Bugner didn’t deserve the hard time he got from the British press. He wasn’t responsible for the decision. He was a World class heavyweight in a great era.

Joe was very underrated, a great box5

I always liked Joe Bugner. One of the best defensive boxers ever. The way he stayed in with Ron Lyle and took all that Lyle offered and lost on a split decision. His staying power was amazing.

I had the pleasure,of meeting Cooper.He literally walked into my bar in Tenerife. A perfect gentleman.RIP

It happened to Larry Holmes across the pond. When Holmes beat Ali he had a mark against him. Same for Bugner unfortunately.

loved Henry..grew to love Bugner. Shame he was never appreciated by most of us when he was in his prime ✌️🇬🇧👍

How was Cooper so damned handsome and eloquent after 17 years of getting his face mashed up so badly?

Love these guys ...

Bugner fought Ali,Frazier and Shavers to name a few,Respect bro x

Excellent watch. Well done sir for uploading. 2 warriors.

Joe Bugner is brilliant. Keep on shining Joe.

R.I.P Henry Cooper

I feel so sorry for Bugner.

Young Bugner did really well against Ali especially early rounds. Respect Joe 🇬🇧🥊🇬🇧

Great interview. They are two fighters who did well and still have all their marbles. 'Enry is still very popular here in the US.

About 10 years ago Sky showed the whole fight with Harry Gibbs in the studio with Glenn Mccrory both give the verdict to Bugner by one round. Still have the fight on VHS

The Boxing News magazine that covered the fight had Joe Bugner winning narrowly. The other journalists there were pretty split so the fight was much closer than people think, many of whom would've influenced by Harry Carpenter's comments at the end.

Joe Bugner seems a really nice guy.

As Bugner aged he seemed to turn into Bernard Cribbins.

Two top top fella's and great fighters

I recently saw Sir Henry Cooper, alongside Joe Calzaghe. Do a speech at the Plymouth Pavilion. And he was a truely fascinating ,funny and elequent man. A real legend.The audience where captivated by his stories about Ali and how he subsequently formed a friendship with him. I know Cooper never won a World title and some say he was overated. But he fought at a time when the competition was fierce against legends like Ali, Johansen.

Cooper ever the modest Gentleman. An old school pro.

Yeah I too feel sorry for Joe Burner.

Met Aussie Joe During my time in the Australian Army boxing tournaments,,,presented trophies to our recruits at Kapooka ... and was an inspiration to our diggers ...... True Gentleman ,,,,,

I watched this fight live ; it had the whole of the British public riveted . I think Henry Cooper just shaded it - put it this way , Cooper didn't deserve to lose the bout .

I think the reason why he got the decision was to give Britain another chance of winning the world heavyweight title as cooper was at the end of his career

Let's get this straight the fight was an extremely difficult one to judge don't envy Harry gibb, it went contrary to expectations everyone thought that the experienced Cooper would win the early rounds but the younger fitter bugner would get stronger in the latter rounds, truth is bugner was the better fighter up till the 9th round and the older Cooper really come good from the 10th to the 14th some people say that it was the 15th and last round that swayed gibbs mind in that case bugner won the fight because he surely won the 15th, The British public never forgave him!!!

It’s all subjective who won or lost in a fight as close as this one was . The fact is that if ten different top boxing judges were all to give their verdict on who actually won this fight then the chances are very high that they would be split . Some giving it to Bugner , others to Cooper . The fight was that close . It is so hard to tell who threw the most punches , who landed the most punches , whose carried the most weight and who was the most aggressive and who managed to slip more punches etc , etc . In some fights it is easy , in others that are close , it is almost impossible . I think the main reason that the public were incensed by the decision is that usually in a very close contest like this you give the verdict to the defending champion ( Cooper ) unless the opponent has clearly beaten him . After watching this fight over and over again all the way through it is difficult to say that Bugner clearly won . Maybe he just shaved it but it isn’t clear , so should this be enough to take away the defending Champions belt . That is the difficult question . To be fair to the referee , I think he said that he judged it totally even , all square , going in to the last round and that there was ‘ No Way ‘ that Cooper won the last round . So what was he supposed to do in that situation ? I have often thought that instead of blaming the referee or the ring judges , when used , they should be looking at ways to actually judge and score the fight more fairly . I’m sure better ways could be found .

