Boxing great Frank Bruno, now 64, told The Sun on Sunday that a health incident on a March flight to the Far East in 2023 left him unable to remember winning the 1995 WBC heavyweight title or ever fighting Mike Tyson.
The former world champion, who beat Oliver McCall for the belt in 1995, also forgot how many children he had and even mistook his personal assistant for football legend Paul Gascoigne while in a Qatari hospital.
Bruno said he became confused on the flight, was sedated and taken to a hospital in Doha, Qatar, after the cabin crew noticed his temperature rising, oxygen dropping and speech slurring.
He recalled, "I've been to a very, very dark place. For a long time, parts of my life just vanished from my mind. I feel lucky to be alive."
Having retired in 1996, the former champion has lived with bipolar disorder, been sectioned four times since 2003 and now says the 2023 episode was his lowest point.
In his memoir Bruno: Still Fighting, he wrote that his long-term memory was wiped, leading him to claim he was 25, that he hadn't won a world title and that he needed to train for an upcoming fight with Tyson.
He described the flight: the cabin lights blinded him, he felt freezing, wrapped himself in a blanket, then paced the aisle and locked himself in the toilet until the plane landed.
Upon arrival in Doha, paramedics and police met the plane. He was placed in a wheelchair, taken to an airport medical centre, put on a drip for dehydration and then tried to pull the cannula out, causing blood to spurt.
Security restrained him, sedated him twice and doctors performed CT and MRI scans, ruling out stroke, seizure, food poisoning and medication reaction. A viral condition was eventually diagnosed, with the high-altitude flight likely triggering a bipolar relapse.
After being sedated, Bruno's assistant Paul Hunter stayed with him, repeatedly asking simple questions to rebuild his memory. Over weeks, details such as street names and faces returned, allowing his recollection to improve.
He was allowed to fly home only after agreeing to travel with a doctor and sedation. He then spent four weeks in a London hospital, missing the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 British Boxing Awards, which was collected by the late Ricky Hatton.
Bruno now says he is fully recovered, continues to run the Frank Bruno Foundation and undergoes regular brain scans and memory tests, with doctors finding no signs of dementia.
He also expressed fear of ending up like fellow boxer Charlie Magri, who suffers Alzheimer's, and mourned the death of friend Ricky Hatton, wishing he could have spoken to him once more.
- To buy a signed copy of Bruno: Still Fighting, see frankbruno.co.uk.
