This is a fight that could and should have happened. Both men were in that intermediate zone of not being able to beat the top four of Ali,Foreman,Frazier and Norton,but were capable of beating anyone else on their day. The two of them had erratic performance levels. Especially Bugner. Tough one to call. Barring cuts it would surely go the distance. If Bugner brought his A game to the table,he would just about clinch it. Anything less and I would say Quarry.
Hard to say. Bugner had a very good jab and wouldn't leave the kind of openings Shavers, MacFoster or even Lyle did. Skillwise I'd have him closer to Ellis. But Quarry would put on some pressure and the question is if Bugner would go into survival mode. If so, Quarry by UD. The difference between them is that Bugner is best known for decent losing efforts against Ali and Frazier, while Quarry actuallly beat some good opponents in convincing fashion. Bugner just never showed he had what it takes to beat an opponent like Quarry. Both could let themselves down mentally, but I'll go with Quarry here.
I've never been able to give kudos to a fighter in a LOSING effort, in other words, what were their BIG wins? Well, with Bugner that equals zero. And don't mention the Ali/Bugner title "scrap" in Indonisa. Joe ran and hid to survive...his big chance and he pussed out, I loved the guy circa 73-74 until I realized he just didn't have it under the left tit...He might well have decisioned Jerry in 74 but, IMO, that doesn't mean squat as Quarry was on the down side of the mountain at that point. Screw Bugner! Never has so little been done with so much...In his 73-75 period (granted he had a very stiff chin) he would have lost decisions to Norton, Lyle...Foreman would have pole-axed him IMO, maybe decisioned Earnie, who knows, but wouldn't have stopped him...quite simply an overrated could-have-been in my opinion....
The 1973 version of Quarry would have beaten Bugner by decision, probably in a good, competitive bout. Bugner's size, boxing skills, and left jab would have made things rough on Quarry. Ultimately Quarry's effective aggression, coupled with Bugner's defensiveness, would have decided the outcome. I disagree with the poster who claims that Quarry would have beaten Bugner as decisively as he beat Lyle. No way. Bugner's left jab was much faster than Quarry's, and that punch alone would have kept this fight competitive even though Quarry would win the decision. On the other hand, I pick a peak Bugner to beat the version of Quarry that lost to Frazier in 1974, and to beat the Quarry who lost to Norton in 1975. Bugner would have emerged a decision victor in these encounters, and the action would have been close. Quarry's advancing age and ring-wear would have prevented from performing at his best against Bugner during this period.
Bugner would have had his moments, but he didn't have, IMO, that extra "oomph" or whatever you might call that intangible thing in his guts to beat Quarry. In fact, I think Quarry would have won a decision, and even scored a flash knockdown along the way, and looked fairly good in doing so. Bugner wasn't "top-tier" enough to beat Quarry, who had more fire and will-to-win than Bugner.