The Long Count is the biggest non-controversy in boxing history

Couldn't get through the book. It was one long love letter to Dempsey, very tough to read.

The Boys of Summer was a better effort from Kahn.

 

I agree. When referee Barry reaches the count of '4' Tunney appears fully alert and capable of getting up. This corresponds to what many believe would have been the original count of '9'. Tunney was wise to take full advantage of the time he was allowed. So therefore I believe Tunney would have beaten the original count. Could Tunney, without those extra seconds, have then avoided Dempsey's followup? I believe he would have, as he did in real time, and that the fight would have played out the same, even without the long count.

 

Fair assessment but debatable.

 

Somehow gravity itself gravitated towards Ali. Off topic, but is it not a good time to remind dear readers about it and maybe manage to initiate a mild thinking process somewhere in them ?

 

Has any pro Dempsey poster on this forum actually argued that Dempsey should have won the fight?

This seems to be a much bigger issue for anti Dempsey posters, than for pro Dempsey posters!

 

:hi:

Good point j. Within the rules of the fight, Jack Dempsey by
"loosing his head" and not going to a neutral corner, gave precious additional seconds for Tunney to stay on the canvas
and clear his head, allowing Tunney to get up and back peddle for the rest of the round, thus possibly saving Gene from a kayo
defeat...Boxing fans of Dempsey ,myself included, question if
Dempsey immediately went to a neutral corner, WOULD Gene Tunney had been able to take a 9 count, gotten up, and been ABLE to scoot around the ring with 5-7 less seconds to get the cobwebs out of his head, and avoid even a RUSTY edition of the Dempsey of Toledo ? Methinks not...cheers...:hi:

 

^ also fair assessment.

 

^ glad you found an unedited version of Dempsey vs Firpo that is fantastic.

As for Dempsey vs Tunney the ref was on the level. Dempsey's blunder cost him his chance at regaining the crown nothing more. Could Tunney have risen and have been clear headed enough to evade the follow up assault without those precious additional seconds is what is up for debate to me.

 

Ah, in that case Steve, I stand corrected regarding your paragraph 1 here.

Re your para 2, it just shows how easily myths can get passed down as facts.

For me, as I said in my initial post on this thread, the only issue re the Long Count is the "what if" factor, "sliding doors" moment one might say...

 

Good Topic

Can i refer to the Tyson senario ..
Douglas went down ..the ref ushered Tyson to a neutral corner and started to count ..However ,he is supposed to pick up /synchronize his count with the timekeeper , wearing the white glove outside the ring , he failed to do this ..the time keeper had reached almost 4 when the Ref started from 1 .. hence through bad officiating Douglas was down for almost 14-15 secs . Technically a KO .
I will say if that was the result ..Tyson was so fukked anyway he would probably have lost his next proposed bout , against HOLYFIELD!!

 

Wrong.

Look at the You Tube clip posted above, the ref starts both counts the Douglas one and the Tyson one at exactly the same times, and at exactly the same pace.

What can't speak, can't lie.

 

Bert Sugar, certainly a strong Dempsey supporter, said on ESPN that Dempsey went down for a 7 count in the first round against Firpo in an unedited film he saw in South America. Was Sugar correct?

 

One of the first memories I have of boxing when I was a kid was the notion that Dempsey was robbed of a victory because of the long count. I long ago realized that this simply wasn't true. What appears to have happened was Dempsey didn't adjust to the rule changes. When he fought Willard etc, a fighter could stand over another fight who was knocked down and hit him right after he rose, the new rules said he had to go to a neutral counter, and Dempsey simply didn't do that right away. At the end of the day, I don't think 3-4 seconds of less time to recover, would have changed the outcome of the fight.