Heavyweight Gene Tunney in the 1970's

Much better.

At the verry least he would equal Jimmy Ellis's run.

I suspect that he would intrude on the big four of that era at some point.

 

He´d get slaughtered

 

A lot of verry fine fighters did.

 

He would be better than Bob Foster for the simple reason that he wouldn't try and punch with them like Foster thought he could, Tunney had the style to be a top heavyweight in any age.

 

Why's that? I think his in and out, defensive style would stand up better to Heavys than Fosters more aggresive style, although I would like to hear your opinion, assuming its not one of your rediculous ones, because you do have some good ones mixed in with those.

 

Tunney had footspeed, experience, and toughness (physical and mental) which Floyd Patterson lacked. Gene wasn't an unpredictable head case like Jerry Quarry. He was extremely intelligent, and he had the physical tools to express that intelligence through his ring performance. Among the opponents faced by either Quarry or Patterson, only Frazier and Ali clearly could have beaten Tunney.

 

He would do at least as good as Bob did but in a different way.

Probably couldn't beat the 70s version of Ali (only Louis could have at this point) but he would have put up a pretty good performance.

 

I could see Tunney beating the 70s version of Ali. He had the style to give him fit's.

 

Well, Ali in the 70s was still very fast and very mobile. Nothing comparable to the stingy butterfly of the 60s, but he gain a lot of experience during his defeat which gave him a lot more confidence (he didn't care anymore about the undefeated special status).
A Tunney vs Ali would have been a very close fight, either could take the edge.

 

Great boxer....tough minded.......one of the smartest fighters ever!!!

 

A lot would depend on what strategy Tunney used.

If he made Ali chase him around the ring and countered then he could cause him a lot of problems.

 

This is a very feasible scenario. Ali would need to optimize his height and reach against Tunney, wereas Gene would need to get off first with an aggressive jab (one good enough to through Ali off his rhythym), and go downstairs, as he did in his later matches with Greb and Loughran. Tunney was smarter than Muhammad (who has plainly stated, "I never said I was the smartest, just the greatest"). But Gene never faced an opponent with Ali's combination of height, reach, speed, and quality jab. This would have been an intriguing chessmatch. Ali might also bloody up Tunney with his hands, as Greb did with his head in their initial ecounter.

Tunney would have analyzed Ali very carefully (as he actually did), and would have found a great deal to try capitalizing on. Carrying out a particular plan in competition might have been a different matter against Muhammad. If Gene could get Ali going for a kayo, he might sneak off a points win.

 

Well i think Frazier and Foreman would've knocked Billy Conn out early. He never would've lasted as long as he did against Louis. Tunney could've taken Louis as i rate him higher than Conn.

 

A better question might be: could he do worse than Foster did against heavyweights?