Fifty years ago, on February 14, 1973, the meeting between heavyweight boxing world champion Muhammad Ali and his challenger Joe Bugner in Las Vegas was preceded by great anticipation. The world championship belt was not at stake, but this match was not surrounded by ordinary media attention. They already knew each other casually, in 1969 they ran into each other in a cafe in New York, if not entirely by chance. Bugner and his entourage dined there, and since Ali’s every move was newsworthy at the time, this dialogue was immortalized:
“Where’s that white boy who wants to make a name for himself by being my training partner?” Think about what you’re doing, because I’m going to shred you, you’re going to be close to death, Ali said.
The tension in the room became palpable, but Bugner bravely stood up.
“You’re the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Your mother cried when she gave birth to you, Ali continued.
“Ugliest?” You haven’t met my sister yet.
Jokes eased the tension, shouting turned into hugs.
Before we continue the story, let’s stay a bit with the mother.
The walk to England
Bugner was born in Szőregen in 1950 under the name József Kreul. His mother raised him alone, his father abandoned them at an early age. If there was no revolution in 1956, she might have grown up there, but her mother took the six-and-a-half-year-old Józsika for a walk in November. They crossed the Yugoslav border on foot, and Bugner mentioned in his reminiscences that the trip was not without danger, because it was only later that they found out that bombs had been planted on this section of the border as well. They spent a few months in refugee camps in Austria, and were finally accepted in England. He grew up near Cambridge, learned about the discus throw at school, he also held an age group record, and for one of his victories he received the award for first place from Prince Philip.
He was 16 when he went to work in a factory because he didn’t want to watch idly as his mother supported him by washing cars every day. In the factory, a man stopped him after seeing his figure and asked him how many centimeters and how many kilos. It was 192 and 90. He invited her to the nearby gym, which at first she didn’t want to hear about, because she still saw her future in athletics. In the end, he gave in, the promise of big money, which was a feature of boxing even then, had a good effect on him. He was introduced to a trainer, and on December 20, 1967, he was already in the ring to fight his first professional match. He fancied himself a Goliath, but was knocked out in the third round. It was a good lesson for him, because he started training even more concentrated and won all eleven of his matches in 1968. By then, this was already his source of income.
In March 1969, he beat Ulric Regis by points. It started out as an average match, but it was memorable because Regis died in the hospital a few days later due to brain injuries. There were experts who traced it back to the fact that Bugner was not really aggressive in the ring, which is why he later received a lot of criticism.
In any case, his career went up sharply, in 1971 he became the European champion for the first time, on the posters he was called a blonde English bomber, who was a Hungarian fighter by blood – his origin was also known in England. His year of 1972 was also above average, and in January 1973 he defended his EC title against the Dutchman Rudie Lubbers, so he was waiting for the fight against Ali. Today, it seems incredible that he undertook two 12-round fights within a month, because today’s biggest stars are willing to enter the ring a maximum of twice a year.
Ali primarily boxed with Americans, it was considered a curiosity that a big white guy was standing in front of him in the ring. Although Bugner was not an unknown wrestler, as he fought many of his matches at Wembley, he had only had one appearance in the United States until then, and the marketing value of the match was what Ali would do with the best in Europe. He promised beforehand that he would knock him out in the seventh round, but this prediction ultimately did not come true.
Elvis Presley didn’t think he was a champion
So the meeting took place in Vegas, Elvis Presley was also on tour there, and he met Ali in the middle of a huge crowd. He also gave her a white cloak, on the back of which precious stones were written: the choice of the people, in which he had to enter the prison. Bugner was also a guest at the private party, who approached Elvis and told him that he would also like one, since he was not there by accident either, he is also a champion. However, Elvis casually told him that he wasn’t.
Bugner was offended by this and sent him to hell. Presley’s bodyguard, Big Red, approached him and told him that no one could talk to the king this way. Bugner, who was 22 at the time, found it difficult to calm down, and as he was leaving, he told the bodyguard that his boss was still an asshole. (Even if he was not on good terms with Elvis, he was on good terms with other singing legends: Tom Jones later became his wedding witness, and Frank Sinatra was one of the first to congratulate him on his marriage.)
Reports at the time did not say whether Elvis saw the 12-round match, but the fact is that Ali was in control throughout and was clearly the better man, although he looked into some of the bigger punches. He received one and a half million dollars for his victory, while Bugner was paid 150,000 pounds. You can watch the match here:
Bugner could not make such a bad impression, because in July, another great boxing idol of the era, Joe Frazier, was waiting for him in New York, and he also beat him by points. He became European champion again in October, but the really big chance came in 1975, when he faced Ali in such a way that he could have won the world championship belts as well. At Ali’s suggestion, the venue was Kuala Lumpur, and the American won this 15-round meeting as well.
The 33-year-old Ali, who was in his fiftieth match in the ring, weighed in at 102 and Bugner at 104.3 kilos. The more technically skilled Ali evaded Bugner’s colorless attacks and deservedly won. He asserted his speed and greater knowledge, Bugner only had great opportunities in the 10th and 11th round, at which time Ali received several hard blows, he also seemed to be tired, but quickly got over the stalemate.
The scoring was clear: Japanese head judge Takeo Ugo ruled in Ali’s favor 73 : 67, Thai scorer Phrom Jara 73 : 65, and Australian scorer Ken Brady 72 : 65. The judges saw Ali as better in 10 rounds, Bugner in three. According to Reuters, Ali won 9 rounds, Bugner one and five were tied. AP gave Ali the match 70 : 65.
“I thought ten rounds would be enough to get it done. I have to admit, Bugner is a much tougher guy than I thought. He’s so good that if I retire, he’ll definitely be the world champion. The others, Frazier, Norton and Foreman, aren’t as tough and can’t hit as hard. It stung a few times as it went there.”
The loser wasn’t disheartened either: “I wanted to be world champion, I didn’t give up on my goal even after the defeat. Maybe it wasn’t Ali, but this terrible heat that won me over. I froze, I slowed down, I suffered, I gasped for air. And Ali was still there in front of me. It’s amazing what he does in the pinch.”
Later, a close friendship developed between them, they lived next door to each other in Beverly Hills. Bugner called Ali the greatest boxer and also the greatest fighter.
Bugner first retired in 1977 and temporarily turned to film, making his first screen appearances with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. The scene below is from the movie I’m With Hippos. He jumped to Szőreg from one of the shootings in Italy and also visited Szeged, he was curious about where he was born and where he would have grown up.
He returned to the ring in 1980, but took on significantly fewer matches in a year. In the second half of the eighties, he moved to Australia with his wife and has been living there ever since. He also had a chance to compete with Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky movies, but the producers chose Dolph Lundgren.
His last big flash came in 1998, when he knocked out James Smith in the first round in Australia, and at the age of 48 he became the world champion of one of the smaller organizations, the World Boxing Federation – so Ali was finally right.
He finished his career in the summer of 1999, having won 69 times with 13 losses and one draw. Already during his sports career, he started businesses, he also worked with soda water and grew grapes. His autobiographical volume was published in 2013, and he was a regular guest of British reality shows. He was a British and Australian citizen, but he didn’t forget his Hungarian, he regularly spoke to Hungarian newspapers in his native language.
