BoxRec

you british people think that was a bad decision or what??? from what i hear it was a highly controversial decision and everyone hated bugner because he beat a legend in britain.

It was a close desicion that could have gone either way IMO, i've only seen the fight on tape, so may have got a different view of things.

Bugner wasn't hated by the british public , but they did go off of him with his none effort against Ali, the british don't mind losing as long as you've tried your hardest and Bugner didn't in that fight.
Bugner also didn't do much to help himself in the public eye, he was always moaning about something and that everyone was against him.

I think it is fair to say that the british value effort above skill in many cases and this fight was a good example.

Cooper was a limited fighter with a knockout punch who would, literally bleed for the cause. Bugner had far superior skills and disdain for the sport and a fairly ill hidden contempt for many in it.

The fight itself, as Topper says, was close but public opinion wanted the "home" fighter to beat the naturalised fighter. Hated is too strong a word, but the crowd were not entralled with the result and it tarred Bugner's future.

His career was interesting. The non effort against so many when he stepped up in class, the destruction of Richard Dunn who was outclassed in a grudge match and the decent effort of an old man against, Bruno the rising hope.

In many ways, the Cooper/Bugner fight was similar to Benn/Eubank and even Bruno/Lewis. Public opinion was behind the "popular" fighter, Boxing opinion was with the more skilful fighter who prevailed and the wider, non boxing, public never really warmed to them

Slapsie

Joe's a very popular guy down here, since he moved all those years ago. He helped keep the local HW scene in the news almost singlehandedly for a number of years and the Bruno fight made some major headlines at the time. Mind you, anything would help our local HW scene at the best of times

By the sounds of it he was about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit in England yet managed to do a mini - George Foreman and reinvent himself. Today he's a jovial and sometimes witty fellow that did regular commentary on the local fights. These days he's retired to the Gold Coast in Queensland and I believe he does some property development. Plus a few tv ads

bollox wrote:Joe's a very popular guy down here, since he moved all those years ago. He helped keep the local HW scene in the news almost singlehandedly for a number of years and the Bruno fight made some major headlines at the time. Mind you, anything would help our local HW scene at the best of times

By the sounds of it he was about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit in England yet managed to do a mini - George Foreman and reinvent himself. Today he's a jovial and sometimes witty fellow that did regular commentary on the local fights. These days he's retired to the Gold Coast in Queensland and I believe he does some property development. Plus a few tv ads

I've spent a couple of years in Oz and Bugner is much more popular over there then back here in UK, maybe its because most people in Australia have backgrounds from abroad and took to Bugner more.
Maybe also its the fact that he doesn't mind taking the piss out of the UK which will always be appreciated by aussies.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:you british people think that was a bad decision or what??? from what i hear it was a highly controversial decision and everyone hated bugner because he beat a legend in britain.

Never understood all the fuss over the decision.

Sentimentality for Our 'Enry, Carpenter's biased commentary and Bugner's surprise at getting the decision is what fuels most of the controversy, not what actually occurred in the fight, IMHO.

For years I thought I was the only person in Britain (apart from Harry Gibbs) who felt that Bugner deserved the decision over Cooper, so it's great to see that there are a few others who felt the same!

Cooper was always ready to play to the British public, and the way he vilified Harry Gibbs over that decision was very unfair.

I saw Bugner fight a few times when he was starting out, and followed his career off and on over the years. He was a lot better than given credit for - and a lot of the negative view of him came from Cooper's reaction to the decision and "Joe Public" thinking that somehow this bloke Bugner had cheated and robbed poor 'Enery of his title.

Bugner was involved in a fight where his opponent died afterwards, and I think he often held off applying a finish in some of his fights after that. He had a good manager in Andy Smyth who looked after all his fighters well... but that said if Joe had been with someone like Angelo Dundee he might possibly have achieved more when he was at his peak.

J