Remembering Joe Bugner

5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce

BBC

Sports, Sports News

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following the death of British heavyweight legend Joe Bugner, Buncey speaks to those who knew him best. Robert Smith, General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, whose father Andy trained Bugner, shares his personal memories and explains why he ranks him just behind Lennox Lewis among Britain’s all-time greats. Matchroom’s Barry Hearn reflects on staging the famous Bruno-Bugner fight at White Hart Lane in 1987, while former British heavyweight champion Scott Welch recalls facing an ageing Bugner in the mid-90s. Plus, we hear a rare extract from Bugner’s appearance on Desert Island Discs in 1973.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:06.5	This is Five Live Boxing.
0:09.3	In the early hours of Monday morning, Joe Bugner, one of British boxing's greatest fighters,
0:16.0	passed away in Australia.
0:18.5	Bugner was not just a good heavyweight, he was a great heavyweight in an era of the very
0:24.1	best heavyweights.
0:25.3	Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman.
0:28.6	For a decade, they were the only three heavyweights in front of Joe Bougna in the rankings.
0:34.5	He fought everybody.
0:36.3	He was in some memorable fights, some memorable encounters.
0:39.8	He was a massive name.
0:41.7	He fought for 32 years.
0:43.9	He had 83 fights in total.
0:46.7	He was 75 when he died.
0:48.6	And this is going to be a celebration,
0:50.3	not just of his life in the ring,
0:52.4	but of his life outside the ring.
0:57.3	I'm Steve Bunce, and this is Five Live Boxing.
1:04.6	So this is not the pod we were planning on doing today.
1:08.2	We had another one planned, an absolute golden pod, to be perfectly honest with you.
1:10.5	But it's a sad day for British boxing.
1:11.6	It's a sad day for me because Joe Bugner was one of my absolute heroes. I absolutely adored the man and adored
	...

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