The Hungarian heavyweight boxer who fought Muhammad Ali twice

Fifty years ago, on 14 February 1973, there was great anticipation ahead of the Las Vegas match between heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and his challenger, Joe Bugner. There was no world title belt at stake, yet the media attention was out of the ordinary. The two had known each other in passing, having met in a New York coffee shop in 1969, not entirely by chance. Bugner was having lunch there with his companions, and since Ali's every move was newsworthy at the time, the following conversation was recorded:

– "Where's the white boy who wants to make a name for himself by becoming my training partner? You better think about what you're doing, because I'm going to chop you up, you're going to get yourself nearly killed," Ali said.

The tension in the room was palpable, but Bugner bravely stood up.

– "You're the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life. Your mother cried when she had you," Ali continued.

– “The ugliest? You've never met my sister.”

The joke eased the tension, and the rowdiness turned into hugging.

Before continuing the story, let's pause and take a look at his mother for a moment.

The walk to England

Bugner was born in Szőreg, a village in the south of Hungary, in 1950, under the name of József Kreul. His mother raised him alone, his father abandoned them when he was young. If it hadn't been for the 1956 revolution, he might have grown up there, but in November of that year, his mother took six-and-a-half-year-old little József for a walk. They crossed the Yugoslavian border on foot, and Bugner recalled in his memoirs that the trek was not without danger, because they later learned that there had been mines planted along this section of the border. They spent a few months in refugee camps in Austria until they were finally taken in by England. He grew up near Cambridge, learned to throw the discus at school, held the record in his age-group, and was even awarded the first prize by Prince Philip for one of his victories.

When he was 16, he went to work in a factory because he didn't just want to stand by idly and watch his mother wash cars every day. In the factory, a man stopped him and asked him how tall he was and how much he weighed. He was 192 cm and 90 kg. He invited him to a nearby gym, but Joe wasn't interested at first, since he had his sights set on athletics. He eventually gave in, impressed by the promise of big money, which was a feature of boxing even then. He was introduced to a trainer and on 20 December 1967 he was in the ring for his first professional fight. He fancied himself a Goliath, but was knocked out in the third round. It was a good lesson for him because he became more focused in training and won all eleven of his fights in 1968. By this time, boxing became his source of income.

In March 1969 he beat Ulric Regis on points. It started as an ordinary match, but it was remembered forever because Regis died of brain injuries in the hospital a few days later. Some experts attributed Bugner's lack of aggression in the ring later on to this, and he also received a lot of criticism for it.

In any case, his career took a steep upward curve. In 1971 he became the European champion for the first time, and on posters, he was called a blonde English bomber and a genuine Hungarian warrior – his origins were known in England. 1972 was another above-average year for him, and in January 1973 he defended his European title against Rudie Lubbers of the Netherlands, so he was looking forward to a fight against Ali. Today, it seems incredible that he undertook two 12-round bouts in the same month, as today's biggest stars are only willing to fight twice a year at most.

Ali boxed mainly with Americans, and it was a curiosity to see a big white guy in the ring against him. While Bugner was no anonymous boxer, having fought many of his fights at Wembley, he had only made one appearance in the United States before, and the marketing value of the match was to see what Ali could do with Europe's best. He had previously promised to knock him out in the seventh round, but his prediction didn't come true.

Elvis Presley didn't consider him a champion

The match took place in Vegas. Elvis Presley happened to be on tour there, and he met up with Ali amidst much fanfare. Elvis gifted him with a white cape with the words "the people's choice" written in gemstones on the back, and he had to wear when he entered the ring. Bugner was also invited to the private party and he went up to Elvis and told him that he wanted a cape too, because he was there for a reason, he was a champion after all. But Elvis carelessly told him that he wasn't.

Bugner was offended and told him to get stuffed. Presley's bodyguard, Big Red, stepped up to him and told him that no one could talk to the King like that. Bugner, then 22, had difficulty calming down and, on his way out, told the bodyguard that his boss was still a dickhead. (He was, however, on better terms with other legendary singers: Tom Jones later became his best man, and Frank Sinatra was one of the first to congratulate him on his marriage.)

The contemporary reports didn't say whether Elvis saw the 12-round match, but Ali was in control throughout and was clearly the better man, although he did take a few big punches. He was paid one and a half million dollars for his victory, while Bugner was paid 150,000 pounds. You can watch the match here:

Bugner must not have made such a bad impression, because in July he fought the other great boxing idol of the era, Joe Frazier, in New York, and lost to him on points, too. He became the European champion again in October, and his real chance came in 1975 when he faced Ali with a chance to win the world title with a victory. The venue was Kuala Lumpur at Ali's suggestion, and the American won that 15-round contest as well.

The 33-year-old Ali, in his 50th fight in the ring, weighed in at 102 kilos, while Bugner weighed in at 104.3 kilos. The technically more skilled Ali dodged Bugner's unimaginative attacks and deservedly won. He used his speed and greater skill to his advantage. Bugner only had big opportunities in the 10th and 11th rounds, when Ali took a number of hard punches and looked tired, but quickly broke the deadlock.

The score was unanimous: Japanese referee Takeo Ugo 73 : 67, Thai judge Phrom Jara 73 : 65 and Australian judge Ken Brady 72 : 65 in favour of Ali. The judges saw Ali as better in 10 rounds and Bugner in three. According to Reuters, Ali won nine rounds, Bugner won one and five were even. AP gave the fight to Ali 70 : 65.

"I thought ten rounds would be enough to finish him off. I have to admit, Bugner is a much tougher guy than I thought. He's so good that when I retire, he'll definitely be the world champion. The others, Frazier, Norton and Foreman are not as tough and can't punch as hard. It stung a few times, the way he hit me."

The loser was not discouraged either: "I wanted to be world champion, and I haven't given up my goal after the defeat. Maybe it wasn't Ali who defeated me, but the terrible heat. I was stiff, I had slowed down, I was suffering and gasping for breath. And then there was Ali. It's amazing what he does in the ring."

They became close friends later on, and lived next door to each other in Beverly Hills. Bugner called Ali the greatest boxer and the greatest fighter.

Bugner first retired in 1977 and temporarily turned to filmmaking, making his first screen appearance with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. The scene below is from the film I'm for the Hippopotamus. From one of the film sets in Italy, he made a short visit to Szőreg and also visited Szeged, curious to see where he was born and where he would have grown up.

He returned to the ring in 1980, but he was taking considerably fewer fights in a year. He moved to Australia with his wife in the second half of the 1980s and has lived there ever since. He also had a chance to fight Sylvester Stallone in the ring in the Rocky films, but the producers chose Dolph Lundgren in the end.

His last big moment came in 1998, when he knocked out James Smith in the first round in Australia and became world champion of the World Boxing Federation, one of the smaller organisations, at the age of 48 – so Ali was right after all.

He finally ended his career in the summer of 1999, winning 69 times, having had 13 losses and one draw. He was involved in business ventures even during his sporting career, including soda water and cultivating grapes. His autobiography was published in 2013 and he used to be a regular guest on British reality TV shows. Altough he is a British and Australian citizen, he never forgot Hungarian, and has given interviews in his mother tongue to Hungarian newspapers.