Tunney believed a heavyweight boxer could beat a 460 pound silverback

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by Melankomas, Apr 18, 2025.


  1. Melankomas

    Melankomas Prime Jeffries would demolish a grizzly in 2 Full Member

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    'Man vs Gorilla'

    In 1938 former Heavyweight World Champion, Gene Tunney theorised that a Heavyweight boxer would have the means to defeat a 460lb male silver back circus gorilla, aptly named 'Gargantua.' Gargantua had a permanent sneering expression after his face was disfigured from an acid attack, and was made famous by the world-renowned Ringling Brothers Circus. Some even credited Gargantua for saving the circus from bankruptcy during The Great Depression.

    Tunney stated, 'The gorilla is a sluggish thinker. He only knows one attack. He goes after something and grabs it with his hands and then hugs it to his breast, crushing the life out of it when possible. It is my firm conviction that any fairly good heavyweight boxer could put the great Gargantua to sleep or to rout within two minutes. Gargantua is a big boy but a Dempsey left hook landing on his stomach might figuratively tear the poor animal in two. He didn't spend years doing bending and mat exercises. A man has 24 ribs. Your encyclopedia will tell you that a gorilla has but 13. Between the ribs, below the breastbone, there are nerve centres. If they are shocked the shock travels to the spine, temporarily causing paralysis. The ribs, and well developed muscles between the ribs, protect these nerve centres. Twenty-four ribs are much more protection than 13. Unfortunately, I am no longer in fighting shape. However, I would like to take up the offer for any one of a dozen third-rate heavyweights I know.”

    https://www.facebook.com/share/14e7RsHuX2/?mibextid=wwXIfr
     
  2. roughdiamond

    roughdiamond Ridin' the rails... Full Member

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    Tunney on the drink again.
     
  3. Ioakeim Tzortzakis

    Ioakeim Tzortzakis Well-Known Member Full Member

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    Sounds just like most of the forum when discussing any decent fighter's chances vs Marciano.
     
  4. Pedro_El_Chef

    Pedro_El_Chef Active Member Full Member

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    About sixty years later, Battlin' Mike Tyson almost ran the experiment when he reportedly offered a zookeeper 10k to be allowed into the gorilla exhibit and teach a bullying ape some manners.
     
  5. Pedro_El_Chef

    Pedro_El_Chef Active Member Full Member

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    What if the coughing baby put the atom bomb in a choke hold?
     
  6. Seamus

    Seamus Proud Kulak Full Member

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    For all Tunney's attempts to don an intellectual air about himself, he was just a dumb, tough kid from Hell's Kitchen who later took to drink (It's the curse of his people, according to Frank Sinatra).
     
  7. Pugguy

    Pugguy Ingo, The Thinking Man’s GOAT Full Member

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    Gene sounds like Corbett barking BS at Jack Johnson from the safety of Jim Jeffries corner in Reno. No wonder Gene and Corbett got along so well.

    If you get the time, you should check out Tunney’s lesser known literary endeavour: A Man Must Drink. Forward by Ernest Hemingway.
     
  8. Shay Sonya

    Shay Sonya The REAL Wonder Woman! Full Member

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    :lol:
     
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  9. Charles White

    Charles White Chucker Full Member

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  10. dmt

    dmt Hardest hitting hw ever Full Member

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  11. Journeyman92

    Journeyman92 Bob N Weave Full Member

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    BUT have we ever let a HW actually hit a gorilla and see what happens? I’m curious, I have an assumed answer and the only way to find out is messed up to say the least (chain it up etc) but could Dempsey actually fold a gorilla with a well placed body shot? Does Tyson rock it with a hook? Do we have footage of gorillas actually punching one another to chin check them? Do they have that anatomy?
     
  12. Shay Sonya

    Shay Sonya The REAL Wonder Woman! Full Member

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    I can wrestle with a muzzled, declawed gorilla then? Or not? :beautiful:
     
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  13. SolomonDeedes

    SolomonDeedes Active Member Full Member

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    Tunney actually tried to put this to the test. He wanted to promote a Gargantua v Tony Galento bout in Philadelphia which, he imagined, would draw a $225,000 gate.

    Galento, sadly, wasn't keen. As he succinctly put it, "Let Tummy fight his own monkeys."

    https://freeimage.host/i/3E9lj9e
     
  14. Scratch

    Scratch Active Member Full Member

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    Who acid attacks a gorilla?
     
  15. cross_trainer

    cross_trainer Liston was good, but no "Tire Iron" Jones Full Member

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    Spurned lover, no doubt. It's the same old story.
     
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