Tunney vs Louis

Some people might (quite reasonably) argue that he has already faced the greatest puncher of all time, and, despite getting nailed cleanly, was not even close to being knocked out.

 

Too pick tunney to beat louis 2 out of 3 is laughable

 

"What heavyweight did Tunney ever beat with prime Louis size, speed, power, skill?"

In fairness, there was no one he could fight like that. He did defeat Dempsey twice, and Jack certainly had ko power and fast hands and feet, even at 32.

If your point is that Louis ko'd men closer in style and skill to Tunney than Tunney beat a man like Louis, you might be right.

I think an important point is that Louis had a great overhand right which he would cross over the jab with lightning speed. Dempsey's best punch was his left hook. His right was not in Louis' class and yet he did catch Tunney with it. I think Louis catches Tunney sooner or later. Also, Louis might be able to jab with Tunney, something Dempsey did not even try.

 

that is my point, many are picking an unproven fighter vs that size and style vs a man who knocked out fighters similiar to tunney in both size skill and style

 

I think Louis would look faster sharper more polished than a far past his prime much slower dempsey in there. dempsey looked slow as hell. Joe Louis would stalk tunney, and at his best in the late thirties he was quite quick and nimble on his feet as tracking down opposition into his range.

He can deliver better. Joe Louis is a greater all around puncher than jack dempsey ever was in his prime, harder hitter too. So a peak louis is certainly more capable a puncher than a far past his prime jack dempsey

Louis was in a much higher league in finishing ability than a far past his prime jack dempsey. The combo louis finished walcott with.......tunney would have been down for 30 seconds.

You try to fight the greatest puncher of all time with your chin out and hands low, your doomed.

 

Joe Louis knocks out Marciano

 

There are some flawed arguments knocking about here.

Concerning Dempsey, yes he was slower, rusty and lacked the timing to really 'catch' Tunney, but the attack he pulled out of the bag to floor Tunney was a one-of-a-kind attack in a round that Dempsey described as "do-or-die".

The manner in which some fans view this as 'Tunney was knocked down by the hardest puncher he faced' is unfair. The punches Tunney took would have been good enough to put anyones lights out, but he was still composed, extra time or not.

It was mightily impressive the way he handled an unknown experience in the biggest fight of his life - compare that to Foreman, absolutely clueless on the canvas, against Ali. Tunney could map a situation out perfectly within a split second.

Secondly, Tunney's style was multi layered. He specifically ran against Dempsey because his legs were shot, and he knew Jack needed his legs to track you down. He would not fight like that against Louis. Louis would be studied-up on and dealt with differently. No parallels should be drawn to the way he fought Dempsey as he would to Louis.

Ted Spoon is under no illusions - a primed version of Joe Louis presents much more danger than a markedly faded version of Dempsey to Gene, but so much of Tunney's game cannot be understated when underlining the problems it could cause Louis.

 

OK.

As Mr Louis's representative I want no part of a fight with Gene Tunney. I am much more interested in a big money fight with George Foreman who Tunney has been avoiding.

In fact I dont think the fight will be competative so I will hand Tunney one of Louis's belts and instead take the fight with Mike Weaver that the fans want to see.

Seriously though.

Tunney would be a good candidate to get past Louis but if he did it would only happen once.

When Louis didnt quite know what you were going to do you had a chance but once he knew your game you were prety much screwed, hence his sucess in rematches.

Louis might catch up to Tunney in the first fight and finish what a faded Jack Dempsey started, If Tunney got past him he would get terrible terrible revenge in the rematch.

Man most likley to win a rematch with Louis?

Probably sombody who lost the first match (preferably in the first round) then came up with a better gameplan.

 

I'm with suzie q on this one. You really can't fight Joe Louis with your hands at your waist. I just don't see how Tunney doesn't get knocked out most likely by a counter right over his jab leading into a brutal finish.

 

Interesting there Mr Janitor. Will you avoid Mr Tunney for so long that you will not face Mr Tunney until you are well past your prime. I wonder how much credit Tunney will get for beating the old rusty version of Louis in one of his first fights as a heavyweight? Will be interesting in the rematch when Mr Louis knocks out Jersey Joe Walcott. But again is completely outboxed by Mr Tunney, despite catching him in one of the later rounds and knocking him down! I wonder how Mr Tunney would rank under these circumstances?