Born Jozsef Kreul Bugner in Szoreg, Hungary, in 1950, he and his household fled the nation after the 1956 Soviet invasion and finally settled in the UK.

Bugner started boxing as a youngster and rapidly rose by means of the novice ranks, successful the ABA mild heavyweight title at simply 17.

As knowledgeable, Bugner claimed a notable victory over Cooper at Wembley in 1971 to win each the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.

His fights in opposition to Ali and Frazier additional cemented his status for toughness.

Of their first bout, Ali managed the struggle with superior velocity and accuracy, however Bugner went the space, incomes reward for his resilience.

Later that yr, he confronted Joe Frazier in a gruelling match, in the end being stopped within the twelfth spherical after one other brave efficiency. Bugner misplaced once more on factors to Ali in 1975.

Bugner retired a lot of occasions all through his profession. After first hanging up the gloves in 1976, he made a number of comebacks.

He moved to Australia within the mid-Eighties and continued to tackle top-level competitors, together with a defeat by Bruno, who stopped him within the eighth spherical in 1987.

Bugner retired once more however returned almost eight years later to seize the Australian heavyweight title in 1995.

In 1998, on the age of 48, he received the World Boxing Federation’s model of the heavyweight championship by defeating James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith, earlier than bowing out of boxing for good in 1999 after a win by disqualification in opposition to Levi Billups.

Outdoors of boxing, Bugner appeared in movies together with the 1994 motion film Road Fighter and labored as a boxing adviser for the Russell Crowe movie Cinderella Man. He was additionally a contestant on ITV’s ‘I am a Superstar’ in 2009.