Joe Bugner vs Duane Bobick in 1977 , 12 rds

It's not a pick 'em fight. Norton would be an overwhelming favorite. I imagine Norton winning a wide UD. His combination of athleticism, strength, power, and aggression would have put Bugner on the defensive all night. Bugner would have his moments, but Norton, overall, would carry the action.

At best, Bugner might put on the kind of resistance he showed against Frazier, maybe even hurting or rocking Norton with occasional big rights. But Bugner really didn't have the punching power to keep Norton on the defensive. Norton would have been stalking and swarming throughout the bout.

Bugner was too durable, and too good defensively, to get KO'd by Norton, though.

Final scores: anywhere from 8-4 to 10-2 for Norton.

 

kenmore,

I meant to say,,,,,,,,,,,

Joe Bugner replaces Ken Norton,,,,,,,,

Duane Bobick vs. Joe Bugner in early-1977 (without the knowledge of a Norton vs. Bobick
bout).

As for Ken Norton vs. Joe Bugner,,,,,,,,,I agree a solid decision win for the Marine.

 

Bobick struggled against Bunny Johnson's outside boxing despite the massive size difference.I expect Bugner would handle him, but who knows with Joe.

 

I think Bugner would decision Bobick, winning easily but unimpressively. Final scores would be anywhere from 8-4 to 12-0. There would be lots of mauling, pushing, and sloppy manuevering by both fighters. Overall, Bugner's constant, cuffing left jabs, coupled with his ability to beat Duane to the punch during exchanges, would keep him safely ahead on the cards.

I'm guessing that Bugner would do a fair amount of dancing in center ring, dodging Bobick's attack, and fighting back with more cuffing jabs and straight rights. Most of the rights would probably be arm punches though, and not the heavy blows that Bugner sometimes succeeded in unleashing.

During the moments when Duane succeeds in getting inside, and mauls with Bugner, the advantage still lies with Joe, generally. This is because Bobick was not an overwhelmingly powerful puncher: his shots probably would not have greatly troubled the brick-jawed Bugner. Thus, in between moments filled with clinching and pushing, Bugner would let both hands rip, and score nicely against Bobick's head and body. Again, I doubt that Joe's punches hurt Duane seriously.

No way that Bobick can repeat his Wepner or LeDoux successes against Bugner. Bugner was simply that much stronger and tougher than those guys. In fact, despite Bobick's considerable physical strength, Bugner himself would constantly be pushing Bobick back...not the other way around.

In the end, the media and fans would criticize Bugner for his inability to close the show with a KO combination. But still, Bugner wins easily.

 

Kenmore,

A detailed analysis in your post,,,,,,,,,,,would be an understatement.

Excellent job....

Maybe the only question about Joe Bugner would be his inactivity.
After the 15-Round dance with Muhammad Ali in June 1975, the only other
round Joe fought, was his 1 Round demolition of Richrd Dunn.

If his fight with Duane Bobick went off in May 1977, thats 1 round of activiity
in 23-months.

As for Bobick, he was at least busy. 5-fights in 1976, and 43 rounds of ring
experience.

Murphy Griffith (his trainer and respected boxing chief) felt he was ready
for the next step.

A fight in 1977, would be completely different than a fight in 1975.
A mauling Bobick just might suffocate Bugner's offense. As for the fight,
it doesn't look like it would be pretty or entertaining.
Lots of hugging, clinching and non-activity.

 

I based my analysis on how Bugner looked against Ron Lyle in March 1977. That's only 2 months prior to May, when your hypothetical fight occurs.

Ron Lyle was much more of a fighter than Bobick. Stronger, far harder hitting, and more durable. If Bugner (who was near his worst that night) lost only by a close, hard fought decision to a fighter of Lyle's calibre, then imagine how much better Bugner would have done against Bobick.

 

I don't think Murphy Griffith was training Bobick in 1976 and 1977. At this stage, Bobick was being trained by Eddie Futch. Bobick didn't reconnect with Griffith until 1978, after being dropped by Frazier and Futch.

No?

 

No way. Impossible.

Like I said in my analysis, Bugner was stronger than Bobick, and could clinch him or push him backwards. During those moments when they weren't clinching or grabbing, Bugner would get his shots off first. Bugner's hands were easily quicker than Duane's.

Watch the Lyle fight. For the first 9 rounds, during the exchanges Bugner tended to get his punches off first, beating Lyle to the punch. I think Bugner would be able to hit Bobick that much easier.

