Gene Tunney vs. Jack Dempsey II: The Long Count

I've known since I was a little kid sitting looking at boxing books at the local library, that this would be a good fight, whenever it was that I would get to watch it. I was not disappointed at all. In fact, I would have to say that it was not only one of the two greatest fights of the 1920s, but that it featured among the best footage of the 1920s boxing matches.

Round 1-Dempsey was outboxed for this round. However, Dempsey was more offensive in this one round than he was in their previous meeting. Tunney.
It was after this round that I theorized that Tunney was looking to make a fight out of this one. In the previous meeting he defeated Dempsey, but did a lot of clinching. This time Tunney wanted to outfight Dempsey.
Round 2-Tunney did not seriously outpoint Dempsey at all. Tunney.
Round 3-I noticed near the beginning of this round that Dempsey was using his head to push it up Tunney's neck in order to get out of clinches. Even.
Round 4-Tunney was the better man in this round. Inside, he outfought Dempsey, and outside, he danced, jabbed, and scored well, showing good combos all the while. Near the end of the round Tunney actually hurt Dempsey. He threw a big right haymaker that sent Dempsey into the corner. It was Tunney's best round, and the first to be decisive.
Round 5-Round 5 was definitely the most exciting up to this point. The two men had a couple of good exchanges. Tunney.
(Round 6 not shown. Won by Tunney I assume.)

My midpoint assessment of the fight was certainly in favor of Tunney. While I was at the disadvantage of knowing that Dempsey would soon drop Tunney, I would have been seriously disappointed with Dempsey if I was not armed with that knowledge. In contrast to their first meeting, when Dempsey tried very hard (particularly in the opening four rounds) to snatch the victory, but kept the fight competitive up until the 8th or 9th I thought. Here, Dempsey stalked Tunney uselessly. He wasn't throwing, he wasn't evading many of Tunney's shots. He was getting tied up a lot. Dempsey was looking worse than the first fight, and Tunney was looking better. Back to the action:

Round 7-This is a pretty good round aside from the drama of the knockdown actually. In slow mo, Tunney lands a thudding right hand on Dempsey, then pushes him off. Right after, Dempsey throws a long right hand that scores well. Then he jumps in with a left, then a hard straight right hand that then has Tunney off balance with a punch. A big left hook sends Tunney on his way down, followed by a right hook (not very effective), then another left hook (effective), then another right hook (not effective), and then Tunney finally hits the mat.

To step away from the boxing itself and address the long count: I don't doubt that Tunney was down for longer than the count, since the ref spent easily 4 or 5 seconds trying to get Dempsey to go to the farthest neutral corner. After all, Tunney did get up at 9. I think the real dispute lies in whether the knockout should of counted or not, since the referee was busy trying to enforce the rules with Dempsey and not giving Tunney the count. What should have happened? What would happen if that were to happen today. Would Dempsey have been awarded the knockout victory? Or would Tunney be allowed to continue?

Back to round 7. Unfortunately Dempsey had a great opponent in Tunney. Tunney was smart, and evidently hard-headed too. He knew not to get up quickly, and stayed down until the ref reached nine before getting up. By the time he was up, Tunney had entirely recovered it appeared, and had reassumed control of the fight. He was fighting in a more hurried, desperate fashion, but he outscored Dempsey for the remainder of the round. Of course, the round went to Dempsey of course.
Round 8-I spotted a cut above Dempsey's right eye right off. Shortly into the round, Tunney dropped Dempsey for a 1 count with a one-two. Left jab and a right hand that put him down. However, the right hit Jack's chest, and by then he was pulling away when the right landed. It was still a knockdown, but not a great one imo. The rest of the round was slow. Tunney.
Round 9-Dempsey's cut eye got worse to start the 9th. Dempsey's left eye bled badly by the end of the round. Tunney.
Round 10-Dempsey was cut badly and very tired, and Dempsey was beginning to give him a battering near the end of the round. Dempsey would not have made it if the fight had been scheduled for 12 or 15. Tunney.

Verdict: A certified boxing classic.

And one weird question: Does Dempsey not look facially similar to Max Schmeling here?

 

I think you're right. It would have been good. I'm not confident of a victor though. I think Dempsey has the power to knock out Schmeling who was not always especially durable. However, Dempsey seemed easily outboxed to me, which I think could be no problem for the German. It's 50/ 50 in my book.