Joe Bugner, who has died aged 75, twice went the distance with the great Muhammad Ali – the second time in a failed 1975 world title challenge – and also lost to the fearsome Joe Frazier in an epic contest. But the British sporting public never loved him in the way of heavyweight boxers such as Frank Bruno, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
Perhaps he was never forgiven for defeating Henry Cooper at Wembley, three days after his 21st birthday in March 1971, by the narrowest of margins in a points decision that remained a subject of controversy for decades to come.
The referee Harry Gibbs, who scored the fight, lifted Bugner’s arm after 15 rounds and Harry Carpenter, commentating live on BBC Television, uttered the words: “He’s given it to Bugner and I find that amazing. How can you take away a man’s three titles like that?”
Cooper, who had been defending the British, European and Commonwealth titles, never fought again and always believed he had won, though many might watch now and say the experienced referee got it right and Carpenter, caught up in the emotion of the moment, called it wrong.
Bugner would eventually retire almost three decades later, with only 13 defeats on his 83-fight professional record, but felt that the British press never gave him any respect. “I wish I’d never had that fight,” he once said. “I won, but I lost everything. I was hated for it, never allowed to forget it, and was hounded out of the country I love.”
Boxing journalists were not always complimentary about his prowess, either. Typical were the words of the revered Observer correspondent Hugh McIlvanney, who reached the conclusion that Bugner “has the body of a Greek statue, but fewer moves”.
However, going the distance twice with Ali and losing a stirring contest to Frazier at Earls Court in 1973 were accurate indicators of his ability – along with victories over highly rated Americans such as Mac Foster and Jimmy Ellis. Blessed with a formidable 6ft 4in physique, Bugner had an excellent jab and impressive defensive attributes. He was nobody’s fool.
Bugner was born in Szőreg, a village adjoined to Hungary’s third largest city, Szeged, in the south of the country. His mother was Margaret, who had been involved in the Hungarian underground movement during the second world war. Bugner never knew his father, or ever learned his name, and spent his early years with his mother, who was a single parent to Joe and his brothers, Tibby and Bill, and sisters, Margaret and Elizabeth.
He spent much time with his grandparents, who were farmers in a nearby town, and remembered calling them Mama and Papa when the family made frequent happy visits. But the Bugners’ world was turned upside down by the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, when their mother decided that she and her children should flee. They crossed the Hungarian border on foot, reaching a refugee camp in the former Yugoslavia before moving on to Britain, where they settled in the Cambridgeshire town of St Ives.
At school Joe described himself as “a dreamer and a loner,” with a love of art and athletics, especially excelling at discus throwing. At 14, by which time he already stood at around 6ft, he won the Junior English Schools title with a 47 metre throw in 1964.
He also learned to box at school and, after starting work at an engineering factory, teamed up with a local trainer, Andy Smith, at the Bedford Boys Club. A handsome youngster, he was growing rapidly and won 13 of 16 amateur contests before being persuaded to turn pro after being taken by Smith to watch the popular London heavyweight Billy Walker in action at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Despite losing his first paid contest in 1967 against Paul Brown, a Birmingham truck driver, Bugner won 31 of his next 33 contests under Smith’s shrewd guidance. Unlike many young boxers he was careful with his money and was able to buy a house for himself and his young wife, Melody Bowd, whom he married in 1968, as well as a property for his mother in 1970.
He had three children with Melody – Amy, Joe Jr and James – but described the marriage as “a disaster and a mistake”, adding that he had immersed himself in his boxing career to block out the failure of the relationship before a divorce in 1978.
By then Bugner had relocated to Los Angeles to settle with Marlene Carter, an Australian journalist whom he had met at a party thrown by the film star Joan Collins. Enjoying a celebrity lifestyle while living in Beverly Hills, the couple nurtured friendships with celebrities including Dean Martin, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra before marrying in 1978 at a ceremony where Tom Jones was the best man.
By the time he was stopped in eight rounds by Bruno in 1987, in front of a huge crowd at White Hart Lane, Bugner was 37, with his best days behind him.
Bugner subsequently appeared in several films and TV series, and settled in Australia, where he became known as “Aussie Joe” when he fought. He and Marlene bought a vineyard, but the business failed, prompting a return to the ring in his 40s to win the Australian heavyweight title and a world title of sorts when in 1998, at the age of 48, he claimed the lightly regarded WBF version by beating the similarly ancient James “Bonecrusher” Smith.
By then Joe and Marlene had settled in Brisbane, where they lived out their days, with Joe making public speaking engagements and selling his paintings to alleviate financial problems. In 2009 he made an appearance on the TV show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
In his 2013 autobiography, Joe Bugner, My Story, he wrote “I never went into a boxing ring to hurt anybody.” They are telling words. He is rightly ranked as one of Britain’s best heavyweights, but if he had concealed a nastier streak in his amiable personality, he would surely have been an even better fighter than he was.
Marlene died in 2021, and Bugner spent his final years with dementia and living in a Brisbane care home.
He is survived by the children from his first marriage.
• Jozsef Kruel Bugner, boxer, born 13 March 1950; died 1 September 2025
