cooper vs bugner - how controversial is this fight then?

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 05 Jun 2004, 12:31

was this so controversial

i've heard a lot of people say that bugner was the deserved winner but cos cooper was such a fans favourite a lot of people felt he was robbed.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 05 Jun 2004, 12:35

Cooper was robbed. You only have to look at Bugner's reaction when referee Gibbs raises his arm to see that. Bugner is astonished and delighted at the same time.

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 05 Jun 2004, 12:42

bennie wrote:Cooper was robbed. You only have to look at Bugner's reaction when referee Gibbs raises his arm to see that. Bugner is astonished and delighted at the same time.

whats the fight like??? worth checking out????

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 05 Jun 2004, 12:49

hitman_hatton1 wrote:
bennie wrote:Cooper was robbed. You only have to look at Bugner's reaction when referee Gibbs raises his arm to see that. Bugner is astonished and delighted at the same time.
whats the fight like??? worth checking out????

Yeah, it's a good fight to have in your collection.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 05 Jun 2004, 12:53

I'm sure about 3/4 years ago Boxing Monthly did a feature on this fight. If I recall correctly they showed the video to about 12 'experts' and asked thier opinions.

I think Glen McCrory was one of them, I think he went for Bugner but I very well may be wrong there.

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 05 Jun 2004, 12:57

KOJOE90 wrote:I'm sure about 3/4 years ago Boxing Monthly did a feature on this fight. If I recall correctly they showed the video to about 12 'experts' and asked thier opinions.

I think Glen McCrory was one of them, I think he went for Bugner but I very well may be wrong there.

so it was controversial

come on i need more opinions on this one

seems like bennie might be a closet henry cooper fan.

lamphey · Post by **lamphey** » 05 Jun 2004, 13:55

I didn't watch the fight at the time (probably wasn't allowed to stay up late as I was only young) but I well remember the fuss on the news and in the papers the following days about Cooper being robbed.

When I eventually got to watch the fight on film some years later, I was completely underwhelmed. I just could not see the controversy and still couldn't on subsequent viewings. I saw it as a close fight which could have gone either way.

As a poor decision it rates nowhere near the likes of Lewis/Holyfield 1 or Fenech/Nelson 1 or Whittaker/Chavez - for me anyway.

But as Bennie says, you have only to look at Bugner's reaction to see that he did not expect to receive the decision. Whether that's because he didn't think he'd done enough, or no matter what he did he wouldn't get a decision over 'Our 'Enery', I don't know.

Maybe I need to dig it out and watch it again.

TheRiverCityHippy · Post by **TheRiverCityHippy** » 05 Jun 2004, 16:49

i wasn`t even born when this fight took place but i have seen it.
cooper won it comfortably in my opinion.
i am reliably informed that there was a bit of a conspiracy theory going around at the time that joe was going to be the torchbearer for british boxing for the next decade or so and `old` enry had gone about as far as he could go, and the loss for joe would be more damaging at this stage of his career. (i think he had already lost a couple)
henry was bitter about this loss and its unlike henry who is a genuinley nice fella.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 Jun 2004, 19:52

I heard that Harry Gibbs gave it to Bugner because he was the younger man with the future, if this is true then Cooper has ever reason to feel bitter.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 06 Jun 2004, 08:46

stujones wrote:I heard that Harry Gibbs gave it to Bugner because he was the younger man with the future, if this is true then Cooper has ever reason to feel bitter.

There was an interview with Bugner and Cooper about 3 years ago on TV, there still seemed to be tension between them even though Buner was on a satalitte link. Bugner offered Cooper a rematch, scarey think is I think he was only half joking.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 06 Jun 2004, 08:56

Gibbs was an honest referee who called it as he saw it and would have not have been swayed by any external factors.
"Any referee who says he's made the right decision every time can't be true to himself," he admitted to Harry Mullan in 1986. "Everybody errs sometimes - I've taken some stick in my time. I always tell people there was only one man who never made a mistake in his life and look what happened to him - they hung him on a cross!"