you’ve worked your socks off selling tickets. If you do win, I’ll bring you back here to fight Mike Tyson, and I’ll pay you a king’s fortune.’
“I’ll never forget his words. ‘Barry, you’re paying me very well, mate, and for that I thank you, and I’m going to try my best, but if he hurts me I’m going down.’
“‘He’s not even gonna try,’ I thought. ‘This is a disaster.’”
The experienced Bugner outweighed the athletic younger fighter by two stones, and made a fast start, but he was increasingly worn down by Bruno’s punishing jab.
Whether or not it was a good fight apparently mattered little, because the crowd present cheered Bruno’s every move until the eighth round, when a hurtful barrage forced the intervention of the referee John Coyle, to even louder cheers.
“Bugner knew enough to survive and then took one little clip from Bruno and that was it,” said Hearn. But 18 million tuned in to ITV to watch and everyone went home happy, which is the essence of a great show, and one that gave me what I’ve always called ‘the boxing bug’.
“The likelihood is that had I not done that fight, there might not be a Matchroom Boxing today. I lost several million in the following years while I learned about the business, but that was where it started.”
The young Eddie Hearn was present that night, and described himself as ‘awestruck’. Bruno was rewarded with his first fight with Tyson 16 months later; Bugner fought for the final time in 1999.
Matchroom, meanwhile, has gone from strength to strength, with Eddie growing its stable of fighters, which now include Anthony Joshua, Katie Taylor and Dmitry Bivol among many others.
In addition, the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) under Matchroom has turned darts into a major sport and turned Phil Taylor and Luke Littler into household names as fans fight for tickets to be at Ally Pally every December.
