BoxRec

Gene Tunney had a long and established professional boxing career. Gene had wins over Leo Houck (twice), Eddie O'Hare, Battling Levinsky, Tommy Loughran, Jimmy Deloney, Georges Carpentier, Jeff Smith, Tommy Gibbons, and Jack Dempsey (twice).

In Tunney's five fights against Harry Greb. ------ Gene lost one, he beat Harry 3 times, with one of the fights being a draw.



1. Do you think that Tunney is underrated.



2. Back then, most non-Hispanic White boxers did not fight black boxers.

Do you think that had Gene fought a good number of black boxers, that quite possibly Tunney would not have been as dominant?




3. Do you think that Gene Tunney should rank among some of the greatest boxers of all time? If so, why? If not, why not?




Please explain.

1. I guess, Gene is rated fairly, cause he is always mentioned as an ATG competitor. He truly deserves it. He's in top 20 for sure.

2. Tunney was able to defeat any boxer of his time, white or black, or whatever. It's all about the skill. Gene possessed the exceptional skills for that era. I believe, he should be favoured even in the hypothetical match-up against Jack Johnson.

3. As I said, yes, Tunney is among the greats. He had only 1 avenged loss to the great Harry Greb. He has a solid resume overall. He outclassed the reigning champion Dempsey twice in a row.

1. No, because I think he is fairly recognized as an ATG.

2. He probably would've lost another fight or two, but as the Doc says, Tunney was capable of beating anybody. Had he lost, he probably would've succeeded in rematches.

3. I think his historical standing as a great is legitimate. I should note, however, that Tunney's record against Greb is worse than it appears. Stephen Compton's biography of Greb, which is an ATG of boxing books, tells the true tale.

bwu wrote: ↑24 Jun 2018, 13:02 3. I think his historical standing as a great is legitimate. I should note, however, that Tunney's record against Greb is worse than it appears. Stephen Compton's biography of Greb, which is an ATG of boxing books, tells the true tale.

The newspapers felt that Greb got 'jobbed' in both the second and forth meetings. Tunney loses the first bout but dominates the third and fifth meetings. His record against Greb could good easily have gone 2-3 instead of 3-1-1.