James “Bubba” Busceme: Alexis Arguello, Boxing Skills and Not Just Your Ordinary Bubba

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(Bubba on the right)

Boxing is full of ‘what ifs’…what if a 20yr old Mike Tyson were on the scene right now, what if George Foreman had paced himself that night against Ali, what if Castillo had been correctly granted the decision over Mayweather, JR. in their first bout, what if Julio Cesar Chavez had decided to retire at 86-0 and here’s one for you to consider, what if the most naturally gifted fighter of all time never actually stepped into a boxing ring? Talent is a gift. It’s not something that gets handed to you in a gym and it won’t appear through blood sweat and tears.

Michelangelo once said that “his marble masterpieces were merely forms he freed from the rocks that encased them.” A diamond needs to be pulled from the earth and polished before it appears as a priceless object and great fighters are no different. The core must be a thing of beauty so that the artist, an Angelo Dundee, an Eddie Futch, a Freddie Roach, can work their own special brand of magic, their own gift if you will, to polish and file until the talent is bared for the world to see. But what happens if that gift is given to someone who would rather drive trucks for a living? Perhaps such people are drawn to the ring as a dancer is to music or a painter to a pallet. Certainly there are those who have had a Love/Hate relationship with the sport, boxers who answered the calling but resented having to do so. One such fighter was the Texan Lightweight James “‘Bubba” Busceme.

Born in Beaumont, Texas on St Valentine’s Day 1952, Bubba Busceme was a frighteningly gifted fighter from a very early age. He entered into his first Golden Gloves competition in 1959 and went on to become a 5 time state Golden Gloves Champion (1968-1972) and a 4 time Golden Gloves National Champion. He also won a Bronze Medal at the Pan American Games in 1971 and knocked up an almost unbelievable amateur record of 520-13 before turning pro in 1974. Ten months later he was 11-0 with 10 K0’s. But Bubba enjoyed a scrap and he didn’t mind taking one to land one. Contrary to the best advice of his corner, Busceme would like to mix it up and he didn’t always come out the best of those exchanges. He lost his next bout when he was stopped in the 6th by Johnny Copeland and two fights later he unraveled, again in the 6th against Warren Matthews. Both fighters were regarded as inferior boxers to Bubba and it was widely felt that he had the skill to simply out point them but, Busceme enjoyed a bust up just as much as those who paid to see him and, raw talent or not, he would test himself as often as he tested his opponents. Coming off the loss to Matthews, Bubba decided he’d had his fill of boxing and he simply walked away.

It would be 4 years later before James Busceme would saunter casually back into the world of boxing. This time he would apply himself and he would take direction from his team. Irish Steve Collins once said “a fighter who can’t be hit, can’t be beat” and it would appear that Bubba would operate under such a principal going forward. It paid off. By the end of 1981, he had taken his record to 30-3 with 22 KO’s and he had taken some tough opposition along the way including the previously unbeaten Pat Duran. He had also lifted the Texas State Lightweight title in his last outing against James Martinez. A world title fight loomed against the ultra stylish WBC champion “El Flaco Explosivo” Alexis Arguello who had already taken the scalps of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Scotland’s Jim Watt, Jose Luis Ramirez, Cornelius Boza-Edwards, Ruben Castillo and Bobby Chacon to name but a few. Genuinely, the list just goes on and on. Here was a man with his own God given talent and he was a boxer who bust a gut to bring out the very best that lay within him.

West Coast Promoter Bob Chargin outbid others to stage the fight and a deal was done with CBS. The champion would collect a check for $350,000 and the challenger would pocket $100,000, not bad money for the day. The bout took place in Bubba’s hometown of Beaumont and was sold out in two days. Such was the demand for tickets that the live gate sales were well in excess of $300,000 and the event was described as Beaumont’s Super Bowl. Fighting in front of 6,618 fans on the biggest night of his boxing career, Busceme came out all guns blazing but stuck to a well structured game plan. He would take it to the champ but he moved in and out with enough speed to land good shots and take little or nothing in return. By the end of the 5th, the home crowd must have wondered if they would be witness to one of the great upsets. The challenger dug deep and tapped into that gifted core landing with a stiff jab and throwing good combinations. But it was in the 6th, Bubba’s bogey round, that the brilliant Arguello lived up to his nickname and exploded with powerful punches rocking Busceme on his feet and forcing referee, Octavio Meyran, into a humane act by waving the fight over.

When asked of the bout some time later, Bubba’s response was almost comical in summing up his relationship with the ring. “The situation with my training camp was so ridiculous” he lamented “The cards were stacked against me. Before the fight, I didn’t know a thing about Alexis Arguello. Boxing was just something I did periodically with my life. It was so crummy how boxing held me back for so long”. He fought on a few more times, even successfully defending his Texas State title but the game was up for Bubba and the bell rang on his career for the last time in 1983. He retired with a respectable record of 30-6, 24 KO’s.

In 2005, Busceme was involved in an accident while crossing over an 8ft seawall near his home in South America. Ever the keep fit fanatic, he would swim for hours at a time and run 6 miles a day. He fell from the wall as he returned home and crashed onto the limestone rocks below. It would be many months later before the effects of the fall would become evident. He began to have a tingling sensation in his fingers and his legs would go week. Initially he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease but an MRI later showed fractured vertebrae and damage to around the spinal cord. He would require potentially debilitating surgery. “On the day of the operation, my neurosurgeon asked if I’d like her to get me a walker “Busceme recalled “and I told her ‘Hell no’. I said I was going to beat this thing as I’m walking out of her office holding onto walls and furniture”. It took Bubba 2 grueling years to recover but recover he did. Today, James Bubba Busceme can be found each morning walking the beach in San Pedro located on the Caribbean island of Ambergris Caye in Belize. He may have undervalued the gift that was given to him in the ring but, when it came to his fight for recovery, Bubba Busceme is a true champion.