Sam Langford vs Gene Tunney

Langford loses the first fight on points then knocks him out in the rematch.

 

Johnson had effective use of height and reach, and used it to hand out the worst beating Sam sustained in his early career. Compared to Jeannette, Tunney was taller, had a longer reach and was more technically proficient than Joe, who had some success jabbing Sam with his speed at range in Paris. I think Gene's combination of speed, skill and mobility accrue to get the job done via clear UD. He was only beaten by the faster Greb. I believe Langford would have trouble getting inside, and when he did, Tunney was capable of handling himself.

 

I like Tunney by decision ,with Sam being led back to his dressing room both eyes closed.

 

This sounds reasonable. Good post as usual! :good

 

The carefully-steered Tunney has absolutely nothing in his bag of tricks that Langford has not already seen x1000. There is nothing that Gene will have to surprise or confuse Sam with. Langford had so many more fights against so many greater fighters. Tunney's ledger is anemic compared to Sam's. Other than an older, unfocused, livin-la-dolce-vida Dempsey, Tunney never faced a puncher even remotely as powerful as Sam Langford.

Don't let Tunney's sparkling record fool you. He's a great fighter no doubt, but if his quality of opposition and fight frequency was like Langford's then we would see a lot more losses on his record.

Sam knocked out every style and every type of fighter imaginable. Tunney stuck mostly to feasting on middleweights who had seen their best day(Jeff Smith, Leo Houck, Fay Keiser, Whitey Wenzel and yes, Harry Greb[whom he hardly "feasted" on]), light-heavies who were at the end of the line (Carpentier, Gibbons, etc) and a past prime Dempsey. He was one of the most carefully matched fighters of the era. Maybe even THE most(where's the black fighters? The rematch with Loughran? Norfolk?)

Gene's swift legs would lose their spring and quickly turn to lead once Sam began landing cannon-shots on those ribs. Langford nails Tunney somewhere mid-rounds and hurts him badly. Tunney rises bravely but can't escape one of the most conclusive finishers in history. Tunney's lights are put out before 10 rounds have elapsed.

 

This is all true but Tunney's still a noticeably better mover/boxer than Jeannette to me.

 

I don't buy this ,here's why Langford fought Jeannette multiple times and only stopped him once ,and was himself stopped by him.Tunney was better than Jeannette in speed, power, and mobility.
Gunboat Smith, and Fred Fulton beat Langford with essentially one hand ,and one punch ,the left jab ,Tunney's jab was terrific.Tunney was an underated body puncher ,and could crack with his right ,not in Langford's league but hard enough to stop anyone coming in with impunity.

 

Tunney by decision.

 

55/45 for Tunney. A small factor such as ring size or gloves used could make a difference here.

 

:good dead on post ...

 

Jack Blackburn said Sam would take Tunney on more than one occasion and i wouldn't bet against that level opinion.

 

Did Blackburn ever comment much on Fitz?