Mark My Words, Gene Tunney would outbox and embarrass Muhammad Ali

I have thought of this opinion for YEARS . SINCE 1982, WHEN ALI GOT BEAT TWCE BY BERBICK AND HOLMES .

Ali couldn't handle technical boxers ,
view the following fights:
Norton Trilogy,
First Spinks Fight
Holmes
Doug Jones
Henry Cooper
Sonny Banks

Ali was not fundamentally sound, it is fact . he could not handle a boxer with a jab, accurate l. (left hook) , or an intelligent right cross .
the movement of tunney wud negate anything Ali would Try .
It is fact .

I Question. how Ali could take , the intelligent boxing ability of Tunney with his combinations .
I doubt Ali could last against Tunney in the 15 rounds .
He would lose one decision , or 1 technical knockout,
imo.

 

:roll:

 

wow............. I mean everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion... :smoke

 

You mentioned Holmes.

We're talking about the Ali who faced Holmes, right?

 

He'd give Ali one of his toughest fights ever, the same is true IMO for prime HW versions of Walcott, Charles, Schmeling and maybe even a Jack Sharkey. I'd favor him over all but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them beat dude.

 

Ken was more technically sound than pretty much any other heavy in the era, committed body attack, kept a right hand in place to parry jabs and counter which worked very well against Ali and Holmes(even when Norton was aging), he was a technically pretty sound product of Futch's. He wasn't a master boxer but he was smart and took advantage of a lot of Ali's holes.

Even if we don't think of Norton as a true technician then it should be pretty telling about how he'd match up against some of the best in that regard the heavies offered

 

Comedy.

Ali would see Tunney's leaping meathooks from a mile away and pick them off with short, quick combos until he TKOed him.

 

Tunney's a pretty concise and accurate puncher, i'd say that's pretty unfair..

 

Tunney studied Dempsey for years and then went out and beat him twice.

Tunney would be very well prepared when he fought Ali.

Ali respected Tunney per 1960's interviews.

Futch's strategy neutralized Ali's jab by having Norton jab at the same time.

But Ali was 25 lbs heavier than Tunney, longer reach, and taller.

Ali by close UD.

 

Yeah. Maybe Iceveins has seen a lot of Tunney's fights with Dempsey and not much of his other filmed bouts? Carpentier was past prime but that beating is a quality effort from Tunney. The way Tunney countered up close and let his hands fly only when he knew he had the leverage was really clever imo, always been impressed with how he wouldn't telegraph the right hand too. Tunney was a tremendously rugged fighter, the excessive lateral movement he employed in his two highest profile fights against Dempsey are not fully reflective of his fighting style from what I have read and the little other footage of him definitely goes some way to testify to that too.

Anyway, I disagree with the thread starter very very much so.

 

Word man. Tunney has a really great right hand. He can throw it very effectively as a short punch, a counter, a looped overhand, part of a 1-2. Very underrated there IMO, and whenever I see it land it hits a vital point, the tip of the jaw, the temple, above the ear... I also dislike the Dempsey fights as well, Tunney's on his bike way too much for my taste.

Gibbons and Carpentier are his filmed best by far. his body and clinch work in the gibbons fight is incredible. GreatA has a slowed down version of the fight and i recommend it for people that think tunney is unskilled..

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs45EQEHmDs[/ame]

 

Ali didn't need to be a technician because he was a gifted athlete who formed a style around those gifts -height, speed, timing, reflexes, legs and later, physical strength. Ali was a stylist, and stylists are often foils for technicians.

Ask Arguello about Pryor,

or Hopkins about Jones,

or Tommy Gibbons about Greb.

Ask Curtis Cokes about another half-blind fighter in Gypsy Joe Harris. Someone at Sports Illustrated did back in '67....

This content is protected

 

yeah good post, and precisely what I was getting at. The way he puts the pressure on Carpentier slowly but surely closing the distance with a systematic beat down consisting of 1-2 after 1-2 is just Tunney to a tee, hard as **** but still not losing it so as to be 'wild' in there.

 

The thing I do like a lot about Gene is I see him having a pretty good deal of versatility for a HW/LHW fighter. He could hit and run very well. He could outbox and pressure from the outside. He's a good sharpshooter to the head and body. He's good in the clinches. He appears to take a punch pretty well. Hits fast and moves pretty fast. Has a good jab, left hook, and right cross..... Tunney's HW legacy isn't the best but he looks like a complete fighter as far as I can see.

 

I agree