Frazier - Bugner ridiculous scorecard

I remember watching this bout live, I think in '73, and Joe was so ponderously slow compared to how he had been and Bugner didn't have any fire to offer either, a very boring fight to watch. That having been said I believe I gave two rounds to Bugner with two even and the rest to Frazier, but an on fire Joe would have likely stopped him.

 

Joe Bugner certainly had more ability than any other British heavyweight of his time with his fine boxing skills and the ability to take a punch. But Bugner alienated boxing fans in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world with his very uninspired performances in ring. As a result, someone suggested that Bugner go to the world-famous Dr. Christian Barnard to get a heart transplant, which captured many boxing fans' attitude towards Bugner in a nutshell at the time.

- Chuck Johnston

 

This fight really showed that Frazier was no longer the smoking beast he had been in the past. The prime example was when he hit Bugner and Bugner started to collapse in a corner. Joe wound up a hook and then hesitated as Bugner went down in stages while Frazier looked on. The old Frazier would have finished him off right there.

 

Bugner didn't do enough to win in most rounds. He hardly landed any significant punches. He did land something hard late in the fight ( round 11? ) and it buckled Frazier's knees.

This fight shows that a moderately skilled larger heavy in Bugner could give a 29-year-old Frazier a tough fight. Buster Mathis did the same, as was actually in the lead midway through the fight

The best conclusion is more skilled harder hitter the same size or larger would have defeated Frazier.

 

Yes, watching that stunned me. In the post fight interview he said he didn't want his mother to say he was a bad guy so he let Bugner live for another day.

 

Sometimes I think that perhaps Smoke just became too focused on Ali.

 

**** on Bugner! Perhaps his best fight but how can you trowel out a resume that shows his best fight being one that he lost?
All the tools and accomplished nothing. Show me ONE QUALITY win and I mean QUALITY WIN.
I think the referee should score the fight with two judges. I don't think having to score the fight detracts from his job at hand; he's right there and can feel the blows and 'turning tides' in a fight. Harry Gibbs was great but I don't like a ref solely scoring a fight and I don't like three judges scoring either.
I remember the Young-Norton in Nevada where the ref doesn't score the fight and he (name escapes me) said he would have given Jimmy the nod.
Food for thought....

 

Marching ponderously forward hitting arms and gloves doesn't count outside of Murica. Frazier rightly won, but looked like sh!t in doing so. I was at Earls Court for the fight, and it was something of an anti climax.

 

Was your impression that Frazier was shot?

 

Bugner had an excellent jab. He used it against Frazier and the referee scored his jabs as well as Fraziers power-punches. No doubt Frazier won the fight. But the act of the referee scoring worked very well in GB for years. Close to the action he saw what landed an he saw Bugner landing 10 jabs when Frazier was pushing forward and connecting with a lefthook. In Philadelphia they would´ve killed a referee scoring a jab equel to a left hook.

 

Nice first post!

 

I don't know about shot, but the FOTC and the Foreman trouncing had certainly made him decline somewhat.

 

Joe cleanly won, it was his first fight after getting dismantled by Foreman for pete's sake. Bugner (with his good whiskers) could have been more aggressive and waded in with his height and weight taking advantage of the dethroned Joe but, once again, the "so little has been done with so much" little t u r d chose to do what he always did. Nothing that we didn't see his entire career. IMO he simply always wanted to survive and win (which he usually did except against the top tier boys) and make money.
Sidebar: I loved Bugner in the mid-70's and I hated Foreman in the mid-70's. Right now? I hate Bugner and I love Foreman.
My somewhat weak $0.02