when boxing was big time
Posted: 23 Sep 2007, 10:36
In front of a crowd of 104,943 that was probably closer to 125,000 by the time the ushers and cops had finished sneaking all their relatives into massive Soldier Field on Lake Michigan's waterfront, Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey to retain his heavyweight title.
It was the legendary "Long Count" fight, and despite the passage of time, it remains among boxing's most celebrated moments, even though nobody flew into the ring in a machine powered by a fan or bit off anybody's ear.
In 1927, the Dempsey-Tunney rematch was a super bowl of sports interest, a Yankees-Red-Sox playoff series multiplied by 10. Dempsey had held the heavyweight title for seven-plus years, from 1919 to 1926, and Tunney had taken it from him 364 days earlier in a fight before an announced 120,757 in a stadium in Philadelphia called Sesquicentennial.
According to Mel Heimer's 1969 book, "The Long Count," the gate for the 1926 fight was an unheard-of $1,895,723. A year later, the rematch brought higher ticket prices and a gate of $2,658,660.
The rematch drew 1,200 press credentials. Bus drivers around Times Square in New York City sold seats for 50 cents to people just wanting to sit and listen to the radio.
It was the legendary "Long Count" fight, and despite the passage of time, it remains among boxing's most celebrated moments, even though nobody flew into the ring in a machine powered by a fan or bit off anybody's ear.
In 1927, the Dempsey-Tunney rematch was a super bowl of sports interest, a Yankees-Red-Sox playoff series multiplied by 10. Dempsey had held the heavyweight title for seven-plus years, from 1919 to 1926, and Tunney had taken it from him 364 days earlier in a fight before an announced 120,757 in a stadium in Philadelphia called Sesquicentennial.
According to Mel Heimer's 1969 book, "The Long Count," the gate for the 1926 fight was an unheard-of $1,895,723. A year later, the rematch brought higher ticket prices and a gate of $2,658,660.
The rematch drew 1,200 press credentials. Bus drivers around Times Square in New York City sold seats for 50 cents to people just wanting to sit and listen to the radio.