Gene’s style was at the very least partially reliant on his athleticism; his low hands, counter-oriented style. Its tremendously difficult to get away with that as the slower man. With that in mind, how highly do you regard Tunney’s speed?
Quick enough to make you overlook that he was actually very good on the inside as well. He is one of the few ATGs that I could see devising and executing a brilliant strategy on the best of Roy at LHW. Even if he loses, he has enough speed, brain and ability to get up from a KD and still find successes.
Exceptional .. in the elite class with Johnson, Louis, Patterson, Ali , Holmes, Tyson .. absurdly overlooked but when you watch the time corrected footage its pretty amazing ..
Due to oldency bias, most fighters from the olden times who are called fast were actually quite slow. Someone like SRR was actually far slower than someone like Antonio Margarito, for instance. Gene Tunney would be right around the Hrgovic range. He would be outsped and outskilled by a guy like Itauma. The only thing he would have going for him is that due to testosterone production and lighter bones, he could potentially outwork them both. The old fighters was like hummingbirds. They could just flap those wings forever, and a billion times a minute per revolution.
A typical slow twitch guy whose style was effective against other slow twitchers. Never tested by a real athlete.
Ah, evolution. I don't think you've highlighted enough about the old timer gills, additional lung and cow's stomach and camel hump, allowing them to break down carbs and release glycogen and hydrate mid-round simultaneously. Or is that the modern fighter? I get forgetful on how this boxing evolution and regression thing works.
Only trouble with this analyses my f(r)iend is that it is an internally inconsistent, illogical conceit. Ye Olde Tyme boxers cannot be both very slow & outwork others with a billion (whatever) moves per minute.
