BoxRec

Finally got around to watching this fight.
Several interesting aspects got my attention:

-Has always heard that Cooper was the fan favorite and that Bugner was unpopular. However, while Cooper was the crowd favorite, people were rooting for Bugner as well. Was wondering if he became more unpopular later, of he really was never that unpopular.

-The scoring. Bugner won 74 3/4 to 73 1/2. How does this kind of scoring work?

-The announcer (Harry Carpenter) seemed to have the fight about even after 12. Cooper seemed to win the 13th and 14 and Bugner the 15th. So you would think Carpenter had Cooper winning by only a very narrow margin. But when they announced the verdict for Bugner, he acted like it was highway robbery!
I had Bugner winning 8 rounds and Cooper 7. There were several rounds which were close.

Just wanted to hear people's thoughts on this fight.

It was boring and close, that's all I remember.

I wrote a book about Cooper a year ago Henry Cooper: Cut eyes and Left hooks, and studied the Bugner fight intensely. I also had referee Harry Gibbs book in front of me because it included his scorecard.
Most rounds were very close and hard to score. Gibbs gave the fight to Bugner by a round. I had it dead even. From memory 6 rounds each with 3 even.
But I've a theory which I included in the book, but obviously cannot prove. Gibbs was a Londoner from the same part as Cooper, and had mutual acquaintances. But Gibbs was very proud and fiercely independent. I believe Gibbs was determined not to be seen as biased and began giving early rounds to Bugner in the belief that Cooper would either come on strong against the young guy or indeed knock him out. Some early rounds which I scored clearly to Cooper were marked for Bugner. As the fight progressed I think Gibbs realised his mistake and began to do the opposite- marked clearly Bugner rounds to Cooper! Gibbs said himself that as he counted up his totals at end of the 14th he had it even and was quite happy the 'old champ' had kept something in reserve and would take the final round. Wrong!
Bugner was one of the biggest heavyweights on the planet at the time and the fans expected him to batter the opposition. But he always fought cautiously and was disappointing. The win over Cooper didn't help.