How great would Tunney be if he hadn't that one loss ?

I don't see him as a fighter with one loss to be honest.

The second Greb fight seems to have been a Schmeling Sharkey II style robbery, and there are a couple of ND fights which he very arguably had the worst of.

It should also be noted that the one unquestioned loss, was a pretty darn comprehensive one.

 

For a top boxer, never having tasted defeat is of course a bit special... but even if you change the Greb loss to a win, I don't think his overall record would look much better (if at all!) without the ND matches.

 

Tunney won the series over Greb. And even offered him another match, Greb refused!

The " official " loss for Tunney came when he was a bit pre-prime, but he had to fight under harsh conditions with a cut eye and busted nose which happened in round one. I'm not sure exactly how the damage occurred, but there is such a thing as rising your stock in a loss. Tunney sucked it up and went the distance. The crowd gave him an ovation.

Tunney is a marine. Very tough.

 

I don't really penalize guys for losing to Harry Greb so the loss doesn't really affect his standing, at least in my mind. That said, there is something a little magical about an unbeaten record.

However the biggest thing Tunney could have done to boost his standing would have been to hang around and notch a few title defenses. That said, there weren't a ton of enticing options, hence the retirement move. I've got to think though, if Tunney had hung around and tossed Sharkey and a few other guys like dominos, he would be more prominently featured in discussions of the greats of that era. His biggest legacy though is probably his role as a sort of James Corbett 2.0, a highly intelligence fighter whose attention to the science of boxing and obsession preparation influenced future generations.

 

He would have die hard type of fans that Marciano has, that think he could never be defeated.