Had Tunney not retired when he did

change my mind on this all the time.

had he carried on to beat sharkey and schmelling it would be great and improve him, but had he carried on and lost he'd get slaughtered by posters.

i mean how many have corbett in their top 20? i'd argue his achievemtnes before losing are on par with tunney's hw achievements before retiring.

always mulling it over.

 

The more I think about it the more I come to the idea that Primo Carnera would have been the fighter to dethrone Tunney.

Yes I am serious.

My speculation is that Schmeling would probably still have been a git green when he got into the ring with Tunney. Sharkey would have found a way to loose. Stribling would not have done a lot better than Heeney.

Carnera would have come along at the exact time that age was catching up with Tunney and he would have had the style and physical atributes to exploit the fact. If I am right then Tunneys reputation would have taken a significant dent.

 

Good post .. he was also lived an extremely clean live and stayed well conditioned .. he might have lasted five years more at that ...

 

He became a raging drunk after he retired. Im not sure when that started but it may well have hurt his reign later on.

 

Tunney should have fought on. I pretty much agree with this.

 

There wasn't much point in him fighting on.
Unless Dempsey could be tempted into a third fight.
There was no one around who would draw a big gate. On that point alone, Tunney did right to retire.

 

If he became as shot as Loughran was when they fought for the title it is possible but he'd have to be close to Ali v.s. Spinks type of shot for it to be possible ...

 

Tunney was a very complex guy, a man of extremes ... when he fought Dempsey he had never had a drink or a woman in his entire life. Quite a contrast to Dempsey who grew up working in ***** houses through out the west ... the recent book about him and Shaw gives some fascinating insight into what made him tick ... what demons pushed him to take on drink later on have been kept very closed by the family but it is a hell of a fall from the man who lived like a saint during his fighting days ...

 

If true, it's absolutely no wonder he gave up boxing to get married.

 

Gene Tunney,,talk about dedicated and focused.

 

It was also the whole Irish Catholic thing ... he came from a pretty serious background ..

 

I dont really buy that Tunney never had a drink of alcohol or a woman before he fought Dempsey. He was from an Irish Catholic family where alcohol was fairly prevalent and prior to 1919 he hadnt even decided on a career in professional sports, so the idea that he was living a monastic life prior to that begs the question "why?". Also, as early as 1927 he was involved in a relationship with a woman who eventually sued him for breach of promise. A breach of promise suit was generally brought about by a woman who had given up her virginity while "engaged". As early as 1926 he was being tied to woman while acting in the serial "The Fighting Marine." This idea of him being this squeeky clean white night is more mythologizing, the lions share of which he created around himself. Gene Tunney, in my mind, remains the most image concious and image savvy figter/champion in history.

 

He did have a drink of alcohol when Greb was laying a beating on him.

 

There is no way to prove it one way or another but the book by his son makes the case very strongly ...

 

Is that strictly true?

Wouldn't a Sharkey fight have drawn a significant gate perhaps?