"Easily the biggest beating of my career came from Ron Lyle in Vegas 1977. He nearly killed me. I am not kidding. He nearly killed me.” Chronicle Live seemed to post the quote (and interview?) in 2014, after Ron died, so maybe it was easier to swallow saying that for Joe, or I simply never found it beforehand.
And Lyle was getting on by that point, he was 36 and had taken punishment, that was after the Foreman war.
I read this in Bugner's book .. he described Lyle getting in his face with all sorts of racial epithets all fight as well ... that fight semi-retired the much much younger Bugner for a while ... Lyle was a very hard man ... when judging Lyle remember two critical points; .... he didn't start his pro career till very late (close to 30) and he fought his whole career after being stabbed in the chest and left for dead in prison , literally (technically) dying on the operating table and being brought back .. to overcome that degree of injury and to compete on a professional level is pretty astonishing .. Lyle was essentially the same age as Ali so factor the fact that Lyle didn't have his first amateur fight till 1969 at the age of about 27 .. at that point Ali had over a hundred amateur fights , an Olympic gold medal , twenty nine professional fights and was two years into his forced exile ... Ron was one of those fighters , more often than not black ( at least up till that time ) who had the hardest road in this very hard sport ...
I like your post Lyle was probably extremely gifted. I remember an interview where he mention that boxing suited him from the very beginning and that he was like a fish in water, moreso than for football
Joe is a good guy. He could have beat some of the alphabet champions that came after him. What did he say about Ali in his book? His children went to school with Ali's children when they both lived in L A. When they were both older Ali saw him at an event and kissed him.
Yes that short run as Aussie Joe Bugner in 1986/87 where he beat James Tillis,David Bey and Greg Page was very impressive. It was very disappointing than that he decided to put on 20lbs not trained seriously and basically cash in against Frank Bruno . Still the 8 rounds were competitive before it ended suddenly and Bugner basically quit.Bruno for once looked relaxed and his stamina a plenty...more than enough. Would Tyson have fought a 37 year old Bugner if he had beaten Bruno or instead of that fight beat say another couple of Americans like Weaver and Biggs? I just don't see it....even if a fight in Australia appealed to Bill Cayton. But of course Cayton was pretty much done...and so was Tyson post summer 88. So all this makes Bugners Aussie Joe comeback even more impressive his goal was probably only a payday against Bruno. Still Joe fought competitively until the late 90s. The Bugner who beat Tillis,Bey and Page probably could have beaten another couple of ex contenders like Weaver and Snipes in 88 instead of the Bruno fight...and supposing Tyson never meets Givens and stays active beating Bruno in late 88 than Williams and Ruddock who knows a late 89 fight in Australia could've taken place as Bill Cayton was always keen on a world tour on a fast track to 50-0 and had proposed filler fights like Adilson Rodriguez in Rio and Damiani in Italy....
He was past his prime by then. I believe a Prime Bugner could have beat some of the alphabet champs prime for prime which is really the only fair comparison. I'm rewatching Ali-Bugner 1 as we speak. Joe has pretty fast hands and nimble feet for a big man. I know he was one of Ali's sparring partners but Cosell implies he spent a lot of time with him. It's crazy watching a fight with Ali where he's not on the backfoot
Lyle came across as quite intelligent and very articulate. I saw one IV with Ron and Ali and it was one of the rare times when Ali actually listened more than he himself actually talked. Ron had some good things to say and Ali appeared to have genuine interest in and respect for that. I can’t remember what he said exactly but Ron also shutdown Cosell in an instant with a very witty retort. Cosell had made one of his usual, unfiltered and offensive comments. Lol.
Ron was interviewed several times at length and he was interesting, well spoken and intelligent ... I have always liked this short doc when as a young contender he foes back and revisits the prison where he was incarcerated ... This content is protected
