40 years on Bugner reveals what it was like to fight Ali

Joe Bugner was a very solid contender back in his day when there less titles to go round. Good to be reminded of his thoughts on things and what it was like to face Ali. To go the distance twice with him and once with Frazier is no mean feat. Joe always got a lot of stick and a lot of it was undeserved. He lacked a bit of pop in his punch at top level and finishing instinct, but yes, an opponent died in Joe's early days which may have left its mark on him and look at the guys around in the 70's, Bugner met a lot of them, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Lyle, Shavers, Quarry. Joe was a top ten guy in a strong era.

 

He never fought Foreman,Norton and Quarry.

 

Forget all the sad stuff.

Insulting a stoned, giant beltbuckle-wearing, shooting his television with a gun, packing an "honorary Narcotics Agent Badge" from Richard Nixon, early 70s' Elvis.

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Living next door to always-drunk Dean Martin, the highest paid TV personality of that time.

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Meeting your wife at sleezy Joan Collins' house party.

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Having the 70s version of Tom Jones as one of your groomsmen.

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Growing a big red afro and punching Ali in the face.

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Joe Bugner is THE FREAKING MAN.

I can't get the cast of American Hustle out of my head.

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Enjoyed reading this. I always liked Bugner.

 

With all due respect, Bugner was a 'wannabe'. IMO he never had the heart to be the champ, tho he had the skills which he wasted. (could take a shot, big tall guy with a fine jab and a stiff right-when he wanted to throw it!.) I did love him after the first Ali fight (a young up and comer who seemed to have all the tools-except for a 'champion's heart'. Particulars: he continues to trowel out his 'victory' over Cooper (37? years old) which he 'won' by 1/2 a point. He fought a Frazier who was less than 6 months removed from his Foreman beatdown. (I continue to say you can't judge a fighter's greatness based on a LOSS). Seemed to be primed and ready for the Ali rematch in Kuala Lampur and?...fought only to stay on his feet. A snoozefest of a bout. Saw it closed circuit; thank goodness the undercard had Galindez-Ahumada which was an exciting s****.
Doesn't have a quality win on his resume in his entire career! (tell me who?...besides the over the hill guys he decisioned.)
Cooper beat Zora Folley in 1958. For those who saw it, Zora decked him early, but 'enery' was the aggressor late and, IMO, I can't dispute the Cooper decision (I know Zora iced him early in the rematch).
Cooper's first fight win over Folley trumps anything Bugner EVER accomplished.
Finally, IMHO, Bugner is nothing more than a blip on the radar of the many talented fighters who never got to the top.
A nice interview but many don't realize Bugner was a 'whiney boy', making excuses, years ago in interviews...I'm out, bottom line? Just another potential champion (given his skills) who ****ed away any opportunity he might have ever had...

 

Henry Cooper?

Joe Bugner's win over a 29-year-old Greg Page is superior to Cooper's win over Zora Folley (who destroyed Cooper their return).

Bugner also beat a 29-year-old David Bey. He beat Quick Tillis a few months after Tillis fought Tyson, and Joe beat Tillis easier than Tyson did.

Not to mention Bugner faced Ali, Frazier, Jimmy Ellis, Mac Foster, Brian London, and your precious Henry Cooper all by his 24th birthday, and he beat them all but Ali and Frazier.

And he yelled at Elvis -- who, in the 70s, was always stoned out of his mind and waving guns around.

Joe Bugner is the man. Henry Cooper lost to everyone and their brother. I never saw a guy milk one knockdown to such an extreme.

I won't stand for this nonsense.

Bugner has and will always rule!

 

:hammertime

 

Thanks. Nice read, im not too familiar with Bugners career but will look out for him.

 

He certainly does. In spite of him frustrating us all at times,I always found something very likeable about him. On form,he was a pretty good contender for a time too.

 

I won't stand for your nut-hugging nonsense.
Bugner never had the moxie to EVER rule..
Who give's a rat's behind about your Elvis reference?? What's the point in bringing that non-boxing nonsense up?
As I said, I loved him when he hit the 'big time' after the first Ali s**** in 73 but shouldn't any fighter that might aspire to 'supers****om' be kicking tail well before 30 years old???
Lost to a fading Lyle in 77.
A 1982 old war-horse Shavers decked him and had him out inside of 2 rounds that year.
Marvis (Marvis???) Frazier beat his underachieving behind in the early 80's.
Tillis 86? If 'Mr. Comeback' was serious, why not fight Tyson? Or any other contender immediately thereafter in an attempt to try for one of (I don't know how many titles that existed by that time.) atsch the 'titles'?
Page? The big 'heir-apparent' to be the next Ali had already shown that he wasn't worthy of any ATG discussion after 6 or 7 losses by that point. (jeez o pete, are you making this up as you go along?)
Bruno stopped him in 87!
Now, after ****ing away England and 'becoming' an Aussie, he 'magnificantly' returns 8 years later as an old old man with a 'sterling resume'
In closing, this guy had absolutely NOTHING under his left-tit to warrant ANY of your kudos!
Total...underachieving blip on the Heavyweight Boxing legacy of talent. Never has so little been done by a Heavyweight with so much potential and talent.
**** on him!!!

 

is Bugner boy bringing out a new movie?

 

Oh please. I'm just having fun. The guy had a very colorful life. And why'd you jump in a Joe Bugner thread to brag about Henry "freaking" Cooper?

I know Bugner wasn't very popular in England because he wasn't a real Brit, but he was better than Cooper. So you shouldn't ever bring Cooper's name up when talking about Bugner.

Cooper was a top domestic heavyweight, but he lost to every world-class heavyweight he fought and plenty of nobodies, too.

Bugner was fighting the best heavyweights in the world when he was in his early 20s and beating nearly all of them.

Who cares if he didn't beat Ali and Frazier. They were among the ten best heavyweights who ever lived at that time. Bugner was barely legal drinking age when he was taking them on. And he did fine against both.

The Lyle fight was a war. Lyle was rated third in the world at the end of that year and Lyle was going to face Larry Holmes in an eliminator, but Ron murdered a guy on New Year's Eve and was replaced by Shavers.

Joe also had a great comeback in the mid 80s. In 1986, after several years out of the game, he came back to beat Tillis (after he'd just impressed against Tyson), Bey and Page to score what amounted to an eliminator against Frank Bruno. Had he won, Bugner would've faced Tyson.

Great guy. Great character. Damn good fighter. Totally underappreciated.

He was also better than Henry Cooper. If you want to brag on Cooper, start a thread about him. I won't even go on that thread and bother you, because I could care less about Cooper.

Unlike Bugner, Cooper was a non-factor on the world scene (and that includes the boxing scene and the celebrity scene).

Cooper "wishes" he could've hung out with Tom Jones and been invited to a Joan Collins party.:smoke

 

Great article / post.
Bugner had it all.....but not a winners mentality at the top end.
It's that very thing that makes that final 5% difference to being the best / or not...even if you have the other 95 %.
Deserves more credit than he gets for his overall record.
From the article..."Only man to go the distance with Frazier and Ali"...i would never have thought about that / an impressive statistic for Joe.!
Love the tale about Elvis !

 

I'm sorry if I misunderstood your post.
It's just that I've heard so many Bugner posts as to why he was so good that I tend to attack him upon reading any of them.
To be fair, you tend to jump on Cooper a bit too harshly. A gentleman, a fine fighter, with a, all in all, decent resume. Granted a 'continent' fighter who never journeyed into "Yankee-land" but a very interesting career to pour over.
Blessings! J