Tunney - Wills who ducked who?

He refused the fight with Tunney. That much is a certified fact.

Is it a duck, yeah of course it is. I highly doubt he's scared if defeat, but he clearly felt he was better than the offer. History shows they would never fight.

 

In order to put Wills refusal into context, you have to look at the number of title eliminators he fought.

His fight with Fred Fulton was meant to determine who would fight Jack Dempsey next, and he won very convincingly.

After he dropped the ball against Tate, he was offered another title eliminator against Norfolk, which he again won very convincingly.

After that he is told that he has to fight another eliminator against Luis Firpo, and he agrees.

Having won two title eliminators since the Tate debacle, he is then told that he has to fight a third against Tommy Gibbons.

He refuses, insisting that he has done enough, and he should not have to fight further title eliminators.

At this point he realises that the powers that be are trying to screw him, and pursues his claim to a title shot through the commissions.

Asking him to fight another eliminator against Tunney is beyond unrealistic at this point.

 

I agree, he had earned his shot.By the time of the offered Tunney fight he was past prime, I think both Tunney and Godfrey would have taken his measure.

 

I'm not saying there isn't a reason behind it, there almost always is.

But the fight was there and he did turn it down. It's a duck.

 

I don't think that you can accuse a fighter of ducking, if he turns down any fight, however illogical/unreasonable/unwarranted/unnecessary.

If I ask Gennady Golovkin for a fight and he refuses, is he ducking me?

 

Well, you're not a champion or top ranked, and GGG already has belts

Wils could not make more money elsewhere, nor would he have a better chance to up his chances to meeting Dempsey.

Pretty much a duck. Not as bad as Canelo vs GGG, but Canelo had options. Wills did not.

 

If Bowe turns down the Lewis fight, is that ducking?

Let's have it right, these are professional fighters, how many fights are refused by the fighter them self because they're scared?

Most ducks are financial, promotional, networ or risk/reward. They always have reasons behind them. Doesn't stop it being a duck does it?

 

My definition of a duck (which you might disagree with), involves some logical reason for the fight being necessary, or at the very least justified!

 

The number 2 vs the number 3 is a justified fight.

 

I understand that, but here you have a situation where the commissions seem to be saying to the number 2, keep fighting the number 3 as many times as it takes for you to lose!

Even if that had not been the case, there would have been no need for Wills to take the fight.

He had won two title eliminators in a row.

Let’s say that before Wlad fought Pulev, another contender had challenged Pulev to another eliminator?

Wouldn't he have said "no, I just want the Wlad fight please".

 

You have to consider the context. Choosing to sign for another "elimination" bout (neither Dempsey nor his manager promised to do anything as the result of such a fight, as far as I remember) when you think you are just a few days away from forcing the champion to defend against you, is stupid. Had Tunney challenged Wills AFTER it became clear Dempsey wasn't going to give him a chance, regardless that he'd be prohibited to box in certain states, then we could debate whether it'd be a duck or not.

 

But he didn't get the Dempsey fight. Dempsey instead fought Tunney.

Had Wills beaten Tunney maybe he'd have got the fight instead.

 

There was no title fight on the line if he won.

The commissions hoped that Tunney would eliminate Wills, and if Wills had won, they would have gone back to their previous position of blocking him.

They had done this three times previously!

Rather than play their game, Wills stood on his ranking, and hoped that media pressure would win out!

 

It was too much risk for too little reward. It's a duck.

I get it was a racially hostile era. But ultimately,regardless of previous events. They told him to fight Tunney, Tunney agreed and Wills didn't.

 

Who told Wills to fight Tunney? It was a challenge from Tunney's manager to Wills, the commission had nothing to do with that challenge.