Why did Ali leave the ring after the 2nd Bugner fight before the decision was announced?

Ali actually did this with a few of his white opponents. Bugner mentions it in his autobiography but actually didn't seem that bothered about it. He and Ali were friendly. Ali asked Quarry to call him the n-word and when Quarry refused, he claimed Quarry had said it anyway. Apparently Ali thought that turning every fight into a race war would be good for the gate.

 

I don't think Bugner said it either.

iirc Ali told Bugner to let him know if any cameras were around, when Bugner did. Ali started flipping out, and accusing Bugner of calling him the N Word. Bugner asked him why he did that, Ali's response was "That's how you sell tickets Joe."

 

The thing about Ali turning things into a race war to up the gate is apart from the odd occasion like vs Norton he tried to make even his black opponents look bad. Uncle Tom and all that. Yet he had Gene Kilroy, Angelo Dundee and Ferdie Pacheco in his inner circle at one time or another. And they’re white. He just liked to one up every one. If he couldn’t get his own way he’d make some angle up and use that.

 

Ali actually had a bit of a black eye at the end of the fight.

During the post-fight press conference in 1975, Ali was extremely complimentary of Joe Bugner.

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Ali was equally complimentary of Bugner after their first meeting in 1973.

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When Bugner was criticized for his lack of aggression during the fight he blamed the intense heat. He also said he went swimming after the fight and Ali needed an IV infusion for dehydration. Bugner loved Ali. His children were friends of Ali's children when they both lived in Los Angeles. When he saw Ali in his later years he kissed him on the cheek. Ali was taken aback. More trivia. After their fight in Vegas he met Elvis and Elvis brushed him off and said I only speak to the champ. That seemed out of character and made me look at him in a different light.

 

He said the same thing in the fights with Wepner, Coopman, and Scott LeDoux.

 

Ali wasn’t a punk, he was a killer and an animal in the ring but as a man he was a POS like that lol imagine going down as a racist in history because a guy wanted to make more $.

 

Ali also asked Bugner to call him it,it's in Stephen Brunt's excellent book ,"Facing Ali,"a collection of interviews with Ali's former opponents.

 

Book and movie are excellent - highly recommended!

 

Mea culpa. I forgot that. He loved Ali as did many of his opponents. He was one of the first to visit Ken Norton after his motorcycle accident.

 

I’m not making excuses for Ali but I guess you had to be exposed to the whole mosaic of the man to perhaps appreciate and like him - lots of pros and cons to be getting on with before possibly arriving at a positive net perception when all was said and done.

Like waiting to the very end of a movie before the redeeming qualities of the otherwise nasty main character are finally revealed.

Some of his opponents were only exposed to the extremely nasty side - and he was definitely unnecessarily nasty toward some opponents far more than others. Yes, Joe Frazier is the primary case in point - but we know that was due to Ali perceiving Joe as his greatest threat.

He made rude comments re Cooper around the times of their active engagements, called him a bum and even went up the line all the way to the Queen to display some disrespect - albeit it funny - but thereafter, it was a love fest between him and Ol’ ‘Enry.

I will say that those who ultimately respected and liked Ali were, and not coincidentally, of damn fine character themselves - taking the high road and ignoring some of the obvious warts to Ali’s own persona.

Many were appreciative of the extra $$$ and enhancement to their reps via their mere association with Muhammad.

Richard Dunn pretty much expressed his appreciation exactly in the above regards. He got to buy his long desired pub from the proceeds of their fight. It went by the wayside later…but that’s another story.

During their rubber match Norton gave Ali some verbals with clearly bad intentions behind them.

It was interesting to see Ali lose his cool a bit when treated with his own medicine.

He even tried to “pop” Kenny after the bell ending the round had sounded - one of the rare times you saw Ali lose at his own preferred game of psychological warfare.