Had Tunney not retired when he did

Yes indeed. He was a "mind over matter" type of no-nonsense type.

 

Maybe after Jack shocked Loughran, but it still might've been a hard sell after the Heeney draw, especially with the Depression underway.

 

I think that Sharkey was a marketable fighter, Boston Gob and all that.

I also think that a Schmeling fight would have been a huge draw down the line (although Tunney didn't know that at the time).

 

Well, of course Carnera legitimately beat Loughran, but Tunney, a former lumberjack who was known to lift weights, was bigger and stronger than the younger Tommy, who did have the early lead on Primo.

I'm not opposed to this hypothesis that Carnera might have been the one. Aside from the 6'3" Martin Burke, Gene didn't have much experience taking on opponents of significantly greater height and reach than himself, and Primo used those advantages more effectively than any other tall heavyweights of his era. But there's still a substantial gulf in speed and experience between Tunney and Carnera, and we do have footage of the Tunney sized Sharkey and Gains taking Primo to school. And I think Carnera's combination of size, strength and stamina would be less likely to wear on the stronger and sturdier Tunney than it did on Loughran.

This all comes down to whether or not Carnera could nail Gene with his jab while remaining out of range, and how well Tunney could negotiate Primo's 85 inch reach. Loughran rocked Carnera a few times, and Sharkey decked him. Gene's power was more in line with Sharkey's, and dedicated lumberjack work had eliminated Tunney's earlier hand problems, so he'd be able to continue loading up like Tommy couldn't.

Could well depend on how early in the 1930s Gene defends against Primo, who generated a record setting British crowd of 70,000 for Gains in London during 1932, and 75,000 in Spain for Uzcudun I in Barcelona near the end of 1930. Carnera might have been promotable as a viable challenger as early as Uzcudun I.

 

As Tunney aged, his reflexes and footwork would be the first things to go. These would be the things that he most needed to negate Carnera's physical advantages. I think that Carnera got better after the Gains fight and the first Sharkey fight.

Lets say that Carnera gets him at the right time and plays a blinder like he did in the second Sharkey fight. Gene might even do him the favour of underestimating him.

I am of course speculating, but it is always one posible scenario!

 

Potentially, Tunney could of upset Joe Louis. I think he wins a SD over Schmeling, and beats the rest. If he kept himself preserved, and aged well, he very well could of dominated the heavyweight division for quite a few more years.

 

Also, where would he rank? I'd say with an upset win over Joe Louis, and wins over Sharkey, Baer, Carnera, and Schmeling would catapult him into the top 15 range. Perhaps even top 13 if you're feeling generous.

 

Max drew well in New York, and was popular in the States before Hitler and the Nazis appropriated him for propaganda purposes, so yes, I think Tunney-Schmeling could have been a successful promotion.

As talking pictures supplanted silent films in the movie theaters, Sharkey's big mouth might have generated interest in Tunney-Sharkey beyond what newsprint alone could accomplish. It was a medium of enormous potential value in the wake of the 1929 Crash. If Rickard had lived, he might have had the vision to seize optimal advantage of this proliferating technology. (The live sound introductions of Walker-Milligan in June 1927 is currently on youtube, and Tunney-Dempsey III almost certainly would have been the first HW Title fight to be filmed in live sound, a huge, huge event if it happened.)

 

Wait just a second here!

We are talking about a man who managed to hold it together for two defences of his title.

In the highly unlikley event that he makes it as far as Louis, he had better not turn up for the fight.

 

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The films of Sharkey I & II document both Primo's improvement and Sharkey's deterioration. (I do think Sharkey was strongly motivated in their first match to atone for the draw with Walker, where he actually conceded that, "Inactivity beat me," in effect an admission of defeat against the Toy Bulldog.)

I don't think Gene would have been any more likely to underestimate him than Marciano underestimated any of his professional opponents. It wasn't in his nature as long as he was competing, and he certainly didn't take Heeney for granted. But the key item of speculation is where the inevitable decline in reflexes and footwork begin to take place, and how well he compensates. Jack Britton maintained an obscenely long career utilizing the same template.

We simply can never know, but Gene did appear to still be improving in 1928 at age 31, and a "hog fat" out of shape 225 pound Jack Johnson was still a highly viable titleholder over the classic championship distance in the Havana marathon blast furnace at 37, after beating Moran over 20 in Paris a year earlier. Tunney reached the age Johnson lost the title to Willard at in mid 1934. We can be positive he would never have let himself get "hog fat" (or much over 195, if at all), no matter how old he got, and title fights were hardly ever being scheduled for more than 15 rounds anymore.

 

Lumberjack???

 

See Carnera Baer!

 

Tunney would have schooled with his eyes closed, he'd beat Loughran in a rematch, he'd be too good for Sharkey, Baer may score a come from behing KO but I don't think so I think he'd go unbeaten until he ran into Schmelling, who'd be younger and imo better

That could well have been the absense of any challenge or any meaning once he lost the adrenaline rush of boxing and had the highlight of his life in being HW Champ of the White World