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While his career as a whole was
quite amazing, it is safe to say
that Joe Bugner´s reign
as WBF World Heavyweight
Champion is rather easily
forgotten about. It came at the
tail-end of his long
ring-campaign, as a result of
his opponent suffering an
injury, and he never defended
the title.
But never the less, Bugner is a
very note-worthy former WBF
champion, and deserves to be
recognized as such. Between 1967
and 1999 (!), he fought
eighty-three times as a
professional, all over the world
and against a regular who’s-who
of the biggest names around.
Born Jozsef Kreul Bugner on
March 13 1950 in Szoereg,
Hungary, he fled with his family
to Britain after the soviet
invasion in 1956. Living in
Bedford in East England, Bugner
excelled in several sports while
in school, but eventually
decided to focus on boxing.
After a short amateur career,
that saw him win thirteen of
sixteen bouts, he turned
professional in December 1967,
still only seventeen years old.
Unfortunately he was stopped in
three rounds by journeyman Paul
Brown (1-3) at the Hilton Hotel
in London, but he soon found his
way and went on to win his next
eighteen fights.
His next set-back came in August
1969, when experienced American
Dick Hall (30-8-3) edged him by
very close decision in
Manchester, but at nineteen it
was in fact a promising
performance by Bugner, who
likely learned a lot from the
encounter.
He bounced back very well, and
defeated solid opponents Phil
Smith (10-2-1), Charley Polite
(11-13-3), Johnny Prescott
(34-10-4), Roberto Davilla
(21-15), Manuel Ramos (23-10-2)
and Ray Patterson (23-9-4), to
set up a changing-of-the-guard
match-up with former British and
Commonwealth champion Brian
London (37-19-1).
They clashed on May 12, 1970 at
the Empire Pool in London, and
only a few months after his
twentieth birthday Bugner was
just too young and fresh for
“The Blackpool Rock” (35), who
had challenged Muhammad Ali for
the world title four years
earlier.
Bugner impressively outdid
London in every department, and
while the veteran never went
down, he took a lot of
punishment, and it came as no
surprise to anyone when referee
Harry Gibbs stepped in and waved
it off already in the fifth
round.
Now considered the new hope on
the British Heavyweight scene,
and rightfully so, Bugner kept
his momentum going with a
training camp in the United
States, where he sparred the
likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe
Frazier, Sonny Liston and Jimmy
Ellis.
He made good use of that
experience, in September of
1970, with a third round
stoppage of New Jersey-brawler
Chuck Wepner (20-6-2), who at
the time was still considered
world class, and followed up by
defeating the likes of Hector
Eduardo Corletti (32-6-5),
Miguel Angel Paez (46-14-13) and
Carl Gizzi (31-8).
In March 1971 he further built
on his resume by beating, and
retiring, another British icon
in the beloved Henry Cooper
(40-13-1), winning the British,
Commonwealth and European
heavyweight titles in the
process. In a tough and close
fight, Bugner was awarded a
decision by the closest of
margins.
In the next few years he
retained his European crown,
lost his British, Commonwealth
and European to Jack Bodell
(57-10), regained the European
against Juergen Blin (29-10-6),
whom he had already beaten in a
title-defense the previous year,
and again retained it by
defeating Rudi Lubbers (21-0).
The Lubbers victory was
especially important, as it
secured Bugner a shot at the
most significant fighter the
sport has ever produced,
Muhammad Ali (40-1). While Ali
was not world champion at the
time, there was no bigger fight
imaginable.
On February 14, 1973, at the
Convention Center in Las Vegas,
Bugner was an 8-1 underdog
against Ali. “The Greatest” had
predicted he would stop his
22-year-old foe in seven rounds,
but Bugner bravely fought his
chance and made it to the end,
losing on points after twelve
rounds.
Five months later, back in
London, Bugner took on another
legendary former world champion
in “Smoking” Joe Frazier (29-1).
