I loved his performance against Gibbons, I even made a short highlight snippet of the fight a few months back: This content is protected Even if you consider Tommy shot by this time, I still think it’s the fight where Gene displays his skillset finest.
I consider Gibbons was past prime rather than shot, impressive performance from Tunney. I suspect most people would answer one of the Dempsey fights due to their relative high profile. Of the Tunney fights I've seen film of, he most impressed me in Greb 5
Honestly I might be in a minority here but I found Tunney’s fights with Jack to be a bit lacklustre, more so the second time around. I was watching it recently and it was quite the snoozer, Gene seemed to do the bare minimum to win outside of that seventh round. I liked his performance in the first fight though, as well as the Heeney fight.
I think there is something to like about most of Tunney's fights. His bout with Jamieson hes still young and developing and his fight with Soldier Jones is a snoozer but he beats the breaks of the overrated Carpentier. Just boxes his ears off and then turns the fight into a complete massacre and against Gibbons, yes he waited until Gibbons was slipping but he was supremely prepared for that fight and had studied the St. Paul Style inside and out so that he rendered Gibbons absolutely impotent. His two fights with Dempsey were clinics on how to turn a banger completely inside and out and he simply picked apart Heeney, just poked holes in him and broke him down. Say what you will about Tunney and I have my own criticisms of the guy but he was always in tremendous shape and always came into the ring having thoroughly studied his opponent and with a well thought out gameplan. The guy knew how to prepare for a fight.
My favorite Tunney performance was his first fight with Greb, when Harry G battered the crap out of him. If I could have just 1 fight on film it would be that one.
In my view, Gene Tunney's best performance was beating Jack Dempsey, in fight #1, to win the Lineal Heavyweight Championship of the World. That feat is hard to top in Gene's resume!
