Aussie Joe's finest hour

The frustrating thing was he occasionally showed his abilities.
His loss to Frazier was no disgrace he fought very well that was the frustrating thing, we knew it was somewhere in there.

 

I’m not so sure as time went on the Cooper win hung over him that much Pug,it was no robbery anyway it was simply one of those that could have gone either way.
The main issue as I’ve mentioned in another post was that we had this 6’4” Adonis with good abilities.
A good jab he moved round the ring well and had a good chin and when he sat down decent pop.
I just think the fans expected more, too many times he was passive and simply disappointed.
No disrespect to Jack Bodell but Bugner managed to get beat off him, a man Quarry despatched in sixty odd seconds.
He put up a great show against Frazier and going 27 rounds with Ali was no mean feat.
He was a good fella who could have been a hero the fans were really wanting him to be that, but too many times it simply wasn’t there.

 

Ali was said to have rated Bugner pretty highly, once stating that he thought he could win the heavyweight title.

Mind you, the GOAT did talk a lot of **** but I think his point on Bugner was well made.

 

Thanks for your insight Cec. He obviously didn’t lack courage and ironically, the passivity could buy him more grief and punishment than if he had been more aggressive at times. The single punch KO of Winston Allen is a perfect testament - Joe had some difficulties due in part to his fighting with insufficient aggression but then he got angry and boom, it was all over. Joe’s post fight narrative on the fight was quite eloquent. That Allen was piece of work. Lol.

 

Every time I have seen Joe in the media he has come across as a really lovely guy. I can't say much for back in the day but as a retired fighter and guy of some profile in my country he is pretty popular.

 

Vastly underrated fighter. Would have beat some of the alphabet champions that followed him.

 

Yes Allen really brought out that latent anger and viciousness in Joe which we all knew was there.

 

Ha - I don’t know if it was always there to the degree evidenced in the Allen fight but at least it came out with some heat on that occasion.

 

Re’ your query on how Joe’s defeat of Cooper was received in the UK.
I posted my take on it a few months ago on a Cooper- Bugner thread.
A quick surmise is that it wasn’t well received.
Exacerbated by commentator, Harry Carpenter’s negative reaction to the result.
Cooper was a poster boy for the TV company BBC, who showed his knockdown of Clay at every opportunity.
Carp’ was a mate of Coop’s, so Joe had spoiled the party for our gallant knight!

 

More terrific insight - thanks. Yeah, Carpenter’s reaction was a bit OTT.

 

I think Cooper's attitude towards the defeat didn't help - for years afterwards he wouldn't have any dealings with referee Harry Gibbs, who sued him for remarks in his autobiography. In the end I think someone at a charity dinner offered money for them to shake hands.

 

Disrespectful on two counts. Joe really never forgot the death of Ulric Regis . He wasn't a "Pacifist", just a human being who couldn't come to terms with having caused the death of another man.

Jack Bodell was was as game and as tough as they came. Never ducked anyone. He had stoppage wins over Brian London, Johnny Prescott and Billy Walker in some of the most full blooded wars in British Heavyweight history.

 

I was at that fight. A mate was on the undercard. When Joe realised Allen had butted his eyebrow open, it was almost cartoon like. He just took one long stride and flattened Winston. Utterly thrilling.

 

Joe's finest hour was against Joe Frazier. No contest or question. He was heroic that night, getting off the deck and coming as near as you like to dropping Frazier.

His other jaw dropper was his one round destruction of Richard Dunn. Sensitivities at the time meant that some of Richard's quotes at press conferences didn't make the papers. In one episode, Dunn said he put a picture of Joe in his toilet so he could practice s....ing on him. We know how that ended.