I adore the fact that Frank Bruno, the sporting giant (quite literally) with the booming voice, is totally floored with love for his first grandchild: baby girl, Amaya. Congratulations to parents Rachel and Bobby Bruno-Hardy on their adorable new arrival.
In the short time that I was alone with Frank, I asked him: if you had your time again, would you box? And he did not hesitate in saying yes. I was surprised – hadn’t it all been too hard? On the body, on the mind, and on the family? He agreed, but he said “any job is hard. Being a lawyer is hard, being an accountant is hard…”
Now, I’d only recently learned of the scale of the success he had as a boxer – being more familiar with his work within mental health than anything else – but I imagined that a winning streak like his was definitely harder than your average day job.
It was a remarkable opportunity to be a fly on the wall at this precious time for him as a new grandad, with daughter Rachel and son-in-law Bobby by his side.
More than anything he struck me as a strong, thoughtful family man. He spoke more than once about how much he’d had to miss of his own girls’ upbringing because of his strict training schedule – sacrifices his daughters say they respect – but you can tell that history won’t be repeating itself there. He can’t wait to take on grandparent duties. In his own words, he is “besotted” with Amaya and “the happiest grandad you could hope to meet”.
