[Exhibitman]

Yeah, I agree. Tunney was probably the best lt. heavyweight-heavyweight of the 1920s. Greb mauled him early on, but he came back and beat Greb repeatedly, and never lost again, including twice against JD. He just wasn't a beloved character; I think because he more or less left the sport and the public eye early while still champ when he married Polly Lauder and went to CT to breed senators. Dempsey arguably had the lesser record. His title defenses after Willard were pretty much gimmes: a smaller guy with a fatal kidney disease (Miske), two small guys (Carpentier, Gibbons), a guy he'd already beat handily (Brennan), and a guy with a puncher's chance (Firpo). But he beat Firpo, then went out on his shield, twice, and became the every-man hero in the process, then kept himself relentlessly in the public eye in NY with his restaurant.