Frank Bruno: When I struggled with mental health I turned to Colin Hart – he’s the undisputed Champ of boxing reporters

SOMETIMES in life, when your back is against the ropes, and you feel like the whole world is mugging you off, you need people you can reach out to for help who you can trust.

Colin Hart was – without a doubt – always one of those people.

News Group Newspapers LtdColin Hart covered Frank Bruno during the 1990s[/caption]

GettyHart was ringside through Bruno’s highs and lows[/caption]

I was just a teenager, a kid really, when our paths crossed for the first time.

I was an upcoming amateur fighter making a name for myself. Colin – or Mr Hart as I called him the first time we met – was a top boxing journalist who had covered boxing’s great and good for decades.

So I knew when he kept coming back to watch my fights I must have been doing something right.

In the end, he was there at ringside, covering every moment: all the highs and all the lows.

Recently, he very kindly picked my fight against Lennox Lewis as one of his top five British bouts of all time.

I quite liked the fight as well. Well, apart from the ending if you know what I mean.

But it’s the moments outside the ring that I spent with Colin that I’ll remember the most fondly.

Boxing now is nothing like it used to be. These days, those press conferences are like mini-fights. The hype, the drama, the aggro – I wouldn’t be surprised if they start putting some of those press conferences on pay-per-view.

Back in the 80s and 90s it was totally different. Boxers and newspaper journalists would spend time mixing in and around training camps.

There was no social media. No 24 hour sports news. Instead, I’d spend hours talking to Colin and his colleagues.

These guys knew everything about boxing and Colin had the biggest brain of all. I used to joke that he was a walking encyclopedia.

But I secretly soaked up so much of what he said and the advice he gave me.

To me, Colin was a serious hombre. When he had something to say it was worth paying attention. . I knew I could trust him too.

I’ve not always had a great relationship with the media, especially some of the news-boys over the years. But Colin was as straight as they came – and he quickly became a really firm friend.

Maybe that’s why when I hit rock-bottom and started suffering with mental ill health it was Colin I turned to for advice.

I remember one phone call, shortly before I was sectioned, where I spoke to Colin on the phone for an hour.

Truth be told I was crying out for help and Colin, as ever, advised me the best I could.

In the end, like we all have to, I had to find my own way out of my troubles.

But Colin was always supporting me, sending me letters and notes. And once I was out of hospital he was one of the first on the phone to wish me well.

Colin Hart was The Sun’s ‘Voice of Boxing’ for more than 50 yearsNews Group Newspapers Ltd

News Group Newspapers LtdBruno’s rival Lennox Lewis also revered Colin Hart[/caption]

Since retiring I regularly saw Colin at various boxing events, sportsmans dinners, and charity galas.

If I knew he was there I’d always ask to be on his table, and we’d swap stories about the good old days.

I last saw Colin in October, at a tribute dinner in London to celebrate my old mate John Conteh, and he was as sharp and as smart as he’d always been.

As ever it was a privilege to spend some time with him and to share a laugh and a joke. It’s hard to believe I’ll never see him again.

When it comes to the kings of boxing reporters, Colin was the undisputed Champion. No-one else will ever lay a glove on him. RIP, my friend.

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