Bugner could’ve been a great he had the tools but maybe not the heart Henry Cooper was a real hard case but a great sportsman

Very British that the country never forgave Joe for being a winner. Enery was a God but every dog has his day and Joe was one of the best boxers I ever saw and he never got the respect he deserved.

Was the same age as Joe when he beat Henry. I actually taped the fight from the radio, on a reel to reel recorder. I disliked Joe, because Henry was my hero. These days, through retrospect, I can see that Joe was a very good fighter, who never got the respect he deserved. Just as a thought, looking at todays heavyweights, Henry would not have made the cruiser weight/Light heavy weight division. Respect to both of those ring warriors.

It seems very unfair the way Bugner was treated, as he said he did not make the final call on the result - the ref did, so why all the bad feeling from the crowd. Maybe it's only with the passing of time that we can sit back and view this fight more objectively, but certainly if Bugner had beaten anyone else that night then he would have been hailed a hero. Still two of the best heavy weights we've produced but don't they look small for that division compared to the guys today.

I think Henry won the fight- just. I also feel for Joe Bugner, he didn't make the decision at the end of the day, and he was given a hard time over it for years by the vicious media in Britain. He seems a complete gentleman and a good sportsman- and he was a fine boxer in his own right. He deserves more recognition and respect than he's received. He comes across like Henry always did, as a thoroughly decent bloke.

Joe . The most aggravating boxer to watch.. You always felt there was so much more for him to offer but never did.

Joe Bugner could have been great but he failed to build on his strengths, Henry Cooper was a good boxer but one fight too far

The ref did get it wrong Henry won that fight hands down 👊 👊 🥊

two greats to rightttt

Not just 'convicts,' but 'ordinary convicts.'

He wasn't robbed or mugged by Angelo Dundee at all. It's an urban myth that Dundee exploited the slight tear in Clay's glove to get an extended break after round 5 (the round where Henry knocked Clay down) to give his man more time to recover. The live radio broadcast (the fight was only shown on TV in edited highlights the next evening) proves that the gap between round 5 and 6 was only 63 seconds - just 3 seconds more than normal. There wasn't a five minute gap like some have said.

If only Joe could have had Henry's hammer he definitely would have been world champion

Big Joe: Legend 🥊

Why the hate against joe he did his best the referee raised his bloody hand up

Excellant!

By the time Bugner was 37, he'd had several spells of inactivity. Cooper hadn't. The guys who stopped Bruno were Tyson and huge sluggers like Lewis, Smith and Witherspoon. All incomparable to Cooper. And let's face it, Cooper's chin was hardly granite either. Patterson sparked him. Johansson sparked him. Folley sparked him. Even Joe Bygraves sparked him. So Bruno several sizes bigger than Cooper, slightly better chin, likely hit harder, and with comparable skills has to be favored.

Two proper men.

0:07 Cooper can't even look Bugner in the eye. Show some class, Henry.

Tough boxer who fought in brilliant era of heavyweights

@stanssoapbox I met him once in London-75.He had a great sence of humour ,great one-liners ! I had the feeling he was a very sensitive man! I liked him.

It was a very close fight I just felt coopers punches were more hurtful. In coopers back yard and his last fight in such a close fight maybe ref should have called a draw.not often u see that a home fighter in his last fight at home in such a close fight who's the darling of the country and it goes the other way! Wonder what happened to ref after?? He had some skills did bugner and Cooper was as brave as a lion and to think he wasn't even a heavyweight.

