Gene Tunney ducked George Godfrey

[BrocktonBlockbuster49]

"Tunney wanted nothing to do with Godfrey--plain and simple--too tough a fight. I will look to see what I have for references regarding Tunney and the color line. People point to him wanting to fight Wills but that was a joke--Tunney only wanted to talk that up to push his way towards a fight with Dempsey. I think Tunney may have been a racist(which would not be surprising for the times) as well as an elitist snob."- boxing historian kevin smith




larry gains said "Godfrey was the best of them all. I've sparred with Dempsey and fought just about every good heavyweight out there and I will tell you, George Godfrey was the best. I was afraid of only two men in my life, My Father and George Godfrey."

gains was another one of the highly avoided black contenders of the 1920s who tunney never fought. gains was alot better than tom heeney who tunney fought in his last title defense!




TUNNEY SPURNS GODFREY MATCH

"plans for a battle between geney tunney, former american lightheavyweight champion, and george godfrey, negro heavyweight, as the feature attraction on the annuel christmas boxing carnival in madison square garden on dec 18, today were abandoned. it was announced by the officials of the fund. billy gibson manager of gene tunney declinded the prooffered match. according the the fund officials, gibson asserted harry wills is the only negro heavyweight tunney will box." - los angeles times nov. 4 1925


seems they will fight a old black man well past his best days, but not a young powerful big black man

as for tunney fighting wills...............

"People point to him wanting to fight Wills but that was a joke--Tunney only wanted to talk that up to push his way towards a fight with Dempsey."- boxing historian kevin smith



EASTERN SNAPSHOTS by W. Rollo Wilson

Nov.12, 1925-The Baron of Leiperville is home again with wonderous tales of the mighty deeds of the "Shadow" along the gilded slope. The "Shadow" is just another way of denoting Gorger George Godfrey, Jimmy's (Dougherty) outsize white elephant. For white elephant George seems now to be. Nobody wants to fight him for love or money. Mr. Wills unostentatiously draws the color line. Mr. Tunney is more blatant in his announcement to the same effect. "I'll fight Harry Wills," broadcasts James Joseph, "but I draw the color line on George Godfrey."

Two things may be on the mind of the Apollo of Greenwich Village, Perhaps he thinks that one "shot" with Wills would give him enough of the filthy lucre for his future earthly needs. Win or lose he would be "in." Fighting Ole Black Lightning [Godfrey] would be a case of all to lose and nothing to gain, he probably thinks. At this time Billy Gibson and Tunney are saying that the Big Three of Boxing are Dempsey, Wills, and the modest Gene. Godfrey would fain make it a foursome, but you can be jolly well sure that the triumvira will continue to say him nay.

One of the first acts of [Dougherty] on his arrival was to release another challenge in the general direction of the above-mentioned Big Three. His latest offer is this:
All any promoter has to do is get Harry, Gene or Jack to sign the papers and pay them whatever they want. Godfrey will come in without asking for a dollar. The aftermath will provide the Dougherty clan with all they will want, because they feel that George can take any of the three.

As is well known Dougherty and Dempsey are the best of friends. Last summer a year ago (1924) Dempsey visited the baronial halls (Leiperville). While here the subject of a bout with George was broached. Jack declared that if he fought at all he would fight Wills, but not Godfrey. Jimmy pressed him for the reason and he said : "Godfrey is a big strong fellow and is young, Wills is getting older and I think he will be the easier man of the two. That is the reason I prefer to fight him, if I fight."
* ROLLO WILSON was often referred to as "the dean of the Black Press.





"Godfrey is vastly under-rated. His record and career are somewhat mired in mystery. So many DQ's, knockouts and damn mystifying losses. I have no doubt, for instance, that he had the cuffs on against Sharkey. The high number of DQ's has more to do with him fighting to order than it does with him being sloppy.

Tunney could outbox most heavies and I don't doubt that he could outbox George Godfrey for 5 or six or even ten rounds. However, George was fast for his size, was adept at chasing men down and could hit like a team of mules. If this were a fifteen round fight, I see Godfrey having a hell of chance catching up to Gene. Remember that Tunney's heavyweight resume is not that long or overly impressive. His two best wins were against Dempsey--over 10 rounds--and it is probable that Jack was past it then. Godfrey handled Larry Gaines fairly easily and Gaines was a boxer in both the mold and style of Tunney. Gaines stated that he feared only two men in his life, his father and George Godfrey.

George was a beast--big, athletic, huge puncher and surprisingly good speed and movement for a man his size. I think in his prime, 1925-1931, he was about as good as it got. Nobody really wanted to fight George, and for good reason. Tunney avoided him like the plague. In his prime, with no handcuffs, and this is strictly my opinion, I think he could have beaten, Tunney, Sharkey, Carnera and maybe even Dempsey(certainly a post 1926 Dempsey)."- boxing historian kevin smith





-I dont believe tunney ever fought a black fighter. even those there were some dangerous very good black fighters out there. tunney drew the color line more than anyone of that era. he should get critisized for this. this is a very bad mark on tunneys legacy.



- godfrey would be a huge test for tunney since he never took on a big heavyweight LET ALONE A ALL TIME SKILLED POWERFUL SUPER HEAVYWEIGHT LIKE GODFREY



- in 1928 george godfrey larry gains and jack sharkey were clearly the 3 best heavyweight challengers out there regardless of there records. everyone from that era knew it. yet tunney decided for his last title defense to be the light no world beater tom heeney. he wanted a easy last title defense. then he retired with 3 great heavyweight challengers out there. this is not the class act of a champion.


godfrey should have defintley got a shot at tunneys crown!