Regarding Lyle-Bugner, the reason Lyle ultimately got the better of it was because of his great power. Too often, Bugner was forced into a defensive shell because of Lyle's KO blows. Bobick didn't have anything close to Lyle's power.

 

Well I'm convinced,,,,,,,,,

No knock-out, but Joe wins a convincing decision.

The Murphy Griffith quote was his view before the Norton fight.
I think he was just offering his opinion, when asked if Bobick was
ready for the 'big-time'.

Old article from May 1976

The Top 5 Heavyweight Prospects
1) Larry Holmes...........22-0-0 (17 KO's)........#8 Ranked
2) Dino Dennis.............27-0-1 (14 KO's).........#10 Ranked
3) Johnny Boudreaux.....20-0-1 (9 KO's).........#6 Ranked
4) Duane Bobick...........35-0-0 (30 KO's)........#9 Ranked
5) Stan Ward................5-0-2 (3 KO's)

 

I remember that old Sports Illustrated article. It was kind of a bombshell article, because the author trashed Bobick a bit, and declared 3 other guys as superior to Bobick.

In reality, the author of the article was kind of ignorant about the subject at hand. Although he was correct that Holmes -- and not Bobick -- was the true up-and-coming heavyweight prospect to watch, he was wrong about other things. For example, Bobick would have walked right through Dino Dennis and Johnny Boudreaux, both of whom were really just clubfighters (particularly Dennis, who had a bad habit of standing and brawling, even though he was feather fisted. Easy win for Bobick.)

Here's how we could rate those guys in retrospect:

1: Holmes
2: Bobick or Ward (pick 'em)
3: Bobick or Ward (pick 'em)
4. Dennis or Boudreaux (pick 'em)
5. Dennis or Boudreaux (pick 'em)

I'm not sure who was better...Bobick or Ward. Ditto for Dennis and Boudreaux: these two were tied in ability.

 

Another excellent match-up for Bobick, in 1977, would have been Leroy Jones. Jones, who at 260 lbs was a massive heavyweight, was ranked in the top 10 by almost everyone at the time. But his abilities were questionable. Bobick stopped Jones in merely one round during the amateurs. I think Bobick would have clobbered Jones in the pros, too.

 

I also believe that Bobick would have stopped Leon Spinks. I really believe it...always did.

 

Mark Kram,,,,,,,,,Sports Illustrated

A scathing review of Duane Bobick.

Duane Bobick, the Golden Boy of Minnesota, the Olympic Star who fell, is the
best known of the new heavyweight of the bunch.

His contract was purchased by Joe Frazier, and Bobick was given a $20,000
signing bonus. He has money behind him, as well as one of the best teachers
in the business, Eddie Futch.

The result, 35 straight wins, with 30 knockouts. But Bobick has obvious weaknesses;
a) he is a plodder who has all the signs of being a catcher
b) he tries to fight like Joe Frazier, which he's not natural with
c) he cannot jab at all
d) he has a mediocre left hook
e) his best tool, the right hand, is fair at best
f) his punching is too wide and slow
g) he can be picked off from a block away

Unfortunately, Bobick has gone backwards in development, despite the money and
people behind him. His best days were 5 years ago in 1971, when he was the
World's #1 Amateur.

In some recent fights, against strictly shop-worn fighters, Bobick has frozen up
when his opponents fight back. If this happens against a World-Class
boxer, this could spell disaster. It is hard to suggest that Bobick won't improve, but
how many more easy bouts with weak opponents are in line for this former Amateur
Champion.

Though Bobick has entered the Top 10 rankings of Ring Magazine, the 26 year-old
appears to miles away from the top contenders in ability. Right now, Larry Holmes is
the class of the young heavyweights. Though Bobick owns amateur victories over
Holmes, in most boxing circles, Larry would sweep the floor with Bobick now.

With Muhammad Ali about to take his last bow, a bunch of pretenders are being
groomed. How much longer will it take to develop Duane Bobick into a capable
world class fighter. As of right now, he is not.

 

I remember bits and pieces of that article, but I don't remember Kram saying some of this stuff, like Holmes would "sweep the floor with Bobick." Is this entire quote really from the article? Or did you piece together information from different articles?

Kram was right about many things. However, he got carried away by rating Dennis and Boudreaux over Bobick. Kram went way, way overboard there...

 

I completely agree,,,,,,,,,,,by no means is that a stretch.

Leon might rock Duane a few times, but in the end, I'd go with Bobick also.