Obituary
Heavyweight boxer who went the distance with Ali and Frazier in the seventies.
Passed away in Australia where he’d lived for many years,aged 75.
Joe Bugner
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
R.I.P. Joe
The guy was unjustifiably often lampooned in the press to go the distance with Ali and Frazier speaks for itself
Very fondly remembered in St Ives ( Cambridgeshire ) and Bedford.
Died in Brisbane apparently, where I live, never saw him about. ‘Has the body of a Greek statue – but fewer moves’. RIP.
A much better and braver boxer than he ever got credit for
RIP Joe B
Aussie Joe as he restyled himself down here.
As I recall public never took to him, him not being the nations favourite, Henry Cooper. Being of (I think) Hungarian descent he wasn’t a “true Brit”.
Yet in an era of true boxing greats and household names which in a sense has never been repeated (Ali, Frazier, Foreman) it was hard to break through and catch the imagination of the public.
In hindsight this was unfair on his ability and bravery.
(As a side issue boxing conflicts me. As a teenager I remember being absolutely in awe of Ali. His rivalry with Frazier was, in a less fractured media world, immense. It is the most simple and elemental of all “sports”. Yet it is barbaric and I couldn’t now watch a fight to “enjoy”. I suspect, like bear baiting, in the future, generations will looked back and say WTF. It’s progeny being cage fighting and “slapping” (which is particularly gruesome) with it seems mass appeal in USA.). Trump has plans for cage fighting in the Whitehouse. Indeed truly WTF.
Not Hungarian descent; he was Hungarian until his family fled Soviet invasion when he was in his teens.
Sorry. That’s what I meant. 👍
I’d say the main reason the public didn’t take to him was because he went in the ring with Ali and barely threw a punch. That fight defined how he was remembered by lots of people, not the previous ones – including against Ali and Frazier – that had got him into the ring for a chance of a world title.