[BrocktonBlockbuster49]

i also have another los angles times article of the tunney camp refusing to fight godfrey because hes a "no good n*****"

[The Great John L]

So what? You’ve already beat this to death in at least one other thread. There was rampant racism in the US in the 1920s, and if Tunney was a racist he had a lot of company. And guess what? There are still a lot of racists. It all has to do with how you are raised. There will always be racism and prejudice. Does that mean we should just completely ignore the accomplishments of anyone with a prejudice? I don’t think that leaves us many public figures past or present.

Is there some reason why you are on this Tunney avoided Godfrey campaign? He probably did avoid Godfrey. And believe it or not, there were no African American baseball players in the major leagues during the 20th century until Jackie Robinson. Does that mean there was racism? Yes, it does. So what? Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were all still great baseball players. And Gene Tunney was a great fighter.

[Chuck1052]

Gene Tunney made a staggering amount of money for
the time when he made two title defenses. Since the
second title defense was a financial disaster for Promoter
Tex Rickard, it is possible that Tunney felt that there wouldn't
any such paydays in the future. Moreover, Tunney wanted
to get out while he was in good health.

- Chuck Johnston

[pundit]

What's the point of opening an own thread for a statement that has proven to be hopelessly absurd and based on nothing but hot air in other threads?

[granberry]

Gene Tunney made a staggering amount of money for
the time when he made two title defenses. Since the
second title defense was a financial disaster for Promoter
Tex Rickard, it is possible that Tunney felt that there wouldn't
any such paydays in the future. Moreover, Tunney wanted
to get out while he was in good health.

- Chuck Johnston

Tunney-Heeney showed there were no million dollar gates without Dempsey.

[Ezzard]

Should Tunney have fought Godfrey? Probably...

Did he duck him? I'd say no.

Not sure if there is a boxing definiton of the term duck in the sense it is being used here, but it seems to me that to duck an opponent is to turn down multiple opportunities to fight them and not simply take another opponent at a particular point in time.

[Cap]

I think Tunney probably did avoid Godfrey and had his own reasons for doing so. He didn't really enjoy the fight game or the seedy crowd in it. He wanted to make his pile and get out with his brain intact. Boxing for him was strictly business and he chose his fights carefully. Why fight Godfrey when he could fight Heeney for the same money? Heeney was the surprise winner of Tex Rickard's heavyweight tournament to find an opponent for Tunney. Jack Sharkey had eliminated several contenders, including Godfrey, prior to losing to Jack Dempsey. After that disaster he was matched with the tough New Zealander Tom Heeney and ended up with a draw. Rickard decided that Heeney might be the better attraction, or someone in Tunney's camp did. It all came down to dollars and cents.

Cap

[pundit]

Should Tunney have fought Godfrey? Probably...

Only if Tunney would have continued beyond 1928. In 1928 Godfrey was only one of several plausible contenders. Jack Sharkey was arguably even more plausble, and the next year - 1929 - saw the rise of a challenger who arguably was in a different class than Godfrey (or Heeney or Risko): Max Schmeling. So I'm not even sure whether Godfrey would EVER have gotten hismelf into a position where he could have demanded a shot at Tunney - or another heayweight champ - with authority.

This is of coure all very different from Harry Wills: he could demand a shot with authority all the time between 1919 and 1926, as we was widely considered the by far most legitimate challenger around.

[BrocktonBlockbuster49]

This is of coure all very different from Harry Wills: he could demand a shot with authority all the time between 1919 and 1926, as we was widely considered the by far most legitimate challenger around.

godfrey was just as good as harry wills. harry wills even avoided godfrey. the black press critisized wills for this.

[pundit]

Tunney was prepared to fight Wills, and other than Wills there was no black man to fight during Tunney's era.

As simple as that.

P

[BrocktonBlockbuster49]

Tunney was prepared to fight Wills, and other than Wills there was no black man to fight during Tunney's era.

As simple as that.

P

wills was old and far past his prime by tunneys era. godfrey was in his prime, powerful and young. he was much better than wills at that stage of wills career. even wills ducked george godfrey too during that time

the black man to fight was george godfrey

[pundit]

Tunney was prepared to fight Wills, and other than Wills there was no black man to fight during Tunney's era.

As simple as that.

P

wills was old and far past his prime by tunneys era. godfrey was in his prime, powerful and young. he was much better than wills at that stage of wills career. even wills ducked george godfrey too during that time

the black man to fight was george godfrey

There was no black man to fight.
P

[Irishlad69]

Godfrey was certainly big and strong, but gene was one of the great innovators, light years ahead of other heavies of that era in both technique and conditioning. I have only seen godfrey once and i dont see anything that would trouble a focused tunney.

[dempseyfire]

Godfrey was certainly big and strong, but gene was one of the great innovators, light years ahead of other heavies of that era in both technique and conditioning. I have only seen godfrey once and i dont see anything that would trouble a focused tunney.

I don't see how Tunney was light years ahead in conditioning and technique. He certainly was not the first HW to dance around or stick and move.
Him and Tommy Loughran both fought on pretty even terms.

[Cap]

Yup. Ol Gene was de greatest fightin' man since Samson brought down da heathen temple. Why that Leiperville Shadow couldn't hold a candle to Massa' Gene. No, suh. Why, poor George never mixed it wid nobody of any decent reputation, jest Sam Langford, Jack Renault, Bill Tate, Roughhouse Ware, Tut Jackson, Martin Burke, Fred Fulton, Jack Sharkey, Larry Gains, Jack Townsend and no accounts like dat. Don't hardly compares to all da great world class heavaweights dat Massa' Gene fought.....