On this day in 1993: Lewis stops Bruno in Cardiff's Battle of Britain
Frank Bruno was ahead on one judge's scorecard when a Lennox Lewis left hook turned the WBC heavyweight title fight in the seventh round.
Lennox Lewis kept his WBC heavyweight title 33 years ago today, stopping Frank Bruno one minute and 12 seconds into the seventh round at the National Stadium in Cardiff on 1 October 1993. Billed as the Battle of Britain, it was the first time two British-born boxers had fought for the world heavyweight title.
Lewis was making the second defence of a belt the WBC had awarded him in January 1993, when Riddick Bowe refused to fight him. That made him the first British world heavyweight champion since Bob Fitzsimmons lost the title on 9 June 1899. Bruno was in his third world title fight, having lost to Tim Witherspoon at Wembley in 1986 and to Mike Tyson in Las Vegas in 1989.
The build-up turned on nationality. Lewis had won Olympic gold for Canada in 1988, and Bruno described him as "...not British", adding: "Nobody cares about Lennox Lewis in Britain." Lewis replied: "What was I supposed to do? Not follow my mother to Canada?"
In front of 25,784 spectators at the rugby ground, the fight was close on the cards after six rounds. American judges Tony Castellano and Jerry Roth had it level at 57-57, while Adrian Morgan scored it 59-55 to Bruno. Early in the seventh, Lewis staggered Bruno with a looping left hook and followed with punches to the head. Referee Mickey Vann warned Lewis for stiff-arming with his left hand, then stopped the fight with Bruno unable to defend himself.
"I saw him drop his right hand and just came out with my left hook," Lewis said. Bruno's manager, Mickey Duff, said: "Frank (Bruno) has no chin... once he gets hit clean on the button, he goes."
The undercard carried a footnote for Welsh boxing. Joe Calzaghe made his professional debut in front of barely 300 spectators, stopping Paul Hanlon in the first round. He later became an undefeated world champion in two weight classes and, like Lewis, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.