Gene "The Fighting Marine" Tunney

One of the most underrated fighters OF ALL TIME
People talk about Marciano all the time, Tunney would have given him a boxing lesson and possibly knock him out.

Won 19 of 20 rounds with Jack Dempsey

First man to retire as Heavyweight Champion, one of the most if not the most technical fighters ever, great footwork. Also just a great guy, type of athlete sports wish they had today.

He gave a speech at Yale on Shakespeare, fought in WW1 and was head of the physical department in WW2.

First Million Dollar athlete , attained this in the Dempsey rematch, was given 991,000 dollars and told Tex Rickard he knew he deserved a million (3.5 million dollar gate in the 1920's!!!)
Rickard wrote him a personal check for the 9,000 dollars and Tunney was first Million Dollar athlete, back then that is like a buying power of 25 million. Dempsey got half a million.

Never gets mentioned when the greats get brought up and its a shame, only fighter I say beats Joe Louis with any confidence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-9gW3lJmVM

Told Dempsey in the ring the first fight, "How ya doing Jack?" then said "May the better man win," they said Dempsey took it weird. But they were cordial towards each otehr and later became friends. Dempsey walked up to Tunney before the rematch and said, "How are you Gene," and Gene said, "fine Jack ."

Think about this Dempsey and Tunney fought during a light rain


Just think about that

He also became good friends with Carpienter even though they fought like 6 times

He was a paul bearer when Carpienter tragically died to young.

Tunney is also one of the most underrated Light Heavyweights ever IMO

and know for the irony

Tunney was the Armed Expeditionary Forces Light Heavyweight (Allies WW1 Champ) Champion, he is on a train with none other then the Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey

Tunney is returning home has a brocken knuckle again and is seriously considering retiring. He talks to Dempsey on the train for a while, Dempsey even gives him some advice, wearing black tape between his knuckles to absorb the shock better.

Tunney does this and ends up beating Dempsey nearly 10 years later in a 10 round shut out to become Heavyweight Champion of the World. Tunney did it with black tape between his knuckles.

66-1
48 KOs, huge misconception about his knockout ability.


Also Harry Greb only man to beat him, he beat Harry Greb 3 times after this fight.

bumo

tunney was an all time great indeed but sorry nooo way he beats marciano let alone ko him..rocky was not the dempsey gene fought.in fact rocky did so many things better than jack did at any stage of his career..yes greb beat gene nooo shame in that and gene said he won a fight that harry realy won..getting back to the topic.if gene could not ko jack whos chin was not a great one then he would not come close to doing it with rocky..rocky did fight guys as skilled as gene also..in rocky gene would find a harry greb with awsome punching power...i counted in 90 seconds in the moore fight and in 90 seconds in the charles fight rocky throwing almost 100 punches both times
..yes in a half round and noo jabs lol..both were all time greats..today with todays weight in rules gene would be a light cruzier and rocky a light heavyweight..how frightning is that..
things rocky had over jack..far greater chin..perfected the bob n weave and slipping punches while throwing and cutting the ring of..jack dispite whats claimed was not in rockys league there..rocky hit harder and with both hands.much harder.this dempsey told me himself..rocky was a great counter puncher but hardly anyone realizes that.you miss a punch you paid and accurately also..jack didnt knbow what a counter punch was..stanima..nuff said there..this is not a ten round fight with a so so conditioned dempsey..its 15 rounds against mr stanima....there is agreement indeed that tunney is a all time great top 15 of the list of ATG..most folks today dont even know who he is let alone how great he was.

i've heard of all these earlier boxers due to movies like raging bull, marciano, cinderella man etc... but i get my history from guys like you dmar

why thank you so much.

not a problem..... i started my history of boxing w/ the guys my dad grew up watching frazier, ali, foreman, etc... up to the guys he watched when he was my age hagler, hearns, leonard, pryor, arguello etc... and the guys i grew up watchin and actually got to see are guys like jones, tarver, hop, and so on...

wonderfull..thats how i got my start.my father saw live several all time greats fight and in person several times.harry greb mickey walker gene tunney dempsey willie pep marciano bushy graham canzanerri kid chocalote robinson..i can go on and on..the first fight he let me stay up for was marciano vs rex layne and rocky was the underdog..i was hooked ever since..i then proceeded to see as many fights as i can on tv the wend and friday night fights and as many as i could see in person...the first fighter i talked with live i was 13.the great tony canzanerri..over the years marciano 4 times basilio 30 times or more barney ross foreman robinson willie pep giardello jake lamotta rocky graziano patterson frazier walcott tons more and many talks with top sportwriters of boxing..all one on one and for a good while plus top trainers etc..my older son like both of us learned from his dad..me..my younger one too...
fighters especialy the old timers are by far the best out of the sports figures to talk with..great guys.

wow..... all i can say is you should be an unoffical boxing historian i feel very enlightened

funny thing is when I was a kid I went to Guy Mezger's Lions Den gym (MMA, home of Ken Shamrock) and I took boxing from the gym, Charlie Brown a Bronze medalist from the 1964 USA Olympic Squad really got me hooked , he would bring all the old fight tapes of Ali, Robinson, Durrell vs Moore etc, etc, and I got hooked

Its just funny to look back and think I was getting hooked on boxing by a guy teaching at one of the best MMA gyms around at the time. Also funny because there is such a big MMA vs Boxing thing but at that gym, Guy (a great MMA fighter and kick boxer) was a huge boxing fan and so where all the other fighters.

i think its a big misconception that you have to like boxing or mma, i love both

when my grandpa realized i started boxing then he started dropping alot of knowledge on me and what not. But really the funny thing is, if it isnt for an MMA gym I probably never get into boxing the way I am into it

i agree theres no reason valid that some people cant be a fan of both..several are..

ya, me and Ali are pretty dam big boxing and MMA fans I would say, it was just interesting cause its fans that have to pick one

the fighters seem to enjoy both and not have a problem with it, most MMA fighters have had boxing or kickboxing experience

tunney is very underrated. only losing once during that time period is a great feat. i dont know anybody else who had a great record like at the time. and only losing to an ATG like greb once and beating him several times is very impressive. he has a great resume. i personally think that he could beat marciano too. i wouldnt be surprised if marciano won but i would put my money on gene.

ya i honestly just think Gene's 1-2 would be enough to cut up Rocky