Can the Peter we saw yesty overcome the odds and beat a peak Bugner?? Or will Joe simply outwork him.
Peter UD. If you can't get Peter's respect, he's going to walk though you. Bugner was a medium puncer at best, and very defensive.
Bugner had a good jab,tight defense and respectable handspeed (at least compared with Peter)plus he was hard to stop and I reckon at his peak he wins a very comfortable unanimous decision against Peter.
bugner managed to get through an ali fight without ever being that hurt, so what a fat sam peter gonna do ?
I think Bugner would win a close, unimpressive decision. There would be lots of mauling and wrestling, but Bugner would land just enough slapping, cuffing left jabs to pull ahead on the scorecards. Normally I would favor Peter in this kind of fight, because Bugner was known to go into a defensive shell against strong, world class punchers who could back him up. Just watch Bugner's fight against Ron Lyle to get an idea of what I mean. However I believe Peter is a little too muscle bound, ponderous and slow to exploit Bugner's defensive mindedness. The crowds would boo every round of this fight, as it would be sloppy and boring. However I think Bugner does just enough jabbing and boxing to win it.
If Peter tries to walk through Bugner, Bugner will move out of the way. Bugner is a more skilled boxer than Peter has ever had to deal with. If Peter catches Bugner with a hard shot and stuns him (and given that Peter has only 23 KOs in all his fights I find this rather unlikely) then that's going to make things a lot harder for Peter, because Bugner would become more defensive. Peter lacks the skills to take advantage of a tentative Bugner, who would do just enough to avoid rounds. Peter is only effective at a ludicriously limited range: he gets tied up easily and he lacks the footwork or speed to be good on the outside; Bugner has more than enough skill to control the distance with Peter. Bugner isn't an old Jeremy Williams or an old James Toney. At his prime he was a big, strong, skilled and durable heavyweight contender in a fiercly competitive era. Peter is yet to beat anyone of note who isn't 5-10 years past their best. When he does so, maybe we can talk about him being competitive with someone like Joe Bugner.