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Old 02-28-2010, 09:24 AM
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Clayton
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Location: Las Vegas,Nevada
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Default Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey 1926

I'm reading a good book called "The Lawless Decade" by Paul Sann,c.1957.
There is a lot of good historical information in this book about the '20's.There is a story about the match up's of Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey.
Their first fight,Sept.23'rd,1926,drew 120,557 fans and a record gate of $1,895,733.--this,to me at least seems impressive in itself ( for the timeframe).

But the reason I started this thread is that nobody expected Tunney to beat Dempsey.Dempsey was widely feared.

Tunney wrote-"The laugh of the twenties was my insistence that I would defeat Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight championship of the world.To the boxing public,this optimistic belief was the funniest of jokes.To me,it was a reasonable statement of calculated probability,an opinion based on prize-ring logic".
(goes on to say)-And so it was.Tunney held to the theory,controversial but enduring,that the boxer could beat the slugger.Brain vs. Brawn,Cunning vs.Brute Strength,Craftsman vs.Killer.
In historical terms,Corbett vs. Sullivan (New Orleans,1892,twenty-one rounds).Simple.

So the article goes on to explain how Tunney won the fight.He used strategy-jabs and hooks,and jabbed the champ silly-instead of trying to win with "sledge-hammer blows".

Tunney also beat him in their next match-up Sept.22nd,1927,although from what I'm reading ,there was a lot of controversy about this.
In the 7th round,losing all the way,Dempsey floored Tunney with a long left hook.Tunney landed on his backside in a daze.The timekeeper started the count but Referee Dave Barry held back until Dempsey,standing menacingly over his fallen opponent,went to a neutral corner.There were 4 seconds lost that way-enough for Tunney to keep the title.He got off the canvas at "9".

I still have a lot to learn about boxing history,but I found this article interesting.The whole "strategy vs. brute force" thing.
This article makes me want to research the Corbett vs.Sullivan fight referenced above.Do any of you vintage boxing fans know of any good books about that (Corbett vs. Sullivan) fight?Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks-
Clayton
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