Frank Bruno on his new book and the pride he has in his country

For me Britain is the best country on earth and I’m so proud to call it home.

I was really delighted to appear on GB News with Patrick Christys this week. As you may have seen, I sat down with him to talk a bit about my new book, Still Fighting.

But, as is often the way with good journalists like Patrick, our interview actually ended up turning into a bit more of a chat about the country and other bits and pieces.

I really enjoyed it, not least because I am such a proud Brit and absolutely love our country.

This country has been very good to me. I’ll never forget beating Oliver McCall at Wembley in 1995 to win the WBC heavyweight title. I had 45 fights and won 40 of them. I was awarded an MBE in 1990 and made a Freeman of the City of London last December. Not bad for a boy from south London.

But life isn’t always easy, and as you’ll read in my new book it often throws challenges and hurdles our way.

I’ve had to face a fair few over the last five years I can tell you, and the fight has been just as hard outside the ring as it ever was inside it.

One of the worst came in March last year. I was flying from Heathrow to Thailand when I fell ill on the plane and ended up being rushed to hospital in Doha. The doctors tested me for meningitis before they diagnosed a viral infection.

As I say in the book, the strangest part of my sickness was what it had done to my memory.

My great friend Ricky Hatton sent a message of support when he heard.

He told GB News: “I wish him a speedy recovery. Love you Frank.”

That meant the world to me.

Just a few months later Ricky was gone, aged 46. I’ve given him a chapter of the book, because he deserves it. His funeral was at Manchester Cathedral, and the whole country felt that one.

The book takes me back to some of my greatest rivals too. Mike Tyson beat me twice, and now he’s written the foreword. I also tell the story of my reunion with Mike and Lennox Lewis in Riyadh. Who’d have thought it? We knocked lumps out of each other once upon a time.

Through it all, if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you’ve got to keep going forward.

That’s why I called my book Still Fighting: because when you stop doing that it’s curtains.

I know plenty of people reading this will be going through hard times of your own. I’ve been there, and I set up the Frank Bruno Foundation to help people with their mental health through boxing, because I know how much it can help.

Everyone has struggles and difficulties but if I could offer any advice it would be to keep going and to navigate things one day at a time.

I’m 65 in a couple of weeks’ time and I reckon there’s still a fair amount to celebrate.

We live in a great country, Christmas is around the corner and I reckon brighter days are coming; know what I mean?