MUHAMMAD ALI?S great rival Joe Bugner yesterday insisted: ?He will never be beaten.?
In an exclusive interview, Bugner ? who fought Ali in two iconic bouts during the 70s ? said he would live on as The Greatest.
He told The Sun on Sunday: ?I shed a few tears when I heard he had died. I was flabbergasted and shocked.
Bugner says he is devastated to learn of Ali’s death ? PA:Press Association
?He was not only brilliant in the boxing ring but he was able to talk the talk as well. He was unique.
?Muhammad never lost the gift of being the greatest because he believed he was the greatest. That will live on.
?He was one of the most talented heavyweights on the planet. There was and never will be anyone like him.
?There?s no one who could even come close to his shadow. He was the best ever. Perfection.?
Bugner was just 19 when he first met Muhammad Ali in a New York restaurant in the summer of 1969.
The British fighter had never been to America before but jetted across the Atlantic to spar with the then 27-year-old champ.
Bugner sizes up Ali in 1975 ? Getty Images
Bugner was enjoying an early lunch with his management at a hotel grill when Ali suddenly strode in.
Bugner recalled: ?He shouted out in a real loud voice, ?Where?s that white boy who wants to make a name for himself at my expense? Let me see what he looks like and I?m going to make sure he goes back to England uglier.?
?He came towards me. I put my hand up to say to Muhammad, ?I?m here? and he said, ?Damn, you ugly?.
?He said, ?You?re the ugliest thing I ever seen. Your mother must have cried when she had you?.
?I said, ?Hey, hey, excuse me, you haven?t met my sister?. He said little else after that apart from, ?I?ll see you in the ring, white boy?.?
In that moment, in front of a restaurant full of fans, a special friendship was born that would span two major fights and five decades. They would live close to one another in Beverly Hills, their kids would go to the same school and they would go on to tour together for exhibition fights.
Bugner recalls how Ali said he was ‘fast for a white boy’ ? Getty Images
Bugner, now 66, remembers that first meeting between the pair like it was yesterday.
A day later he finally stepped into the ring with him for the first time at a nearby gym as the pair sparred.
Speaking from his home in Australia, Bugner said: ?He was brilliant but throughout the next six rounds he kept talking to me.
?We had mouthguards in but you just couldn?t shut him up. He?s saying, ?Damn, you?re fast for a white boy?.
?I was honoured to be in the same ring as him at that age. I knew instantly I was in the presence of greatness.?
Bugner returned to the UK and work began to strike a deal for the pair to fight for real.
Promoters eventually signed a deal that would land Bugner his first shot at Ali four years later in 1973.
He was paid $500,000 for the fight in Las Vegas ? Ali would make millions more.
Ali in London to see Bugner fight Santiago Alberto in 1974 ? PA:Press Association
Bugner recalled: ?It was amazing. The whole of the Las Vegas celebrity circuit was there.
?Frank Sinatra was sitting at ringside, so was Elvis Presley. Elvis had invited me and Muhammad up to his penthouse a day before the fight. I noticed Elvis and Muhammad went into a side room.
?Five minutes later out comes Muhammad in this blue and white, silk dressing gown. I went to Elvis and said, ?Seriously, I would love one of those?.
?I said Muhammad and I could wear those beautiful gowns into the ring and it would bring the house down.
?Elvis looked at me and said, ?You haven?t earned the right to wear one of my dressing gowns?.
?I said, ?I beg your pardon?. I turned round and told him to get f***ed before walking out of the suite.
?His bodyguard asked me why I told him to f*** off and I said, ?Because I asked him nicely and politely for the dressing gown?.
?But it wasn?t Joe Bugner who pulled those people in to the fights. It was all about Ali.
?He came out in the first round and he threw what felt like a million punches.
?It went the distance and Ali won the bout on points. He was like Picasso in the ring. You didn?t see him flinging the paint on the canvas, he did it beautifully.
?After the fight, Frank Sinatra said, ?Joe Bugner, I thought you beat Muhammad Ali?. I said, ?No, I think he was very fast? and he said, ?So were you?.
?For the first time there was this superstar of American singing telling me I had beaten the greatest boxer of all time.
?I was still only 23. I was still wet behind the ears. Muhammad went on to win his world title back but it was an experience money cannot buy.?
Even with cruel Parkinson’s disease, Ali retained a sense of humour and a glint in his eye ? AP:Associated Press
When the pair met again in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur, 200million people tuned in to watch them slog it out. Again it went the distance and again Ali won on points.
While Bugner settled down with his wife Marlene and wed in 1978, Ali was still a favourite among the ladies.
On one occasion in New York, Bugner told how dozens of girls thronged around him after a breakfast run.
Bugner swears that between breakfast and lunch, Ali entertained four women in his hotel room.
Muhammad Ali with his third wife Veronica Porsche and daughter Hana at Heathrow airport in 1977 ? The Sun
In the years that followed, Bugner and Ali became neighbours in Los Angeles. But Bugner always wished Ali had retired earlier.
He said: ?He always thought he was tougher than he actually was. We?re all the same. You get hit on the head and your brain jars and it hurts.
?He was one of these people that believed he was invincible and, in many ways, he was.
?But what was allowed to happen to him should never have been allowed.
?He took too many punches to the head during his career. I tried to explain it to him but he just wouldn?t bloody listen.
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?He should?ve retired after he regained his world title shortly after the fight against me.?
Bugner added: ?We met up a lot after he retired. He lived just round the corner and we used to hook up now and again.
?People couldn?t understand it. They?d ask why are you two friends. But just because we boxed two times doesn?t mean we were enemies.?
Bugner, who went on to become world heavyweight champion in 1998 at the age of 48, still watches the fights on DVD at his home in Australia.
He is proud of both bouts ? but there is no doubt in his mind who was The Greatest.