I always felt sorry for Joe. This was a man who took both ali and frazier the distance. The bottom line is that Henry was getting old and Joe was just too big for him? at nearly 40 years old Henry showed just how much heart he had. I was a toddler when they fought but I've seen the fight several times and although joe seems a little cautious at times I've always thought that if Henry had turned up the wick at any time joe could've answered him.

Yep! It would be a different story now! To US trainers, Joe is considered one of the greats because he was continuously #5 in the greatest heavyweight division of all time. Brits see it differently as he looked like he wasn't trying most of the time. He had everything but that desire to be the very best! No matter how good your trainer is, if you don't have that you won't make it! You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink! Even the great Angelo Dundee ran in to this problem!

The ones sent to Australia were the English people that stole Soap…. The rest stayed behind,,, never to use Soap

Not in my opinion. Bugner beat Cooper clearly. He was never forgiven because he beat England's national treasure, who never stopped moaning about it. As for who was better, Bugner was a grade above Cooper. Cooper was sparked by virtually every top quality opponent he faced.

Managers always seem to be THE REASON for fighters, not making it. Andy Smith was Bugner’s first manager and handled him up till the Ron Lyle fight. He was one of the most respected managers/trainers of that time. Angelo Dundee once told me that no manager could have done any better with Bugner. The reason! Joe didn’t want IT enough because he WANTED to be an actor and he only came out of retirement because he was broke. If, he had stuck with Smith, he wouldn’t be broke today!

sure would be nice to see this fight, to see who really should have won.

One is a gentleman, one overrated and sour. And for some reason the public assess them the wrong way round.

I lived opposite Joe Bugner at the height of his fame. He drove a Rolls Royce with the number plate 1 ON U which my father had to explain to me! St Ives Cambridgeshire x

Gibbs was very honest

Lovely bloke Joe always up for a chat.

The fight was a huge stitch up. Mickey Duff, Astair and Co wanted the only independents left in British Boxing (Cooper and Wicks) out of the way and the ref was paid. And people think Don King was the only one, far from it, VERY far from it.

Two of the best white hopes, Joe deserved better.

RIP Our 'Enry.

unlike football 90% of boxing fans know nothing about the sport , Cooper broke the unwritten law never moan about a loss,

Joe Bugner wot a fantastic personality gor boxing good on you sir

The referee made the decision. If someone wants to be angry, be angry at the referee, not Joe Bugner. Irrational.

Cooper lost lots of fights, didn't dare fight Liston, should have been disqualified v Erskine, the fight with Bugner was close and he's best remembered for knocking down a young Ali who soon stopped him. He was popular as he had the famous ' ammer and was always a trier, fighting through trouble with cuts, but he wasn't quite as great as some like to think.

Class

If the decision was wrong it was the ref's fault, not Bugner's, the press shouldn't have done him over the way they did.

I think there’s a bit of revisionism going on regarding Joe. Sure enough at the time some people were on a bit of a downer with him for beating Cooper, a verdict incidentally which was no robbery it could have gone either way. The fans problem with Joe was the fact he was a 6’4” Adonis with fantastic physical attributes and he frequently stunk the joint out with his passiveness. His best performance was in a losing fight against Frazier but that was a rarity, if he showed that mettle and aggression in his other fights he would have done better and been more popular with the fans. I mean he managed to get beat off Jack Bodell FFS.

I was at that fight. Yes Joe Beat him well done.

Is Henry joking when he says "that was my mistake, two weeks before the fight, I announced I wanted to retire undefeated..."?

The verdict was not Bugner's fault.

Actually, Bugner was in his 73rd pro fight against Bruno, much more than Cooper's career total of 56. I don't see how several years of inactivity at an advanced age could be of benefit to him. Cooper was no Willie Pep either, also upright and there to be hit. Bruno was a big hitter too, and his KO losses were against hard-hitting super-heavies, not smallish cruisers. Cooper was out cold against the typical 200lb heavies of his era. Only Smith had Bruno down for the 10 count.