And again Bugner lost after a
brave effort, surviving a tenth
round knock-down courtesy of a
Frazier left hook, to come in
second on the scorecard of
referee Harry Gibbs.
Still the reigning European
champion, there was plenty left
to do for Bugner despite the
losses to Ali and Frazier. In
October of 1973 he successfully
defended his title against
Italian Giuseppe Ros (37-8),
then went on to score decisions
over huge puncher Mac Foster
(30-3) and his fellow American
Pat Duncan (30-5-1).
Two more European
title-defenses, in May 1974 and
February 1975, sandwiched around
a few non-title wins, one of
which were over former WBA world
champion Jimmy Ellis (39-10-1),
paved the way for a June 1975
rematch with Ali, who had
regained the world title
(WBC/WBA) in legendary fashion
against George Foreman eight
months earlier.
In front of 22.000 spectators at
the Merdeka Stadium in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, and shown live
in more than sixty countries on
closed circuit TV, Bugner
reportedly earned 500.00 US
Dollars on his way to losing
another decision to Ali, this
time over fifteen rounds.
During the cause of the next
twelve years, Bugner fought
sporadically, barely averaging
one fight per year. He still had
good performances in him, such
as when he regained the British,
Commonwealth and European titles
with a first round annihilation
of Richard Dunn (33-10) in
October 1976.
Besides James Tillis (33-9),
David Bey (15-3) and Greg Page
(27-6), he mostly beat lower key
foes, but he also lost to
contenders Ron Lyle (32-5-1),
Ernie Shavers (65-10-1) and
Frank Bruno (31-2). And it
appeared that the Bruno fight,
in October 1987, would be his
last, as he drifted into
retirement and a new life in
Australia with a record of
61-12-1.
In Australia, Bugner and his
wife Marlene opened a vineyard.
That venture later failed, and
at some point Bugner got a
desire to return to boxing. So,
inspired by George Foreman, who
had recaptured the world
heavyweight title at forty-five,
he began training again at that
same age.
His comeback officially began on
September 22, 1995 in
Queensland, and while it was not
exactly at world class level he
did dethrone defending
Australian Heavyweight champion
Vince Cervi (8-3-2) by wide
twelve-round unanimous decision.
Not too bad for a middle-aged
man who hadn’t fought in almost
nine years!
In February 1996, Bugner stopped
West Turner (17-9) in the third
round, a month before biting off
a bit too much by taking on
fellow Brit Scott Welch (16-2)
for the WBO Intercontinental
title in Germany, losing by
sixth round technical knockout.
But it was not the end at all
for Bugner. Later in 1996 he won
the PABA title with an
impressive victory, a fifth
round knockout, over Tongan
Young Haumona (25-10), and
defended that belt in June 1997
with a seventh round stoppage of
Waisiki Ligaloa (14-9-1) from
Fiji.
Now climbing the world rankings
again, he regained the
Australian title with a wide
decision over Colin Wilson
(19-6) in January of 1998, and
retained the title by defeating
Bob Mirovic (7-6-2) the
following April, which lined up
a crack at the vacant WBF world
title against former WBA world
champion James “Bonecrusher”
Smith (43-15-1).
The two veterans fought on July
4, 1998 at the Carrara
Basketball Stadium in
Queensland, but in reality they
didn’t fight much at all. Smith
retired on his stool after the
first round, claiming a
shoulder-injury. Forty-eight
years old, Bugner was WBF World
Heavyweight champion, but
undoubtedly he was not too happy
with how it happened.
As mentioned previously, Bugner
never defended the WBF World
title. He fought once more, in
June of 1999, winning by
disqualification over American
Levi Billups (21-21-1). His
final record, after more than
three decades in the ring, is
69-13-1 (41).
Bugner is a father of three
children from two wife’s. Having
dabbled in the TV and
movie-business, he still lives
in Australia, but holds three
nationalities: Hungarian,
British and Australian.
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