I'd feel criminal if I didn't share this. (HD JD vs Tunney II)

Chances are you might have seen it. Honestly, probably have, but I'd feel bad if some of the older boys on here who probably don't have the time to scour YouTube missed out. Crisp, crisp quality.

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Beautiful. Eager for the day when all of our old footage gets the same treatment.

Tunney's jab, right, & grab is more obvious and obnoxious in this one.

 

God yes. I wish he'd touch the Venice Borkhorsor film with his magic wand. Yes, it pains me to watch Jack fall into it over and over and over again ,Every time I see this fight, Coloured, Original, Remastered, Smoothed out... I am so keen to see him get knocked down.

 

You and everybody else in the 1920s, I imagine.

 

A bit like older Hopkins. Maybe he took a page from Tunney.

 

Very impressive footwork by Tunney, though. Reminds me of Usyk and Holy more than Ali, actually. Lightly bouncing right outside the perimeter and keeping distance and angles expertly.

 

Fantastic film.

 

@Pat M, what are your thoughts about the quality of both fighters' boxing from a modern technical perspective, given the now-improved film?

 

My thoughts for what it's worth (from the first three I think):

Dempsey's low left leaves him very open to Tunney's crosses. That's not unheard of in modern times, though, where for example Froch did something not too different. Pirog was also a come forward fighter with his left held low, but he had his shoulder up better. So Dempsey coing forward that open is not according to norm today but not completely unheard of either. And he tries with the jab to the body, so it's not that he doesn't know the jab as a route in, but just can't get his timing right.

Tunney has very nice footwork, bouncing lightly just outside the perimeter, not unlike Usyk. Unlike Usyk, though, he has hands low, chin fairly high with little head movement. Offensively he's content with the one-two and grab. But so were older version of Wlad and Hopkins as well.

So while they both do things not generally recommended, those things can also be seen to some extent in modern, very successful fighters. Dempsey's timing looks very off, though, and that's really all she wrote when you employ that kind of style. Tunney's timing is excellent and his legs look great, so the low guard, high chin and lack of head movement becomes less of an issue.

But tactically there's some interesting things happening just in the early rounds, with Dempsey trying to defend that right cross and Tunney varying it a bit (throwing it straight at one point iside Jack's left instead of around it, for example) to keep him guessing.

 

From the rest of the fight:

Tunney started mixing in the left hook more. At one point he seemed to roll Jack's left hook and come back with one of his own, Ali style (or Ali did it Tunney style, rather, I suppose ). I'd liked to see him use the uppercut more and he squared up a bit when coming close to Dempsey after the one two.

The only new thing Dempsey showed after the first three was the KD, which was as sweet as they get. Timed Tunney's jab, slipped inside and returned a right, waited for him to slide right along the ropes and caught him with a left when he did and then finished with another couple of sharp blows. Tunney showed great recovery to get back from that.

Ps. I'm well aware that Dempsey was past his prime at this point. It's just a break-down of how he looks to me in this particular fight.

 

How do they make HD versions of these films btw?

 

Tunney ran like a little boy vs a man all fight long. Dempsey's 4 or 5 punch combo that put Tunney down and out for the KO
was a thing of beauty. Oh wait, the count was for 14 in this fight; my bad.

Dempsey looked so frustrated as he waved Tunney in in the 8th round (I think); he knew that his mind was telling him things to do that his
body could not do any more. I firmly believe 1919 Dempsey makes very short work of Tunney.

Praise for Tunney's footwork just bounces off me. He was running plain and simple.

 

This is one way to see it, I loathe Tunney myself. But winning in a legal matter he deserves all the credit owed. This boy and man analogy is unfair and insulting. Gene really was his master here for pretty much all but one controversial moment. "Hit and not get hit" that's the objective. Winning in 1919 is plausible. Highly likely even, but saying he'd be quick work... what do you base that on?

 

I personally do not know. Ask him, he is very responsive in the comment section.

 

Saying anything short of complementary towards Gene here would be quite ignorant.
Does he look anything short of complete and educated? I think things could be said, yes but under the lens of "Old bad" Gene looks better then anyone we have today at weight's he'd fight at.