What if Gene Tunney would have stayed around

[HomicideHenry]

Godfrey also fought ten times in 1928.

He also defeated Paulino Uzcudun, Tut Jackson and Bud Gorman that year. He also lost on a DQ to Larry Gains (a man he defeated back in 1926 by kayo).

I'd expect a hyperactive fighter to lose every once in a while. He had more fights than Gene Tunney for crying out loud. Heeney previously lost (and Drew) with Uzcudun in the year 1927, not to mention losing (also) to Risko. So Godfrey certainly would have been just as good a challenger, if not better, than Heeney.

[Ambling Alp II]

All of these guys had their ups and downs, but If you look at the most recent key fights leading up to Heeney-Tunney fight, it makes sense that Heeney got the title shot.

Heeney beat Risko and drew with Sharkey
Risko beat Sharkey and Godfrey and lost to Heeney
Sharkey beat Godfrey, lost to Risko and drew with Heeney (also lost to Dempsey)
Godfrey lost to both Risko and Sharkey

Heeney fell apart after the Tunney fight, but he was the most deserving challenger going into the Tunney fight.

[bwu]

Yeah but we're projecting into the 1928 and beyond timeline. We can only go off of his last two performances against Dempsey to project into the future. And tbh, let's be honest, truly honest here, Dempsey hadn't fought in three years before tangling with Gene. He lost not only his edge, but also his peak, by hanging out in Hollywood hobnobbing with celebrities. He could have trained from here to eternity and wouldn't have beaten Gene, so just how great of a win was it to beat him? A mere formality, if the truth is told.

We can go off of Godfrey's loss to Risko in 1928. That says something about how good Godfrey was.
We can also go off of Tunney's easy win over Heeney.
That Dempsey "could have trained from here to eternity and wouldn't have beaten Gene", is an indication tat Tunney was very good.
Also Dempsey had the Sharkey just three months before the 2nd Tunney fight, while Tunney didn't fight at all.. So Dempsey would have got rid of some of the ring rust by their 2nd fight. He certainly wasn't at this best, but had something left.

Who knows how long Tunney could have stayed close to this level. Most fighters start gradually decline around the age of 30. He was 30, almost 31 when he beat Heeney. Tunney probably beats anyone around in 1929 or 1930, then it after that it would be hard to say.

This is pretty sound reasoning. Somebody, probably Schmeling, clips him if he goes into '31 or '32.