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Ex-Australian-British boxer Joe Bugner died at 75 in Brisbane.
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He shared the ring with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Frank Bruno.
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Tributes celebrate his resilience and legacy.
Former Australian-British boxer Joe Bugner died in Brisbane at 75, leaving behind a durable and much-loved career in heavyweight boxing.
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Born in Hungary, he came to Britain as a child refugee after the 1956 Soviet invasion and turned professional in the 1970s, ultimately winning 69 of 83 fights with 13 defeats and one draw.
Bugner twice held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and was a three-time European champion.
He is best remembered for going the distance with Muhammad Ali and for a 1973 meeting with Joe Frazier; he challenged Ali again for the world title in Kuala Lumpur in 1975, losing on points.
Other notable opponents included Earnie Shavers, Henry Cooper and Frank Bruno.
After retiring following his 1987 loss to Bruno, Bugner staged a comeback eight years later, winning the Australian title and, at 48, the World Boxing Federation belt.
He effectively closed a 32-year professional career in 1999 and later worked in film and television, appearing on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2009.
In later life he lived in Brisbane, cared for in a nursing home after a diagnosis of dementia.
The British Boxing Board of Control offered condolences to his family, and promoter Frank Warren paid tribute, saying Joe Bugner “went the distance with both Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.”
Fans and fellow fighters have remembered him as a tough, consistent presence in an era of great heavyweights.
Joe Bugner died as one of Britain’s best-known heavyweights — a fighter whose story runs from refugee beginnings to title success, a late comeback and a quiet final chapter in Australia.
