Boxing legend Frank Bruno splits from hairdresser girlfriend after four years

“I’m looking for a woman, a nice princess to settle down with.

“Every time I come to Glasgow I have good fun — I had a girlfriend here for about four years and she was very special.

“I also boxed in Glasgow and they were very warm and very nice people.

“They are straight people and if they don’t like you they tell you and if they do, they tell you.”

The ex-couple met at a wedding and Nina was later credited with helping Frank battle back from depression.

In between searching for a new partner, the star is raising cash on crowdfunding site Kickstarter to make a movie about his glittering career.

The British hero, who won 40 of his 45 bouts — 38 by knockout — told fans at a question and answer session at Glasgow's Alea Casino: “I’m doing very well and mustn’t grumble.

“I’m doing merchandise for the film and just ducking and diving.”

Frank, whose 1990 marriage to Laura ended in divorce 11 years later, recalled: “My mum saw that I was hanging about with some dodgy people like criminals.

“I called it prison from when I was 12 to 16. I was thick and didn’t have any A levels or GCSEs and just wanted to do a bit of metal polishing work on a building site.

“I decided I wanted to take up boxing seriously and won the amateur contests when I was 16 and went on from there.

“If I weren’t a boxer I’d have been a getaway driver or a bank thief or something like that.”

Instead Frank took on world champions including Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and clinched the European Heavyweight title in 1985.

He won the world title in September 1995 after defeating Oliver McCall at a packed Wembley Stadium but retired six months later after losing the belt to Tyson.

He said of the McCall bout: “It was a wicked feeling and the pinnacle of my career.

“It was a dream come true because Oliver had knocked out Lennox Lewis so it looked good on paper.

"I thought I was in the ring with a gorilla cause he had the power of ten of them that night.”

The fight idol also told how he was embarrassed by his bare chest the first time he stepped into a professional ring in 1982.

He said: “My breasts were very big and one was bigger than the other but it was a nice experience.”

Frank won the nation’s hearts with his beaming smile, booming laugh and post-fight catchphrase ‘Know what I mean, ’Arry?’— coined during ringside chats with legendary BBC commentator Harry Carpenter.

He revealed his shock 1984 Wembley defeat to American James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith after a string of victories ultimately boosted his career.

He said: “My lesson in life was being beaten and keeping my feet on the ground. Sometimes you need to get beaten before you can win.

“If I had beaten Smith I’d have gone for the world title and I didn’t have the experience.

“It kept me down and made me more determined. I needed that.”

On his European heavyweight opponent Anders Ekland, who he beat in 1985, 6ft 2in Frank joked; “I didn’t realise men could be that big — 6ft 6in and size 17 feet. He was a big old lump.”

Frank also recalled feeling like he had a “disco in my eye” during his failed WBC title defence against Tyson in Vegas in 1996.

The star, who also lost their first bout seven years earlier, said: “It was in my contract and I had to do it but unfortunately I had a detached retina at the time.

“It was the end of my career.”

Frank quit boxing in 1996 and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2003 as he struggled to cope with retirement and had paint thrown at his car by yobs.

The idol’s son Franklin, 21, has since proved he can pack a punch like his famous father after winning his first amateur fight in just 75 seconds.

And while he is immensely proud of his lad, Frank looks back over his own career with satisfaction.

He added: “I’ve had a good innings.

“I didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge but I did it from pure hard work and determination.

“There was no shame at all.”

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