Profile of Joe Bugner on Famous Like Me

Aussie Joe Bugner born (March 13, 1950) in Szőreg, Hungary, was an Australian and British heavyweight boxer.

His family arrived in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. They settled in the Cambridgeshire town of St Ives.

He was a frequent fighter in the amateur ranks and had losing challenge for the A.B.A Heavyweight title in 1967, which ended in the semi final against "Bombardier" Billy Wells.

He turned professional in 1967 on the advice of his then trainer and friend Andy Smith. He had a losing debut against Paul Brown on the 20th December 1967 at the London Hilton, where was knocked out in the third round. After his debut he went on to stop 12 of his next 13 opponents. This included four one-round wins.

He alienated the majority of British boxing fans by his defensive boxing style and also by winning the British, Empire and European titles from the national favourite, Henry Cooper in a controversial victory in 1971.

His critics argue that his heart was never in boxing after an early opponent (Ulric Regis) died from brain injuries soon after being out pointed by Bugner.

Joe twice went the distance with Muhammad Ali:

• first on February 14th, 1973 in Las Vegas
• then again on June 30th, 1975 in Kuala Lumpur

Both times he lost on points.

He won the 'WBF' version of the heavyweight crown in 1998, by defeating James "Bonecrusher" Smith.

He later moved to Australia, where he acquired the name Aussie Joe Bugner and where he now lives on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

His record for 83 professional fights is 69 wins (41 on knockouts), 13 Loses and 1 Draw. He last fought in June 1999 beating Levi Billups, who was disqualified for low blows.

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