This fight was roughly 10-15 years after Bugner's prime. He had been world class, capable of mixing with the very best and the most powerful of punchers (only lost a split decision to Ron Lyle and cuts stopped what was shaping up to be a great fight against Shavers) but even at his best he lacked a little in aggression. By 1987 he was a shadow of his best. The Bugner of 1973-77 would have beaten Bruno, the Bugner of 1987 had no real chance
During the first round Burgner was landing lots of tough body shots on Bruno, of the magnitude that most fighters had given up in severe stomach pain. But from the second round Bruno started working at Burgners head giving him lots of brain contusions A admire Burgner for not going down until several rounds later. I admire both the strong fighter very much for bring so tough and faire
Thats right, he mixed with the very best. He didnt fight with them, he mixed with them. I always hoped that someone in his corner could work out a way to make him angry, but it never happened.
Bugner's real talent was always his ability to take a punch. He was a very tough opponent. But he didn't have a lot of variety and wasn't one of the real heavy hitters. Frank did well to defeat him with a stoppage even considering his 12 year age advantage.
@@vikingvk3013 back then fighters aged much more rapidly, 37 back in the 80s was ancient due to the lot more fights they had compared to now, now it's about average for a heavyweight, same as height, back then the average heavyweight was about 6ft 2 now 6ft 6 is the norm, things change with time
Wagner didn’t realise Bruno was so badbeen retired sometime came back for this fight if it known Bruno was so bad he would’ve trained much harder and beat Bruno
Bruno had three faults.....1.he was a nic guy, 2 whoever trained him to be muscle bound was a fecking eejit. 3. He was so stiff with muscle it stopped him from moving in a quicker more fluid manner. Plus he woukd have been knackered early on. His muscle he didnt need...he needed some fat to maintain his stamina.....a very simple and obvious fact. Then they needed to teach him to move...he was too heacy in muscle at the expense of movement and speed... That was blatantly obvious.
As much as I love Frank, in hindsight, there's no doubt he had the power in his punches, but looking at other champions like Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield..he looks so slow in his delivery by comparison.
Bugner was a great fighter - who was well passed his prime at the time of this fight - nonetheless he went 8 rounds. In his prime he would of finished Bruno in 3 rounds. Bugner was also a smart guy and a great showman...... I understand he is living the retired life in QLD now...... a legend from the time when boxing had true legends.
I liked both boxers. Big Joe was a good enough boxer to have entered the ring with Ali. ( And when he was champion, Ali said he don't fight 2nd raters) . Big Frank was also a good enough boxer to get into a ring with mighty Mike Tyson. Frank actually rocked Tyson at one point, but was to slow to follow up. 😮 Joe was past his prime in this one. If that bout had taken place 10 Yrs. earlier; I think Joe wudda beat Frank. Advancing years is the Athletes scourge, and Lots of boxers fell foul of it. Joe Louise, Ali, Joe Bugner,, Mike Tyson, to name but a Few. Anyhow. It was good to see the two boxers again. 👍
Frank Bruno should have fought David 'Bomber' Pearce from Newport in Wales, would have been his last fight as well. They all avoided Pearce and he had a job done on him by BBBC and very important boxing promoters who did not want Pearce around .
I was in the Coal Hole bar inJersey when he was training to fight Henry Cooper ,poor old joe got the win BUT Henry boxed the ears off him,they took that fight off of Henry .
He would have definitely outpointed Frank Bruno if they were the same age or stopped Frank in the later rounds like cause Frank would have been more tired cause Frank was doing more holding later. But Joe wasn’t younger to jump out and dance.
Richard Dunn was a great bloke. Okay, he was never going to be top class but he had talent. He took on the hardest unlicenced boxer in the country, Cliff Fields, and knocked him out in 2 rounds.
Two boxers that never really reached their full potential. Both fought in very tough era’s. Bugner fought Ali and Frazier and Bruno fought Tyson and Lewis. I wonder if Bruno would have had more success if he’d been coached by Emanuel Steward or someone else?
As much as I like Bruno, prime Bugner would have destroyed him.....fought off the back foot for nearly 15 rounds in his 1st fight against Ali,and showed his true strength,class and durability....
