József Kreul "Joe" Bugner (born 13 March 1950) is a Hungarian-born British/Australian former heavyweight boxer. He holds triple nationality, being a citizen of Hungaryand a naturalised citizen of both Australia and the United Kingdom.
Born in Szoreg a southeastern suburb of Szeged in southern Hungary, Bugner and his family fled after the 1956 Soviet invasion and settled in England. During the 1970s, the 240 pound (108kg) Bugner twice held the British and British Commonwealth heavyweight titles and he was a three time European heavyweight champion. He was ranked among the world's top ten heavyweights during the 1970s, fighting such opponents as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Ellis and Henry Cooper. He fought for the world heavyweight championship in 1975, losing on points in a second bout with Ali.
Bugner retired from boxing in 1976, but over the next two decades he made sporadic comebacks with varying success. He relocated to Australia in 1986, adopting the nickname "Aussie Joe", before retiring again after a TKO loss to Frank Bruno in 1987 (above picture shows official programme). He made a final comeback during the 1990s, winning the Australian heavyweight title in 1995 and the lightly regarded WBF heavyweight championship in 1998 at the age of 48. He retired in 1999 with a final record of 69-13-1, including 43 wins by knockout.
Born in Szoreg a southeastern suburb of Szeged in southern Hungary, Bugner and his family fled after the 1956 Soviet invasion and settled in England. During the 1970s, the 240 pound (108kg) Bugner twice held the British and British Commonwealth heavyweight titles and he was a three time European heavyweight champion. He was ranked among the world's top ten heavyweights during the 1970s, fighting such opponents as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Ellis and Henry Cooper. He fought for the world heavyweight championship in 1975, losing on points in a second bout with Ali.
Bugner retired from boxing in 1976, but over the next two decades he made sporadic comebacks with varying success. He relocated to Australia in 1986, adopting the nickname "Aussie Joe", before retiring again after a TKO loss to Frank Bruno in 1987 (above picture shows official programme). He made a final comeback during the 1990s, winning the Australian heavyweight title in 1995 and the lightly regarded WBF heavyweight championship in 1998 at the age of 48. He retired in 1999 with a final record of 69-13-1, including 43 wins by knockout.
Joe and his family fled to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary in 1956 after the Hungarian uprising of that year. They settled in the Cambrideshire town of St Ives. At school Bugner excelled in sports and was the national junior discus champion in 1964. Joe lived and trained in Bedford during his early boxing years, he was a regular at Bedford Boys Club Joe went to Goldington Road School Bedford.
In 1973 Bugner lost twelve-round decisions to Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Although the scorecards in these fights were lopsided, Bugner fought well in both bouts and he won the respect of the boxing media and public alike. After their bout, Ali declared that Bugner was capable of being world champion. Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee later echoed that sentiment. The fight with Smokin' Joe in July 1973 at Earls Court in London was deemed a classic. After being knocked down by a tremendous left hook in the tenth round, Bugner arose and hurt Frazier to close the round. Many regard the Frazier bout as being Bugner's best career performance.
After the Ali and Frazier fights, Bugner won eight matches in a row, his most notable victories being over Jimmy Ellis, Mac Foster, and Jose Luis Garcia. By the end of 1974 Bugner was rated among the top five heavyweight contenders in the world.
Bugner challenged Muhammad Ali for the world championship in June 1975, the bout being held in Kuala Lumpur. This fight has been described as one of the most boring championship bouts of all time, with Ali winning a one-sided fifteen-round decision. Bugner maintained a strictly defensive posture throughout this fight, and as a result he was widely scorned by the media and public. In an interview during an April 2008 reunion with Henry Cooper, Bugner defended his tactics in the Ali fight as having been necessary due to the extreme temperature and humidity of the outside venue. Nevertheless, Bugner had fought 27 rounds against arguably the greatest boxer in history without having ever being seriously troubled.
Early in 1976, Bugner announced his retirement from boxing, stating that he no longer felt motivated to fight professionally. Within months however he returned to the ring, and in October he knocked out Richard Dunn to reclaim the British, British Commonwealth, and European championships.
In 1977, Bugner lost a close twelve-round decision to top contender Ron Lyle. After this bout, Bugner again retired, making only sporadic comebacks to the ring over the next decades.
After the Ali and Frazier fights, Bugner won eight matches in a row, his most notable victories being over Jimmy Ellis, Mac Foster, and Jose Luis Garcia. By the end of 1974 Bugner was rated among the top five heavyweight contenders in the world.
Bugner challenged Muhammad Ali for the world championship in June 1975, the bout being held in Kuala Lumpur. This fight has been described as one of the most boring championship bouts of all time, with Ali winning a one-sided fifteen-round decision. Bugner maintained a strictly defensive posture throughout this fight, and as a result he was widely scorned by the media and public. In an interview during an April 2008 reunion with Henry Cooper, Bugner defended his tactics in the Ali fight as having been necessary due to the extreme temperature and humidity of the outside venue. Nevertheless, Bugner had fought 27 rounds against arguably the greatest boxer in history without having ever being seriously troubled.
Early in 1976, Bugner announced his retirement from boxing, stating that he no longer felt motivated to fight professionally. Within months however he returned to the ring, and in October he knocked out Richard Dunn to reclaim the British, British Commonwealth, and European championships.
In 1977, Bugner lost a close twelve-round decision to top contender Ron Lyle. After this bout, Bugner again retired, making only sporadic comebacks to the ring over the next decades.
Joe recently took part in the current series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. until being voted out of the jungle at the end of last week.
