No. Gene Tunney was no puncher, whereas Schmeling could bang. The best that Gene could hope for was a decision and an unlikely one at that.
Some might say that as Billy Conn stunned louis momentarily ,a bigger stronger Tunney might stop him,but I dont think so Tunney was usually going backwards and rarely committed himself to a ko punch ,he could get you out of there eventually but was too smart to take chances ,against a puncher like Louis he would be in reverse all night,imo.
I'm not implying Tunney could blast him out of there, I'm asking if he could use his smarts to catch Louis and then wear him down.
No ,imo,and Louis was weight drained when he fought Conn he said he felt like **** ,making sure he came in under 200lbs Louis went down a few times but he took a lot of good punches and remained upright,I dont think Tunney would stay around to get Joe in trouble,though he might well mark him up .close his eyes and so forth.
No, I see Gene being competitive, he had good fast hands and feet and would hold his own with any ATG but I see Joe stopping him late in the fight or winning a UD 15
If Louis went in thinking he was "hot ****" like he admitted he did against Schemling, I honestly think Gene could put him down, hard. He was just as smart and crafty as Schemling, and I don't think there's a big weight difference if any between them. The man did drop Dempsey.
Dempsey wasn't really hurt though, more of a flash knockdown. Perfect 1-2 that landed on the button. But he didn't follow up and mostly didn't commit to sitting down on the punches, and that was against an old Dempsey. I don't think he'd be aggressive against Joe Louis. If he does, he'd probably meet his first stoppage loss.
I don,t beleive he gave one ,though its widely known that he took Schmeling cheaply ,and spent more time on the golf course than in the gym.Baer had kod Max and Louis had stopped Baer ,he thought he would run through Schmeling,but what has this to do with Tunney ,s chances of stopping Louis? Two more dissimlar fighters ,it would be hard to find,Tunney was a loping retreating boxer whose forte was jab and move,Schmeling was a probing shortpunching counter puncher,who came forward.
Tough call. Tunney did not have as much juice in his shots as Schmeling and he was less willing to take risks to dish the hurt. Having said that I think he hit a lot harder than he is often given credit for. I will not say he couldnt but it would take a lot of rounds and atrition. Perhaps this becomes a more likley scenario in a 20 round fight.