Bugner never really punched his weight. Great disappointment. Bugner came in heavy for this fight, then put on weight before the fight. A good pay day, and his wife talked up the fight well. Could have been a contender ( and his second fight with Ali was a disgrace ). No wonder British fans disliked him.
you are so right. shame of it was that Bugner nearly always looked like he was holding back. Would have been good to see him be an undisputed world champion. mind you you needed to be great to beat Ali...
he fought a few good fights with the best. but you cannot say he fought his best in the second fight against Ali - just watch it again. I watched it live , Bugner never really tried hard enough - and this was for the world title...
Yikes, they really hated Aussie Joe in England. I met him once at a promotional event in Adelaide back 1995 (I was working earning some extra cash while at university), he was nothing but nice to us, even signed an autograph (which I gave to my older brother who’s a big fan of his).
I considered Bruno's win convincing at the time, but watching it now Bugner was stunned but not out. In this video they actually cut from the point Bugner sits on the bottom rope and the ref allows Bruno to carry on hitting him, to the point Bugner tries to get up, realising the ref wasn't going to help him, to the point he was pushed bodily out of the ring. The ref should have stopped Bruno from hitting Bugner while he was on the bottom rope (not shown) and allowed him his standing count.
Bruno does so much holding of head from back of neck while rabbit punching it's ridiculous, and illegal, Ref should have stopped him doing that on a dozen occasions n took points off him. I'm surprised Bigne didn't complain to Ref! He made mistake of trying it V Tyson n made Tyson so angry, he really tried to kill Frank with vicious upper cuts against ropes at the end of bout when Frank was done n in pieces! Tyson even said in Interview after, "I wanted to punch his nose bone up into brain n kill him!" Deadly, fighters shud know there limits. Must be the money offered, Bugner was years past his prime here. Must have been a gud payday, as he had little to offer.😮
Burger was a very good fighter in his prime, world class even in a time when being world class meant something! He was good enough to go the distance with Ali & Frazier. Bruno was a good fighter in his own right with incredible power but in their prime Bugner would have beat him up really bad.
This is 13 years after Bugner fought Muhammad Ali and was a "pension fund" fight for him. I love Frank Bruno but he was never a natural boxer. In many ways he reminds me of Deontay Wilder, a real physical specimen, with real power, but a lack of technique and ring craft. They both got exposed by good fighters. I was so happy when Bruno got his World title though. Bugner was always in and around the scene but, like the Klitschkos, you'd never really want to watch their fights again. Big and awkward. Got the job done. Strange to think that Bugner would be a small Heavyweight today, not so much bigger than Usyk.
Title is misleading. It wasn't a Knock Out. Joe Bugner was well past his best at this stage of his career. Bruno, who couldn't box his way out of a cardboard box, won because of his youth and brute strength. In his prime, Joe would have probably beaten Bruno on points.
Remember the heavier man usually hits harder.if u put on fifty pounds you wont be as fast but it will take about 2 years to gain that much. Also guys like mike spinx or holyfield couldnt compete at heavyweight without lifting. As far as i know there is no proof that weight lifting tightens the muscles
Bruno was not a great fighter. He was big and muscular but his technique when throwing punches was not so good. His defense was suspect as well. He was way ahead on points when Bonecrusher Smith stopped him.
Joe bugner was not knocked out, people use that word to freely. There is TKO, RSf and KO. KO is rarer than you think. You are hit you hit the ground and you are unconscious.
That's not a spectacular knockout mate. Big Joe was at the end of his career & no stamina . If Big Frank worked the body he'd have had it over in 2/3 rounds. Admittedly Bugner had been in with the best & was soundly beaten by them all. It's easy to get a young pro to 25/26-0 if he's fighting hand picked opponents who are on the way out or they are just "Journeymen" boxer's, who like a scrap. Fair play to anybody who step's through those rope's, huge respect. Though some research in to the fine art of PUGILISM on your part would provide you with the knowledge you seek before putting a "clickbait" title like that on this vid 🥊🥊
@@thecurlew7403 Are we on the same page here? Roger Gutteridge's initial comment that you responded to said that, "Bugler never bet Cooper". I thought you were ripping him for his poor spelling with your reply.
