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Sports correspondent & historian with |
A further link to Muhammad Ali was lost last week with the passing of Joe Bugner on the Gold Coast.
He was 75 years old.
While Bugner is best remembered for his two fights with Muhammad Ali, he also went into battle in the ring with many of the best boxers of the 1960s and 1970s, including Joe Frazier, Henry Cooper, Jimmy Ellis, Frank Bruno and Ernie Shavers.
Born Jozsef Kreul Bugner, he escaped with his family from Hungary after the Soviet invasion of their nation in 1956 to go and live in Britain.
A natural-born heavyweight at six feet four inches tall and weighing more than 16 stone, he scythed through the ranks of the British fighters after making his professional debut in December 1967.
Four years later, Bugner met Henry Cooper in a fight that is still talked about today.
In the days of the referee deciding the decision, referee Harry Gibbs gave the nod to Bugner by the narrowest of margins. The British public and press were deeply divided about the verdict.
Many felt that Cooper deserved the decision due to his steady aggression while Bugner fought effectively on defence, scoring repeatedly with his left jab.
Bugner was booed from the ring and the outcome of the fight is still a matter of debate.
The then 21-year-old Bugner had made the big-time in beating Cooper, as he collected the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight titles.
Both Cooper and Bugner would go on to meet Muhammad Ali on two occasions apiece.
Coincidentally, I have the autographs of both Henry Cooper and Joe Bugner within the sporting memorabilia collection I have gathered over the years.
Cooper will be long remembered for putting Ali on the deck after “The Greatest” started to showboat around the ring. There was some controversy when Angelo Dundee, who was Ali’s trainer, made a small tear in his fighter’s glove to give him more time to recover from the big blow that had put him on the floor.
During 1973, Bugner fought both Ali and Joe Frazier. While outpointed by Ali, he earned the respect of his opponent, media and fight fans worldwide.
The fight with Frasier was deemed a classic. After being knocked down by a tremendous left hook in the 10th round, Bugner arose and staggered Frasier to close out the round, before losing by the narrowest of margins.
Many knowledgeable fight fans regard the Frasier bout as being Bugner’s best career performance.
Joe Bugner moved to Australia in 1986, adopting the nickname “Aussie Joe”.
A less well-known part of Joe Bugner’s life was his time as a movie star. As an actor Joe played villainous roles in films starring Bud Spencer and appeared in the 1994 action film Street Fighter alongside Jean-Claude van Damme.
While the vast majority of professional boxers retire when their skills erode with a string of losses, not so Joe Bugner.
Bugner won his last seven bouts against such notables as former world champion James “Bonecrusher” Smith and Levi Billups.
Included in his last seven wins were earning the lightly regarded WBF World heavyweight and Australian heavyweight titles.
Bugner finally hung up his gloves for the final time in 1999, ending a marathon 32-year professional boxing career.
RIP Joe Bugner.