In Todays Era Tunney Would Likely Be 15 Pounds Bigger And Would Most Likely Hold His Hand Higher Than The Days Of Old.therefore I See Him Keeping The Distance And Getting A Tko Very Late Or Dec.but Tyson Could Possibly Catch Tunney And Ko Him If Tunney Slipped Up.dempsey I Believe Would Have Prob. Beat Tunney In His Short Actual Prime And If The Ref Could Count
I think that in that era Tunney would have had a similar career profile to Evander Holyfield, first cleaning up at cruiserweight under the 190lb limit then stepping up to heavyweight where he would have the frame to carry 210 lbs if he so chose. His boxing skill and mobility would make him a handfull for anybody. He would not match up well stylisticaly with some of the fighters of the period but with a bit of carefull matchmaking he could probably be steerd towards the title. The size of the purses today might compel him to hang round for a few defences.
Tyson would be the fave here, but it would certainly not be a 1st round knockout victory. I see this one going to the scorecards or perhaps a late stoppage for Tyson.
...Hard to say, because how does Tunney fight when he's 15-20 lbs. heavier. How does he carry the weight? We just don't know.
I like the idea of matching up 'around at the same time' versions of fighters, as well as the fighters as they actually where. Yes, a fighters actuality is real; but their potential is also real (as potency). When I head-to-head fighters, or match them against each others opposition, I do it both on the basis of fighters -- as they actually were at their peak -- time machined in to each others eras; and also on the basis of their coming (ie, born into) along in each others times. Granted, the second scenario is highly speculative; but time machines are imaginary, too.
I'll pick Tyson here , just that h2h he is of the very best to match-up at hw. I only know of the Tunney that was around though and must use that Tunney for this analysis, even if he would be a bit bigger. Imo, Tunney was tough and had a bit of a tear-up moreso than people think, even if he used the gameplsn he used against Dempsey though, i dont see him winning here
You know when Tunney won the belt, he could have really proven himself and fight the contenders, yet he chose not to and thats why he's a top 30 atg, not top 10.
Well, if his career parallels what he did in his own time, then Tunney would have dominated Michael Spinks, losing once but eventually working him out and dominateing him. He would definitely be a step above any middles or heavys from the 80s. He also would have a victory over one of the guys that Tyson defeated (like he did with Carpentier), for arguments sake say Tony Tucker. He would then have fought a couple of contenders like Loughran and Gibbons. This would probably equate to two wins against maybe a Tim Witherspoon and a Razor Ruddock. Having seen that Tyson was slipping against Bruno, Tunney would then step in instead of Buster Douglas and he would dominate tyson, by winning every round in a 10 round fight. Tyson would then train, and beat the no 1 contender in a bit of a lackluster fight, much like the Tyson Botha fight. Tyson would then get a rematch with Tunney, who would this time win only 9 of the 10 rounds and who would also be caught in one round by Tyson and knocked down in a controversial long count (in a very similar way to the way Douglas was knocked down against Tyson). Tyson would retire and never fight again. Tunney would then fight the number one contender Buster Douglas and knock him out in the 12th round. Tunney would then retire as the consensus world champion. Still, in 100 or so years, a lot of fans would criticise Tyson and Tunney for not fighting Evander Holyfield. Evander had been the dominant heavyweight for years but because of the discriminating weight rule, he had been restricted to fighting only cruiserweights. This despite the fact that in 100 years time, it had been proven that Cruiserweights had been regularly more successful than Heavyweights for at least 50 years. Evander dominated all his opponents who were smaller, fitter, faster and had better boxing skills than their counterparts (although with only digital footage available and no real life 3d replica footage of Holyfield and most of their opponents it is difficult to tell how good most of these fighters were). Evander (who remember would never have the chance to meet Tyson and enhance his legacy) would dominate the cruisers of his time and also do quite well on the odd occassions he was allowed to fight Heavys, but he would never win the World title because of the weight bar and when he did finally get his chance to challenge for the title (after Tyson and Tunney retired) he was old and overweight, splitting results with Bowe and Lewis, before fighting on too long and losing fights to guys like Byrd, Toney and Donald. STill, he would have a lot of people who say he deserved to fight and would have beaten both Tunney and Tyson when they were in their primes. If Tunney had this type of career, i think he would currently be rated a lot higher by most people. Certainly at worst, on the fringe of the top 10 and probably better by a lot of people.
