Why didn’t Gene Tunney fight for a world title until the Jack Dempsey fight?

I believe Tunneys eyes were always upon the heavyweight championship.

 

I believe Carpentier refused to fight the top American contenders while he held the title (although he later came to the US to campaign for a title shot after he lost it). That's why an "American version" of the LHW title was created.

 

He did at the time the ABA title was considered a world title and him and Greb were considered actual champions of a fragmented belt. If was not the NABF. The ABA petered out during the Great Depression.

Ezzard Charles either fought for the "duration" LHW title during WW2 or fought in the semi finals of a tournament for said title. In said fight he got destroyed by Jimmy Bivins in one of the worst losses of his career.

 

Charles lost on points to Bivins and he was conceding,9/10lbs to him.

 

He got knocked down 4 times could have sworn it was 5. 3 times it was a 9 count. Charles did get a knockdown in round 2 though but after that Bivins took over.

Bivins is 3 inches shorter and they were both within the LHW limit. Charles was just fighting really light.

But anyway that is why Charles wasn't included in any subsequent schemes to name a LHW champion.

 

Charles was typically fighting at around low to middle 160's then.

 

History0 has a history of using the Bivins loss to support a narrative that Charles didn't win the LHW title b/c he lost his biggest fight @the weight.

 

Tunney like Charles was never that hungry for the light heavyweight title. That said Tunney was scheduled to fight McTigue for the light heavyweight title, but McTigue pulled out of the fight.

Afterwards Tunney never made any other serious attempts at the light heavyweight title and just focused on the heavyweight title, which turned out to be the right decision.

 

Oh okay I was unaware of that.

 

Because he didn’t deserve it, hell he didn’t even really deserve it when he actually got his shot. 20s equivalent of Corbett

 

I bring it up when people say Ezzard Charles never got a chance to fight for the LHW title. Its not a narrative if Charles had beaten Bivins hes LHW champ instead of Bivins. In his next fight he suffered an even worse loss to Lloyd Marshall who got to fight for the duration title shortly after. Those losses knocked him out of contention in that period and Charles didn't get the Moore and Marshall wins until 1946 and he started transitioning to HW shortly after.

Theres also WW2 and moving to HW but the reason Charles didn't get the limited oppurtunities in that window despite not losing at LHW again were those losses.

 

My Grandfather would have loved your post, and he might have even gone one step further, and said prime Corbett would have beaten prime Tunney.

 

I wouldn’t disagree with your grandfather on that pick, both Tunney and Corbett were very smart but Corbett had a very bizarre and unorthodox style that I found to be intentional. I think there’s a good chance Tunney finds it bewildering, for the same reasons he found Greb bewildering!

 

That is supposition not fact.Lloyd Marshall beat the **** out of Freddie Mills but didn't get a title shot whilst Mills got two.
Neither Bivins or Marshall got title shots after beating Charles. The fact is they were all avoided in preference for easier game.
Ring Ratings

41 Champ Lesnevich
3.Bivins
19 Marshall

42 Champ Lesnevich
1.Bivins
2.Charles
3.Marshall

43.Champ Lesnevich
1.Marshall


44 .Champ Lesnevich

1.Marshall

45.Champ Lesnevich
4 .Marshall

46. Champ Lesnevich
2.Charles

47.Champ Lesnevich
1.Charles
7.Marshall

48.Champ Mills
5 Marshall

As Champion neither Lesnevich or Mills wanted anything to do with Marshall,Charles, or Bivins.

47.Champ Lesnevich