Can tell Henry was still bitter

Anyone else think Cooper comes over as bitter towards Bugner? I don’t believe he also “followed” Bugners career after he himself retired.

the whole fight was filmed hasn't someone watched it closely yet and done a count??? To see who the real winner was

is the full fight on youtube? it appears the commentators in the video have it in for joe like they did when joe fought bruno..or like when lennox fought bruno, or like when tyson fury eventually gets his chance against the royals champ anthony joshua

Don't know why anyone dislikes Joe for getting the decision over Henry it was down to the referee.Did he do enough on the night to take away the belts you decide. But Joe was a good boxer his record speaks for its self and in any other era he would have been World Champion.

I agree with you entirely, Liquidindian911. If you watch carefully, you'll see that it was a, more or less, stray right cross that set Ali up, then Cooper caught him with two beautiful left hooks that had him reeling. I don't think he even saw the third one coming that dumped him on his arse. However, there's no getting away from the fact that Ali really was a class act and a fine and deserving champion. MsG

Who, Brian London, Dick Richardson etc? Not quite murderers' row are they? Bugner did actually win the British/Euro titles from Cooper. Bugner would never have pushed Frazier or Lyle so close had he only been fighting to survive. Even the first Ali fight was closer than the cards suggest. He also avoided no one, whereas Cooper admitted to steering clear of certain fighters. I don't rate Bruno that highly either, just see him as a bigger version of Cooper - limited but overrated.

Any chance of an upload??

Joe Bugner vs Henry Cooper or should I say the white Muhammad Ali vs the white Joe Frazier😂

Kids.. Kids... You're both right

It was a close fight but i went of Cooper after he Critized both Patterson and Liston in his book .Saying Liston was an aweful boxer .Then in an interview he said he turned down a fight with Liston and would not be in the same room as him never mind the ring .He also avoided George Chuvalo .George said he repeatly tryed to get in the ring with him but the Cooper camp refused .I believe him he became Canadian Champ in 1959 and i doudt he would hve turned down a fight with Cooper .He then critized Bugner from retired about tough fights with Ali and Lyle .Massively overated .He only hit Ali on the button in the first fight as he was clowning around .Could not touch him in the second fight .

Joe Bugner you were 100 times better than cooper ever was... Top two best the country has eve produced..

The oldest looking 21 year old ever.Ha Ha I’m 63 and still think I’m 21

Joe Bugner fought a good fight with Cooper.

Why do they say (and they say it in Part 2 of this video, also) that Bugner's win prevented Cooper from "retiring undefeated"? He had lots of losses prior to this one. By chance, do they just mean Bugner prevented him from winning his FINAL fight?

'Enry treated Joe very shabbily indeed.

Nobody rates Bugner higher than himself

Yeah, coopers twin also boxed as a heavyweight and went 16-14-1. He fought some top heavyweights like Brian London and Dick Richardson, he cut easy though so lost to most of them

Henry you sound like a diamond geezer, you lost the fight fair and square, Bugner beat you most of the first 12 rounds. You went all out in the last 3 rounds and it just wasn't enough.

Convicts that made good who the hell does he think he is?

Listening to Cooper’s excuses makes it a very sad end to his career my dad and his friends were there that night they all thought that I had won. Found Cooper very disingenuous he could never have faced Joe Frazier Earnie Shavers they would have. murdered him. Joe was a young boy Cooper couldn’t even bring him self to congratulate him like a man

There has been a lot of controversy over the result, and Cooper kept a grudge, while the public held it against Joe. But see Cooper v Erskine 3rd fight, 1st and 5th rounds: Cooper should have been disqualified twice over- he'd already lost to Erskine twice and that would have made it 3 defeats instead of win by savage knockout. Cooper had a good punch and had heart but he is generally overrated in Britain.

Best decision in his career going to America bugner was a excellent fighter

scored this fight,years ago, 10/4/1 for cooper,what was harry Gibbs watching ?

Good luck Jo😎

@hainesarobert Not strictly true. He tended to fight more when he got hurt. Look at his fight with frazier.

bugner the hugger