Gene Tunney

[Gary]

My son got a DVD with 45 great fights of the past. I had seen many of these fights before but I had forgotten how good Gene Tunney really was. His record was 67-1 with 49KO's. He lost once to the great Harry Greb and later beat Greb 4 times. He was a great defensive fighter with a quick left jab, he had speed, power and agility. He had a good chin, down only once in his career and that was in the Dempsey fight after being hit 7 times in a row by Jack Dempsey!!
He was 6'1 192, a real natural between 190-200lbs. The DVD showed his fights with Dempsey, Tommy Gibbons, Tom Heeney and Georges Carpentier. Tunney today would rule the cruiserweight class and despite the lack of weight most likely rule the heavyweight class to.
One more thing the DVD had Jack Johnson. Johnson going down against 160lb Ketchell-getting Ko'd by Willard-would never have been able to beat Tunney.
Gene Tunney must be one of the most under rated fighters of all-time!!

 

[Bart]

My son got a DVD with 45 great fights of the past. I had seen many of these fights before but I had forgotten how good Gene Tunney really was. His record was 67-1 with 49KO's.

Thanks for the reminder. He was still mentioned quite a bit when I was a kid, but his name has gone down the memory hole. I did a Yahoo search and found a lot of information about his career and military life. Definitely one of boxing's all-time greats and one of the first of the so-called scientific fighters.

 

[Charles Martel]

My son got a DVD with 45 great fights of the past. I had seen many of these fights before but I had forgotten how good Gene Tunney really was. His record was 67-1 with 49KO's. He lost once to the great Harry Greb and later beat Greb 4 times. He was a great defensive fighter with a quick left jab, he had speed, power and agility. He had a good chin, down only once in his career and that was in the Dempsey fight after being hit 7 times in a row by Jack Dempsey!!
He was 6'1 192, a real natural between 190-200lbs. The DVD showed his fights with Dempsey, Tommy Gibbons, Tom Heeney and Georges Carpentier. Tunney today would rule the cruiserweight class and despite the lack of weight most likely rule the heavyweight class to.
One more thing the DVD had Jack Johnson. Johnson going down against 160lb Ketchell-getting Ko'd by Willard-would never have been able to beat Tunney. Gene Tunney must be one of the most under rated fighters of all-time!!

I agree, he's very underrated.

He was very quick and a master boxer, similar to the current heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

I bumped this thread to remind people of this great fighter, he doesn't receive much attention from the boxing media, but he should not be forgotten.

 

[The Hock]

Tunney was perceived as something of a snob by the Joe Sixpacks. And he had the gall to beat the great Jack Dempsey, and benefit from the long count in the rematch.

I would be interested to know his views on race. He held what we call DWFs in contempt.

All that aside he was a true master boxer.

 

[white lightning]

You can't argue with his record. Truely world class and one of the finest heavyweights ever.

Dempsy was more of a Tommy Morrison or Mike Tyson knockout artist. These types of fighters are very
popular but if a fighter can stand in there with boxing skills they will usually lose. There is something to be
said about both styles or a combo of the two maybe more like a Holyfield type.

I need to watch more of Tunnyes fights but I can see his ring knowledge and movement as well as talent are amazing to see!

 

[white is right]

I agree, he's very underrated.

He was very quick and a master boxer, similar to the current heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

I bumped this thread to remind people of this great fighter, he doesn't receive much attention from the boxing media, but he should not be forgotten.

I think it's because of the body of work of his career is largely at light heavyweight and not in championship fights. His career resume is very similar to Usyk(at this point) as he only had 3 championship fights at heavyweight and retired at his peak.

People might not realize this but Tunney was born in Harlem when the distric had a largely ethnic Irish enclave. He's not from a middle class background at all but read the classics and after he became champion socialized in elite Park Avenue circles and eventually married a Lauder. His son went on to be a congressman in the late 70's.