Why did Tunney retire at 31?

He had fallen in love with Polly Lauder, granddaughter of George Lauder, the business partner of Andrew Carnegie. She was one of the richest women in America. Perhaps Tunney had not actually fallen in love with her, but she had fallen in love with him, and so all that money was just sitting there waiting to be grabbed.

This is the easiest retirement decision in the history of boxing to understand.

 

I correspond with one of Genes sons who said "Mom always put dad up on a pedestal"

 

Tunney had outgrown the game. He was in love, he was super aware of the leap in social class he was marrying into , he had a ton of money and wanted to graduate in every way .. the fight game and the class of people were not for him, they were always a means to an end ... he did not want the life with his wife to interconnect in any way with his boxing past ... there is a very interesting book out called "The Boxer and the Playwrite" by Tunney's son that discussed this all in detail. He also states that Tunney never, ever kissed a girl before his marriage to his wife ... he was a pure virgin when he was fighting for the title ... compare that to Dempsey who bounced and lived in brothels and married a hooker ...

 

He, like Dempsey, had seen what the game had done and was doing to some of the older veterans and contemporaries, like Langford and Greb. Dempsey and Tunney were both very worried regarding their eyesight.

Anyways, how many fighters over the last few decades go 70 fights by 31? That's a decent career, especially having to fight Greb and Dempsey multiple times.

 

In regards to the eyesight.. i had heard that Tunney had blind spots in his vision...as a child he wanted to test his will power, and did so by starring at the sun. I wonder if maybe his sight was getting worse?

 

True....... His wife had more $$$ than he had....... Why not retire? :hey

You ever see the mansion of his and her's in Greenwich Village???

Tunney was set and livin' good when the nation was ****ed in '30.......:deal

MR.BILL:roll:atsch:twisted::yephat

 

He was too smart which is another reason he was never embraced as wholeheartedly by fans as some other less distinguished fighting men were/are.

 

Polly Lauder only died in 2008 at almost 101!

 

Tunney was a very smart man and had no real emotional attachment to the sport or the people in it. He really meant it when he retired from the sport.

 

Tunney-Heeney lost money. Gene might have stuck around for a lucrative Dempsey III, but Jack remarkably nixed it in favor of preserving his eyesight, and even more remarkably opted not to attempt an official comeback after the Crash wiped him out. So even before Rickard died, the money was simply no longer there for Tunney to make by competing. Jack Sharkey had the attitude and big mouth necessary to generate ticket sales, and I suspect Tunney-Sharkey would have turned enough of a profit to induce Gene to maybe stick around for one more defense. Unfortunately, Sharkey blew a guaranteed shot at Tunney in the draw with Heeney, and Gene defended against the participant who was not knocked out by Dempsey.

My 1932 Boxing Illustrated Record Book is awash in advertised products endorsed by both Tunney and Dempsey. I imagine both were making excellent money off the sale of their names and reputations. (The popularity of Dempsey is no surprise today, but the fact that Gene also enjoyed enough prominence to attain numerous product endorsements might be startling to many younger fans.)

 

A better question is why more champions didnt do the same.

 

Ali ?

He's the last person i'd say outgrew the boxing game. Last time I checked he was the guy who carried on addicted to the boxing limelight so bad that he was coming to the ring all punch-drunk and brain damaged and not much else in his last couple of fights.
With the same old lines and bragging, but not even the faculties to spout them properly.
We can only wish that he had outgrown the game, but sadly he never did.