Bugner up on his feet, superb jab, defence, frustrating Haye in the clinch and his durability. Bugner points for me. Those would be the keys to beating Haye, who the bigger puncher, wouldn't of won the exchanges on the jab, can't see him having the power to KO Bugner.......Ali couldn't x2.
Bugner was terrible. Haye easy UD. Bugner had terrible defense and couldn't keep regional fighters off of him. He barely threw the jab and didn't have big power even though he was 6'4.
Is that why he was able to successfully compete across 4 decades because he was so terrible? Hayes heavyweight record was mediocre. Chisora was his best win and Chisora actually is terrible (slow, windmill punching and not even really that durable). Haye bottled it against Klitschko, ducked Fury and got his head punched in twice by Tony Bellew (who is no heavyweight). Haye talked a great game about Haye 2.0 when the reality was he was an athletically gifted puncher with sloppy skills, dodgy stamina and once his athleticism failed him he just outright sucked. Bugner beat better boxers in his 40’s than heavyweight Tony Bellew.
Rewatch the Jack Bodell fight. Bodell (a much smaller man) would come in and out and land on Bugner. Haye would do exactly what he did to Valuev, but Haye is a couple inches taller and I believe has a longer reach. Load up on pot shots and get away from any potential counters. Idk if Bugner would be able to reach the final bell. Haye had explosiveness and was elusive. All wrong for Bugner.
That was a poor performance by Joe as he clearly found the southpaw Bodell awkward. But I can watch Bugner go to war with a still very good Joe Frazier (even in a loss) to see the ability and grit Joe had in him at his best. I can watch Haye poop his pants against Klitschko to get a true reading of Haye. He was a front runner who wouldnt get in the trenches when he had to (further evidenced by him folding like a deck chair against a 41 y/o Carl Thompson an opponent he had everything over except ticker). Haye was good but overhyped. He had the tools to be as good as he boasted but lacked the wherewithal (and his chin wasn’t great either especially at heavyweight, Bugner’s was granite in comparison)
Bugner shuts him out. Haye is hopeless on the front foot. Those overhand swings never touch him. Even Frazer found it hard to land clean.
