GENE TUNNEY ... "THE FIGHTING
MARINE"
By Tracy Callis
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Gene Tunney was the type of man that comes along once in a hundred years – the looks of a movie star, the intellect of a college professor, a student of Shakespeare, and Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. He was the epitome of self-will, discipline, dedication and commitment to purpose. He evaluated his abilities, mapped out a plan, followed it to the letter, achieved his objectives, retired, and pursued other goals which he also accomplished. |
Blessed with a beautiful, quick left jab and a knack for
counter-fighting, Tunney was one of the great defensive fighters of all time.
Gene fought at a fast, steady pace throughout an entire bout and did not seem to
tire as the fight progressed.
He was a superb tactician who boxed his man dizzy until the time was
right to move in with the heavy blows. His hands did not allow a sustained
attack based upon heavy hitting but when the time came that increased power was
needed, it was there.
Grantland Rice (1954 p 155) described Tunney as a “man who dedicated
himself to a task as no other athlete.” From 1919 to 1926, Gene conducted the
“Dempsey Analysis” whereby he studied every move of the great champion. He knew
the strengths and weaknesses of Dempsey, inside out, upside down, and backwards.
When he confronted Jack in the ring, he read his moves perfectly except
for once – in the seventh round of their second fight. Some experts say he won
19 of the 20 rounds he fought with Dempsey.
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Gene lost one fight during his professional career and beat that
man (Harry Greb) four times afterwards. He was knocked down only once in
his career (by Dempsey). Durant and Rice (1946) wrote “The ex-Marine was a cool, intelligent
boxer with a taste for literature. He was not a crowd pleaser but he
always won.” Litsky (1974 p 325) wrote “He was a brilliant scientific
boxer with agility, speed, quickness, and power.” |
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Durant (1976 p 75) commented “Like Corbett, Tunney was an intense student
of ring craftsmanship. He planned each battle to combat his opponent’s style
with the thoroughness of a general mapping out a campaign.”
He described Tunney as follows (1976 p 77), “Gene was a determined, cool,
counter-puncher, a boxer. He was fast and dead game, and a punishing hitter, but
he was no knockout artist. He scored his shares of K.O.’s, however, but mostly
by wearing down his opponents rather than blasting them out of the ring Dempsey
fashion. He was methodical, reserved, and cautious in the ring and out of it. He
did not like the fight crowd, nor they him – especially when it became known
that he could and did read good books.”
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Durant and Bettmann (1952 p 173) wrote “A cool, intelligent boxer
with unlimited determination, Tunney was not an exciting performer, but he
always won.” They added “In many ways he was like Corbett … essentially a
ring scientist.” Odd (1974 pp 29-30) said Tunney had brains in addition to a fine
physique. He added that Gene studied every move in boxing, from the feet
upwards, and placed the avoidance of a punch above the delivery of
one. |
Harry Grayson, writer, once said Tunney “could be mean and cunning in the
ring. He liked to break your nose and cut you up. He never cared how much he cut
you, he would always take his time. He showed you the difference between great
and near-great fighters” (see McCallum 1975 p 30).
Lardner (1972 p 251) wrote “Tunney was a synthetic fighter. He studied,
analyzed, rehearsed, pondered. He saw his opponent as a case history, a
specimen, an anatomical object. He analyzed his foe’s strengths and weaknesses
and constantly analyzed his own – noting improvements – to determine how best to
attack and defend. There has never been a fighter who strove as assiduously to
correct flaws, physical, mental, or spiritual.”
He went on to say that Tunney had weak hands but made the best of the
situation by learning how to box, hit accurately, and not waste punches. Later,
when his hands had toughened to where he could smash hard blows, he profited by
combining the boxing skills with the acquired hard-hitting.
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McCallum (1975 pp 29 31) wrote “Tunney’s ring career was a literal example of the triumph of mind over matter” and said “Few athletes in history ever have been better conditioned than Tunney. He developed stamina enough to step around at top speed every second of every round.” He added that Gene had “nerves of ice.” Gutteridge (1975 p 85) said Tunney was “an underrated heavy with a fine style and the ability to absorb a hard punch.” |
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Fleischer (1969 pp 277 279) analyzed the great heavyweights and said
Tunney was the cleverest of the big boys since Corbett. He wrote that Gene was
extremely fast, a master boxer, and an intelligent jabber. Further, he labeled
Tunney as underrated and described him as being a cool, mechanical technician
who was not colorful.
Grombach (1977 p 62) wrote “The story of Tunney presents a remarkable
display of force of character and will to succeed.” He was the man who would
“rather beat Dempsey than have all the money in the world” (see McCallum 1974 p
111). He beat Dempsey twice and offered to fight him a third time. Dempsey
refused.
McCallum (1974 p 123; 1975 pp 29-30) asserted “Tunney never entered the
prize ring with the natural, instinctive fighting equipment of a Jeffries, a
Johnson – or a Dempsey.
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He wasn’t a natural-born puncher, his physique was not adapted to
fighting, and although he did possess superb reflexes, they had to be
adjusted to boxing. Through
sheer will power and mental exertion, Gene converted ordinary equipment
into one of the finest fighting machines the ring has ever known.” Nat Fleischer ranked Tunney as the #8 All-Time Heavyweight. Charley
Rose ranked him as the #6 All-Time Heavyweight. In the opinion of this
writer, Tunney was the #1 All-Time Light Heavyweight and the #6 All-Time
Heavyweight. |
References
Durant, J. 1976. The Heavyweight Champions. New York: Hastings
House Publishers.
Durant, J. and Bettmann, O. 1952. Pictorial History of American
Sports. Cranbury, NJ: A.S. Barnes and Company.
Durant, J. and Rice, E. 1946. Come Out Fighting. Cincinnati: Zebra
Picture Books.
Fleischer, N. 1969. 50 Years at Ringside. New York: Greenwood Press, Publishers.
Grombach, J. 1977. The Saga of the Fist. New York: A.S. Barnes and Company.
Gutteridge, R. 1975. Boxing : The Great Ones. London: Pelham Books Ltd.
Lardner, R. 1972. The Legendary Champions. New York: American
Heritage Press.
Litsky, F. 1975. Superstars. Secaucus, NJ: Derbi-books Inc.
McCallum, J. 1974. The World Heavyweight Boxing Championship.
Radnor, Pa: Chilton Book Company.
McCallum, J. 1975. The Encyclopedia of World Boxing Champions. Radnor, Pa: Chilton Book Company.
Odd, G. 1974. Boxing : The Great Champions. London: The Hamlyn
Publishing Group Limited.
Rice, G. 1954. The Tumult and the Shouting. New York: A.S. Barnes
and Company
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