Joe Bugner's first big win

A mature performance from the 20-year-old Bugner there.
His counters were on point and his short-range punches looked to carry a fair bit of weight in them.

 

My only issue with this fight was how quick Harry Gibb stopped the fight. I'm not saying it wasn't a bad cut - I wouldn't know how bad it was other than the sight of it. But Gibb didn't even give Wepner's corner a chance to work on the cut. Compare that to officiating the Mark Kaylor v Dwight Walker fight several years later. My God, from the 6th round on it looked like the Prom scene from Carrie. Gibb's lovely white shirt looked like a butcher's apron at the end of the fight. Because he let it go to the end of the fight and immediately raised Kaylor's hand. That was disgraceful. Somewhere in Bayonne, Wepner was probably still muttering to himself, "I cut myself worse while shaving!"

 

Agreed. It could well be viewed as being a touch too risk-averse. At least let the corner work on it!

At the same time, while another round or two might not have gone amiss (with the ref being able to jump in at any time), the writing was on the wall by the end of the third. It seemed clear that Bugner had Wepner's number.

 

He's one of my favorite fighters . He could have beat some of the alphabet champs that followed him.

 

Gibbs reffed a lot of fights and knew his business. One of his quotes: “I am not afraid to see a little blod”.
I think that here he saw that Wepners eye was not going to hold up to any more. The seconds had the time to work on the cut before Gibbs made his decision.

 

Honestly, that version of Bugner looks better than the version of Otto Wallin that gave Tyson Fury fits.

 

Aah, now we know what your moniker means... "That One" Joe Bugner fan.

 

How long have you been waiting to get that in... ... ... ...?

 

Joe always had the potential to be a top 5 heavy - okay,he did break into the top 5 for a bit but he possessed the ability to be in the top echelons of that division for quite a long period of time. One of those whose best performance came in a loss - Joe Frazier. A lot make the point of Frazier being past his best but the Smokin' one had a point to prove. It was his first fight after losing his title so he was going to be motivated in a big way. Bugner should have beaten Ron Lyle,and with a tad more workrate he could have done. Same with Jack Bodell and a few others.

 

Ha ha, you know me well MM.

 

He's in my top five favorites- Ali, Lewis, Leonard, De la Hoya, and Joe Bugner. He would be proud to be in that august company .

 

Joe would be more than proud to be in the company of Bepi Ros, Funso Banjo, Rodney Bobick & Biagio Chianese.

 

“And I stood up and I went I’m here. (Ali goes) ‘So you’re the white boy who wants to spar with me?’ I said yes. (Ali goes) ‘Let me tell you something right now: you’re the ugliest white thing I think I’ve ever seen in my life. Your mother must have cried when she had you.’

“I thought, ‘Whoa, hang on. Put a lid on it, mate.’ So at the end of the day, you know what I did? I said: ‘You haven’t met my sister! Now that is ugly.’ And with that, he enjoyed it.”

Muhammad Ali death: Aussie icon Joe Bugner reminisces about the funny times he spent with the boxing legend (foxsports.com.au)

 

Woller, you need to watch that again. Braverman (I think it was Braverman) cleaned off the eye and had just applied the Q-tip when Gibbs stopped the fight. No doctor, no chance for his cutman to work on it. The fight was stopped seconds after Wepner sat on the stool. That is hardly giving the corner the chance to stem the flow. For the record, I feel Bugner would have stopped him. I'm just saying give the man a chance. And again, compare that to Mark Kaylor's blood-letting in the Dwight Walker fight. I would agree with Gibb's sentiment about him not being afraid of a little blood. But he obviously meant that in regards to a UK fighter not the visitor.