Prime for prime Jack Dempsey v Gene Tunney

I have a "bad" habit. I read the opinions of boxing experts who SAW the fighters in question,when they WERE FIGHTING. This to me gives me a most VALID opinion of the merits of fighters,we compare today, many, many, years later. I have seen on ESB ,picking A against B, when in fact ,fighter A had no chance against fighter B,in reality,when we saw them 50 years before. And so with Jack Dempsey in his prime {before a 3 year layoff,
while Tunney,bided his time],against Gene Tunney. Virtually all the great boxing scribes
who saw the Dempsey of Toledo of his prime,[until Jack went Hollywood,]fight, picked
Dempsey to overwhelm Tunney,with his cat-like movements,that terrorized his division
until his 3 year layoff. Dempsey in 1927 was the real Dempsey in name only. He lost
his Duran-like movements,not fighting for over 3 years, losing his mgr.Jack Kearns,
grieving for the suicide death of his brother Bernie,just prior to the Tunney fight, and not to have any warm-up bouts before the 1927 bout with Tunney.All these valid reasons
contributed to the first Dempsey loss in 1926. Of course in the 1927 "long count" fight
where Tunney was down for 15-17 seconds,before rising, it was a kayo in my eyes or
referee hanky-panky, Chicago style.! Why?, In the tenth round Tunney dropped Dempsey with a short right hand, and the referee started an immediate count,whilst Tunney stood right NEXT to Dempsey,and never STARTED the count until Tunney was in a neutral corner.
Why ESB, the double standard ? Why did Dempsey have to be told to go to a neutral corner
BEFORE the referee started the COUNT,many seconds later, giving the dazed Tunney maybe
17 seconds to clear his head, while Tunney did not have to go to a neutral corner,before
starting the count in the 10th round ? I think considering everything Dempsey deserved a kayo in 1927, and i am positive, the Manassa Mauler,twice as fast in his prime,would be much too much for Tunney,prime to prime ...

 

I have always written that Dempsey in many ways proved more to me by his Tunney and Sharkey fights than in any other ... a prime Tunney was an exceptional fighter and a Dempsey on old legs almost took him out ... there is no doubt the Dempsey of 26 and 27 was a shell of 1919 ... his legs were simply gone .. once know for his own blazing foot speed the Dempsey that fought Tunney was simply not the same fighter .. if possible, try watching the films of their fights in slow motion ... if you do you will see how many times this old, slow Dempsey came within fractions of inches from taking Tunney's head off ... I cannot help but believe that while Tunney, a master boxer, would always be extremely tought, Dempsey would emerge victorious ..

 

Burt, among the many Dempsey autobiographies is one he wrote in 1940 called Round by Round ... if you have not read it , see if there is any way for you to get your hand on it .. it is an amazing book, offering deep info on Dempsey I have never seen anywhere else .. an amazing read ...

 

I think a prime Dempsey would tend to fall behind on points to a prime Tunney but Gene would always have to worry about being knocked out at any time.

 

he, i have read many biographies of Jack Dempsey,since i was a pup,but I am not sure if "Round by Round ",was one of them. I will make an effort to locate
this book you recommend to me. Thanks he.:good

 

Jack KO

 

I've read that story too - Greb wasn't saying he thought Dempsey had "no chance" against Tunney, ever, he was saying that Dempsey just couldn't be whipped back into the shape he'd need to be in to win the fight in the time left before the bout.

It's understandable. Dempsey had lost some of his mobility forever when he was shoved through the ropes during the Firpo fight and damaged his hip; with a long lay-off and a lot of time spent fooling around (plastic surgery etc) on top of that he just wasn't up to championship fighting, especially not with a boxer as clever as Tunney.

Note, however, that Dempsey probably would have done a better job of cutting down the ring and flurrying with Tunney in that first fight if it hadn't taken place in the pouring rain - something a lot of people don't realise when they look at the film. The weather threw what was still left of Dempsey's footwork totally out of the window.

 

I see it going the distance with Dempsey winning a decision. Tunney gets smashed up as he did against Greb but hangs in there.