Jack Johnson v Gene Tunney

I think Tunney´s footwork, jab and superior speed wins him this one. Should be rather close because Johnson moved quite well and wasn´t slow himself. And was bigger and stronger. If he can drag Tunney into the midrange or inside even it would get dangerous for Gene, those uppercuts of Jack were nasty.

 

Johnson WAS ahead of his time, but Tunney was not the typical primitive, crude opponent of Johnson. With his modernistic, sophisticated footwork, disciplined attack, textbook boxing mastery and straight, precise punching, Tunney would have taken no chances with Johnson and would have captured a hard fought decision...scoring much more on Lil' Artha than was common, and with his great chin, would have been able to withstand whatever he recieved..

 

I like Johnson in this one. I think he could give Tunney fits by picking off the jab and countering back with his own as Tunney struggles to find any rhythm, Johnson later on closing the gap and making it an inside fight largely, using his physical strength and uppercuts on the inside to wear Tunney down possibly for a late stoppage.

 

I love both of these guys, especially the extremely brave Jack Johnson, but I would have to go with Gene on this one. Tunney was a great, scientific boxer with fast hands, feet and a good chin. I would pick Tunney by decision mainly because he had better footwork than the Galveston Giant. It would be a great fight no matter who won, especially for those boxing fans who enjoy a good boxing match.

 

Tunney easily. Faster, better footwork, more durable.

 

I would question all those asertions.

 

Very very interesting one this one - and two of my favourite fighters ever to watch

In this one i see a lot of probing for shots, both trying to out-trigger the other, Johnson playing a lot of games trying to bring Tunney out of his disciplined method, the difference I think was that in my eyes Johnson was truly a genius fighter (as opposed to just a great fighter) - I think he could do things that few, if any, even great fighters could do and i think he would succeed in infruriating Tunney at least a little, due to his superior anticipation (aswell as his continual smiling), very close fight because Johnson never seemed particularly bothered about scoring many points - as long as when he did he was drawing attention to it, but I think over the long haul Tunney would start to become on the receiving end due to Johnsons greater physical strength and power - I think Johnson would have it in his mind to not want Tunney to here the final bell anyway (and he could be a quite merciless finisher when he put his foot down, see Bob Fitz, Jim Flynn, Tommy Burns, Stanley Ketchel, Jim Jeffries) - Jess Willard said "Judging by his form when I fought him, Jack Johnson could've handled Joe Louis and Billy Conn simultaneously."

I think he would beat Tunney

 

I'll take the greater and more talked about Jack Johnson in a time machine over Eugene Tunney......... Johnson was ahead of his time and knew how to play the crowd, as well as handle his foe in the ring..... Johnson is too big, strong and powerful for Tunney........ IMO!!

MR.BILL:bbb

 

Faster... it's debatable and can only be measured via two different eras of filming.. I tend to like Tunney, perhaps because he used it to do more than just grapple and swing.

Better footwork... I don't see much of a contest. Tunney has genius footwork, moving effortlessly into position and out of harms way. Johnson's footwork looked effective against smaller men or older men, but a bit unimaginative and lacking in the dimensions of Tunney's.

Durability... Tunney survived a hiding from Greb still standing. He took a great shot from the very hardest puncher of his or Johnson's eras and survived to win. Johnson got KD'd by a middle and a lightheavy and broke down against a mediocre heavy with the same surname. Advantage Tunney.

Johnson, to his credit, was an innovator and possessed great reflexes and strength. However, Tunney took those innovations further. He still looks marvelous on film, absolutely modern.

 

Jack Johnson by decision. He would pick off tunney's jab from the outside forcing tunney to engage him in close, where johnson was very comfortable and tunney was not. Johnson would counter tunney's flurries with crisp accurate clean shots to the head, while most of tunney's flurries will bounce off johnson's gloves. Johnson on the inside will outfight and outmuscle gene in the clinches. Johnson also has the reflexes to beat gene to the punch. Tunney puts up a high workrate and scores with a volumes of punches, but johnson lands the cleaner and harder blows and controls the pace of the fight.


Johnson 15 close majority

 

Harry Greb weighed only 162lb

1. Tunney was down for 14 seconds so its debatable whether or not he survived.

2. Dempsey was well past his prime. He did not have the finishing touch anymore.

3. Tunney's chin was never truly tested in the heavyweight division. He only took on one man above 200lb and that was a fat weak hitting 203lb 5'9 Tom Heeney. Johnson fought a number of big hard hitting heavyweights and proved his chin viable.

 

Johnson by close ,but unanimous decision.