Probably been done before,but what the hell ? A prime Tunney scored two pretty easy victories over a past it Dempsey,in 1926,and '27. Supposing that version of Gene had faced the 1919 Toledo Manassa Mauler ? Would Tunney have still won,albeit by a far closer margin ? After all,his style was made to give fighters like Dempsey trouble. On the other hand,if a past it Dempsey could put Tunney on the canvas,maybe a prime version would knock Gene out ?????????
dempsey was past his pime and still he was stolen in the rematch, gene was down for the count. prime dempsey by ko
Tunney absolutely schooled Dempsey, boxed his ears off, Dempsey had nightmares with anything resembling a slick boxer in his prime, see Miske/Meehan/, and they weren't in Tunney's class. Tunney schools him again, Dempsey makes far too many mistakes. GReb said of turning down the chance of being a sparring partner for Dempsey in his build up for the Tunney fight 'it would be stealing his money because he stands no chance against GEne' Tunney schools him anytime, any version
No Tunney wasn't down for the count, and you misunderstand the rules of boxing. The rule is 'the refs count of 10' not 10seconds exactly. Tunney was in complete control and would have easily got up if the ref counted faster
I hear he was supposedly 1 of the most skilled of the era and he has the 2wins (is it 2?) over Dempsey. Its hard to say with no film ofcourse
Tunney by decision anytime...in my opinion...... By the way Tunney was past his prime too (1926/27)...
I would pick Tunney to beat Dempsey at any time of their respective careers. Tunney was a forerunner of the modern boxer...a very savvy, smart, sophisticated boxer with intelligence and discipline complementing his already excellent offensive and defensive capabilities. I also believe that Tunney woulod have beaten any of the champions that came after his retirement right up to Louis...and I think Tunney would have had an excellent shot at the Brown Bomber as well..achieving all that Conn did vs Louis with the extra advantage over Conn being his more conservative, cautious nature...he would have fought more cerebrally than Conn and not tried for a ko. Tunney may have been Irish, but he never felt it necessary to be foolish. of course I'm not saying that Tunney was 100% able to beat Louis...Joe had magic in those fists. I know that all of this is for another topic for another day however.
Remember that since the Dempsey fights were both scheduled for 10 rounds, both times Tunney was denied a stoppage victory. If Tunney had stopped Dempsey on one or both occasions...if both fights were for 15 rounds instead of 10, Tunney's legacy would have been enhanced, as I believe that he would have had tko or ko's both times vs Dempsey.
Dempsey's peak speed makes a prime for prime match a different proposition. Jack proved in Chicago that he had the power to knock Gene silly with a single shot, specifically with the mid ring head canting jab slip to the inside and counter right over Tunney's extended left from the outside to Gene's temple which started the Long Count knockdown sequence. While I don't believe the Dempsey of Toledo would have ever been able to floor the Tunney of the Heeney bout (what I consider Gene's peak was in his final performance, as he himself indicated) for a full count, I just see Jack repeatedly nailing him with hard shots and able to successfully follow up until the referee would have no choice but to stop it. At Soldier Field, Dempsey needed just two good shots to floor Tunney for the only time in Gene's career. Jack was easily the hardest puncher Tunney ever faced. In Toldeo, Dempsey was lifting the huge Willard off his feet with body shots. He put the rock hard and bigger Brennan down for a full ten with blasts to KO Bill's torso. He had no difficulty going the championship distance with Tommy Gibbons in 1923. Jack wouldn't quit. As he did in the Brennan rematch, he'd come from behind, catch Gene at some point, and Tunney would not be able to get away fast enough to recover.
Tunney was not past his prime by 1926/27, he was in his prime, by his own admission he was fighting the best all his life I posted a report on the Meehan fight where it said that Dempsey was robbed in their last fight and besides those fights were four rounders. I do not believe that Tunney would "school" dempsey in his prime. Yes Tunney could possibly win but some of you are selling Dempsey way too short. The biggest disadvantage Dempsey had in those fights was his lack of footspeed. A prime Dempsey was arguably just as fast as Tunney was and would be able to land far more frequently. To suggest that Tunney would win as easily as he did in 1926 is comical. A younger faster dempsey would land more shots, and so the fight would be more competitive regardless of who would have won
