One fighter who dismantled all the top black heavyweights of the day is Jack Sharkey. Jack Sharkey lost to the same Jack Dempsey that Tunney dominated twice. While Tunney's stance on the race issue does not reflect upon him with any credit, it probably has minimal bearing upon his legacy.
Im curious why you say Dempsey-Tunney 2 is the only fight we have clear footage of Tunney? We have great footage of Tunney against Jamieson, Carpentier, Gibbons, and Heeney. Even the footage from the first Dempsey fight isnt bad but for a couple of rounds that are damaged. He gets better every fight out IMO.
I should say it's by far the clearest that I've seen. I've found nothing that comes close to the quality of Tunney-Dempsey II by Periscope. If you compare it to the restored footage of their first fight by FightFilmsGuy, it's night and day.
And had Dempsey been allowed and.or able to low blow Tunney like he did Sharkey, Dempsey would have won, too. I agree it's bearing isn't overwhelming. And I know there was some attempt to fight Wills. But Godfrey was another one out there. Tunney-Sharkey would have been a great match.
Tunney would have been top ten today in LHW division, but beat Foreman and/or Frazier? Stop, please. Either man would have slapped Tunney around easily. He certainly could have boxed some good rounds but their power would have worn him down. As far as rated or underrated, where is the TS rating him? Top ten all time HW, or LHW? Either way he doesn't break into the all time top ten in either catagory. Holyfield and Qawi would have beat him. So would have RJJ at 175-180. Are people here seriously thinking he would have lasted more than a couple rounds with Lennox Lewis, or Wlad Klit or Ray Mercer? The power difference is out of sight!
I sincerely doubt it, because I think the gap was too big. Also bear in mind that Sharkey would have had some say in how the rules were enforced, and the referre would have been more likley to protect him had he fought a clean fight.
After Tunney retired, Dempsey said that he thought that George Godfrey was the best of the current crop. Godfreys issue was poor management. A contender as dangerous as him could not afford to throw fights for money. He had to make his case like Wills did. I agree, with the benefit of hindsight. When Tunney retired, most people seem to have thought that Johnny Risko would inherit the crown. A young upstart called Schmelling put a stop to that (a bit like when Ward beat Kessler). I remember reading an article by Nat Fleischer, written after the Heeney fight. He said that "none of the other contenders such as Risko or Sharkey would have done much better". That is the situation that Tunney walked away from.
That's because Periscope used an actual film transfer whereas fight films guy says hes using film transfers but theyre actually just multiple generation copies. You can tell by the banding and distortions etc. Really the only film of Tunney I know of that isn't in great quality is the first Dempsey fight and a lot of that is still in very good shape depending on the source film. And they are complete which is always a nice bonus. [url]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/klompton/vlcsnap-2016-12-29-16h21m57s691_zpsljeacdwf.png[/url] [url]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/klompton/vlcsnap-2016-12-29-16h22m41s967_zpsohlx6got.png[/url] [url]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/klompton/vlcsnap-2016-12-29-16h18m18s778_zpsxtoekqd5.png[/url] [url]http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/klompton/vlcsnap-2016-12-29-16h19m41s638_zpsslgppzis.png[/url]
Hard to say it's better than the Periscope footage from screenshots, but definitely looks better than all the non Demps-Tunn II footage I've seen. Awesome!
He was c*nt hair away from taking the title in the second fight. Dempsey had no problem being behind and capitalizing on an opponent's tiniest mistake (Brennan/Sharkey). Add some fouling in there (which might have been easier in the first fight minus a wet canvas) and Dempsey gets his chance.
Incredible that anyone would think Tunney to be "overrated"....he belongs on boxing's heavyweight Mt. Rushmore with just a handful of other immortals.
I should of said at heavyweight. Tunney is an exceptional talent, that i do not deny, just not at heavyweight and certainly not top 10 h2h.
Maybe Tunney could UD Foreman, he was very smart, tough, quick, and hit harder than say Jimmy Young. Tunney I think would beat many famous heavyweights, including Louis and Marciano. You have to see Tunney in other films to appreciate how good he was. Ali who was not kind to old timers really liked Tunney.
