![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-joe-bugner-los-vegas_7008446.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJoe Bugner, the former British heavyweight boxing champion, who challenged Muhammad Ali for the world title, has died aged 75.<\/p>\n
Bugner, who also held the European and Commonwealth heavyweight crowns, died at a care home in Brisbane, Australia, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) said.<\/p>\n
Announcing his death “with great sadness”, the board said it “passes on its condolences to Joe’s family”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Joe Bugner (L) fighting Muhammad Ali in Las Vegas in 1973. Pic: AP<\/p>\n
![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-frank-bruno-joe-bugner_7008450.jpg\")
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Image:
\n Joe Bugner in his 1987 bout against Frank Bruno. Pic: Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Over a 32-year career beginning in 1967, the fighter, won 69 of his 83 contests – 41 inside the distance – with 13 defeats and one draw.<\/p>\n
He fought Ali twice, losing on points both times, including when challenging the American legend for the world heavyweight title in Kuala Lumpur in 1975.<\/p>\n
He was born in Hungary in 1950 before his family moved to the UK, after fleeing amid the 1956 Soviet invasion.<\/p>\n
Bugner forced Henry Cooper into retirement after a controversial points win in 1971, capturing the British, Commonwealth and European crowns in the process.<\/p>\n
It was one of two British title wins, while he was also a three-time European champion.<\/p>\n
His victory over Cooper by a quarter of a point at a time when fights were counted in fractions, meant he struggled for acceptance in his adopted country.<\/p>\n
![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/skynews-joe-bugner-takes-muhammad-ali_7008447.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Joe Bugner fighting Muhammad Ali in Las Vegas in 1973. Pic: AP<\/p>\n
X<\/p>\n
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> He lost to Joe Frazier, another legend of the ring, on points, having taken him the distance in 1973, before a 1987 stoppage defeat to Frank Bruno led to his retirement from the ring.<\/p>\n Eight years later, money troubles forced him into a comeback, taking the Australian title as well as the lightly-regarded WBF (World Boxing Federation) belt, aged 48.<\/p>\n He retired aged 49 after beating US fighter Levi Billups on Australia’s Gold Coast in 1999.<\/p>\n X<\/p>\n This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Bugner was affectionately known as ‘Aussie Joe’ in the last few years as a boxer, having been warmly received in Australia in a manner he had been unaccustomed to during his career in Britain.<\/p>\n Read more on Sky News: Bruno said in a post on X it was “a sad day for boxing”, calling Bugner a “character” who “played Mr bad guy” before their fight.<\/p>\n Promoter Frank Warren wrote on X that Bugner was “a great man who will be missed”.<\/p>\n After giving up the sport, Bugner was involved within the film industry and appeared on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Bugner, the former British heavyweight boxing champion, who challenged Muhammad Ali for the world title, has died…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-112458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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