Gene tunney

[rightsideup]

what are your thought's on the fighting marine?

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Very skilled fighter

There seems to be one every generation:
Tunney
Billy conn
Jimmy young
Chris Byrd

Guys with great skills that could outfight bigger guys

[Scott9945]

Great fighter with a tremendous record. But his never crossing the color line taints his legacy somewhat, imo.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Great fighter with a tremendous record. But his never crossing the color line taints his legacy somewhat, imo.

I feel that also hurts Dempsey as well

[rightsideup]

jack did fight a few black fighters and had his ribs broken in one of those fights pretitle but confessed to avoiding Langford.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

jack did fight a few black fighters and had his ribs broken in one of those fights pretitle but confessed to avoiding Langford.

I meant more as when he was champ and top black contenders, this was the era were they still had the colored world title, IIRC

[Viti Ben-Wa]

Great fighter with a tremendous record. But his never crossing the color line taints his legacy somewhat, imo.

He said he wouldn't fight a black man but offered to fight Harry Wills when Harry had been ducked by Dempsey for years. I've often wondered if Tunney was willing to take that fight because he knew Wills was slipping.

Certainly Gene was a great fighter though and is a top 5 lock at 175 a time.

[rightsideup]

He said he wouldn't fight a black man but offered to fight Harry Wills when Harry had been ducked by Dempsey for years. I've often wondered if Tunney was willing to take that fight because he knew Wills was slipping.

Certainly Gene was a great fighter though and is a top 5 lock at 175 a time.

yes did not wills lose to jack sharky

[ShoulderRoll]

He beat Greb at light heavyweight and Dempsey at heavyweight. Had to have been pretty good to pull that off.

[jack p]

what are your thought's on the fighting marine?

This is the first time i have heard this,,When Joe Louis was moving up in the heavyweight division Jack Johnson approached Louis's managers and offered his services..Well he was turned down in the worst possible way..He was called the "N word..and blamed for creating the conditions that made it impossible for a black man to fight for a title in the heavyweight division for over 20 years
A fight between Dempsey and Wills would have been a sell-out..Yet even though it was an assured million dollar gate ..not one person would promote it ."Not One"

louis's managers didn't blame Dempsey for not fighting Wills..They blamed Johnson
Regarding Dempsey and Langford..While is true Dempsey always said Langford would
have killed him..That came about 1916 in New York....Dempsey went their with his manager to try to make it big..After a couple wins against .two good fighters..An unscrupulous manager took notice..First he sent a fake telegram to Dempseys manager that he need to go home an emergency..Then he told Dempsey he bought his contract
and he had a fight against Sam Langford.lined up .Dempsey at 21 years old sensed a mismatch..He wasnt ready for that yet ..Then the guy said Frank Moran..again Dempsey told him no he wanted to wait a couple years until he was good enough
for that kind of opposition ..So then the guy told him "listen you punk"Your gonna fight
John Lester Johnson ..He fought Johnson ..And got his ribs cracked..and after the fight unly got 35 bucks out if a promised 300 dollars..So disallusioned he left New York

My point is even though Blacks couldn;t get fights in heavyweight division,,The lighter
divisions weren;t closed to them..Tunney did most his fights at middle to light heavy-
weight..Its hard to see how he pulled off over 60 professional fights and not fought
a black guy.once..Maybe its true but its the first time i have heard it..Anyone know what
is the source of this information??