As Tunney imagined it," both guys,"advanced cautiously toward one another.Each knew his opponent hit hard.Great caution here! Dempsey forces the action,and suddenly Louis crashes a right into the side of Dempsey's face, Dempsey goes down to one knee and takes a nine count,clearing his head. Dempsey arises and Louis misses a left hook,and Dempsey pulls him into a clinch .As they break Dempsey lands a vicious left hook on Louis's temple.The blow has an amazing effect.It seems as though the colour of Louis's skin changes,the pigment taking on a lighter hue. They clinch again, with Louis holding,Dempsey reaches his right hand around Louis's shoulder and rains deadening rabbit punches on the back of his neck. They then swap hard punches,and Louis is dropped with a hard left hook.Louis is up at three but woozy.Dempsey pins Louis's right arm down with his own left and pulls him forward raining series of vicious blows on the back of Louis's neck. Louis stumbles and the referee is between them ,pushing Jack back. As soon as he is clear Dempsey leaps in with an overhand right that lands behind Louis's left ear.Louis falls face down where he is counted out at two and a half minutes of the first round. Thoughts?
It's interesting. I'll totally admit that Jack Dempsey is a wild card for anyone, his power and speed, but mostly killer instinct to take someone out if he hurts them is very evident. Dempsey has that quality to push experienced fighters into kind of a rushed street fight, where fighting becomes more instinctual, rather than calculated...if that makes sense? But in my opinion, Tunney is selling Joe Louis woefully short here...Louis is very fast, accurate, and totally devastating.
It would have been a shootout for sure. Louis was kind of mechanical while Dempsey seemed to be more instinctive, first rd, 2nd rd Dempsey but later rds Louis might've caught on.
I have nothing against Tunney, but I consider him to be one of the less trustworthy heavyweight champions. Some said what they thought later in life, and some rewrote history to their advantage. Tunney was the latter kind.
I fully believe Dempseys initial rush out of the gate would steamroll Louis. Joe right out of the gate was vulnerable and no one started quicker or was as deadly as Dempsey.
