Browsing Tag Gene Tunney

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  The Top Twelve 48

  Top 12 All-Time Greatest Heavyweights

  At a very leisurely pace over the last couple of years, The Fight City has offered its own idiosyncratic rankings of the all-time greatest boxers in each of ...

  On March 7, 2020 / By Robert Portis
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  Boxiana 0

  Feb. 1, 1965: Patterson vs Chuvalo

  The popularity of boxing has waxed and waned over the decades, but the 1950s saw a new source of anxiety emerge for professional prizefighting: television. With boxing featured ...

  On February 1, 2020 / By Michael Carbert
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  The Top Twelve 0

  Top 12 All-Time Most Controversial Fights

  No sport has courted as much scandal and public outrage as boxing. From dives and fixed fights, to outrageous decisions, not to mention the shady stuff behind closed ...

  On February 1, 2020 / By Robert Portis
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  Boxiana 6

  Bad Rap

  “I wouldn’t say he was dirty so much as he was expedient. He was so eager to get the damage done that his head and shoulders went with ...

  On January 1, 2020 / By Douglas Cavanaugh
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  Boxiana 0

  Fight City Legends: The Mighty Atom

  The writer of a profile of Jimmy Wilde, aka “The Mighty Atom,” is tempted to put down the particulars of Wilde’s incredible record – 152 bouts, 146 victories, ...

  On December 16, 2019 / By Robert Portis
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  Features 9

  Hemingway, Fitzgerald, And The Round That Went Too Long

  “My writing is nothing. My boxing is everything.” So said the one and only Ernest Hemingway, one of the twentieth century’s most captivating and revered writers. Literary titan. ...

  On December 2, 2019 / By Sean Crose
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  Boxiana 2

  Nov. 30, 1956: Patterson vs Moore

  In decades past, when undisputed heavyweight champions were the norm and not the exception, they inevitably created a great vacuum of power upon retiring. It was a mad scramble ...

  On December 1, 2019 / By Patrick Connor
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  Fight City Reviews 2

  The Boxing Kings

  It’s one of life’s most interesting ironies that prizefighting–a brutal, often exploitative, enterprise baptized as “the red light district of sports” by the late Jimmy Cannon–is the most ...

  On November 14, 2019 / By Rafael García
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  Fight City Reviews 0

  The Long Count

  Nine decades have passed since the rematch between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey took place on a brisk September evening at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 1927, and in ...

  On September 22, 2019 / By Patrick Connor
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  Boxiana 2

  Sept. 14, 1923: Dempsey vs Firpo

  After more than nine decades it may be difficult to appreciate the impact of the legendary Dempsey vs Firpo fight and how it transformed the public image of ...

  On September 14, 2019 / By Michael Carbert
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  The Top Twelve 7

  Top 12 All-Time Greatest Light Heavyweights

  Continuing our infrequent rankings of the all-time greatest boxers in each of the original eight weight classes, we offer our third installment in the series. We started with ...

  On July 8, 2019 / By Michael Carbert
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  Boxiana 3

  Fight City Legends: King of the Canebrakes

  It’s October 3, 1933 and a young man, a fighter, lies close to death in a hospital bed in Macon, Georgia. The room is quiet, morose even, such ...

  On July 5, 2019 / By Daniel Attias
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  Boxiana 0

  Fight City Legends: The Manassa Mauler

  If boxing’s greatest era is that in which it was most popular, then Jack Dempsey is the fighter most identified with the sport’s zenith. The ‘Manassa Mauler,’ whose ...

  On June 24, 2019 / By Eliott McCormick
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  Boxiana 2

  Fight City Legends: The Smoke City Wildcat

  They called them the Roaring Twenties, that crazy decade following World War I when the economy boomed, “speakeasies” opened on every other corner, the “flappers” started showing a ...

  On June 6, 2019 / By Robert Portis
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  Boxiana 0

  June 5, 1925: Tunney vs Gibbons

  By 1924, Gene Tunney, to the incredulity of American sports fans, had begun openly campaigning for a chance to face the heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Dempsey. ...

  On June 5, 2019 / By Michael Carbert
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  Boxiana 1

  May 15, 1953: Marciano vs Walcott II

  An immediate return match after a tough loss can be a risky proposition. There is no physical reason for this; after a few weeks the body repairs itself ...

  On May 15, 2019 / By Michael Carbert
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  Boxiana 0

  May 15, 1920: Greb vs Gibbons II

  The enigma that is Harry Greb has grown to mythical proportions in recent years and there is no doubt his accomplishments warrant inclusion in any discussion regarding the ...

  On May 14, 2019 / By Daniel Attias
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  Boxiana 2

  April 30, 1928: Sharkey vs Delaney

  The day after the fight, James A. Farley, Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, states there will be a full investigation. Prior to the match, Farley ...

  On April 30, 2019 / By David Como
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  Boxiana 4

  Dempsey vs Wills: The Superfight That Never Was

  Back about a few years ago, when it seemed Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would never actually meet in the ring, pundits and historians started to wonder if ...

  On April 4, 2019 / By Sean Crose
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  The Top Twelve 13

  Top 12 Most Significant Fights In Boxing History

  There are big fights which all boxing fans want to see, and then there are the monumental clashes that attract attention from all corners and have a lasting ...

  On March 29, 2019 / By Michael Carbert
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  The Top Twelve 3

  Top 12 All-Time Most Cerebral Boxers

  It takes more than strength, punching power and great conditioning to become a champion prizefighter. Mastery of footwork, angles, feinting, defense and the ability to adapt to an ...

  On February 22, 2019 / By Michael Carbert
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  Boxiana 0

  Fight City Legends: Gentleman Jim

  “From my first fight I started to run away.” James John Corbett, often referred to as “Gentleman Jim,” never cared much for the brutish nature of the sport ...

  On September 26, 2018 / By Alden Chodash
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  Boxiana 4

  Fight City Legends: The Fighting Marine

  Gene Tunney will forever be a truly great boxer, one of the best to ever step into the ring. A clever strategist with excellent footwork, superb defense and ...

  On August 13, 2018 / By Michael Carbert
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  The Fight City 0

  Will Beterbiev Ignite The Light Heavyweights?

  All dressed up, no place to go: that’s boxing’s light heavyweight division at the moment. So much talent, so many great matches waiting to be made, but everything ...

  On June 3, 2016 / By Robert Portis
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  Features 0

  Dawn Of A New Era

  Boxing is a cyclical sport. No matter how dominant, fearsome or skilled a reigning champion may seem at the height of his powers, sooner or later, the old ...

  On February 5, 2016 / By Matt O'Brien
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  Columns 1

  The Tragedy of Boxers With CID

  Ring rust is real. Three long years is what John L. Sullivan waited between fights; Jack Dempsey did the same. Neither heavyweight returned from the long, dry spell ...

  On November 15, 2015 / By Sean Crose
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  Features 0

  The Giant Falls Again

  Undefeated. Invincible. Unstoppable. The best. The greatest. All applied to Ronda Rousey short hours ago, and thus her fall to unheralded Holly Holm is easily the biggest upset ...

  On November 15, 2015 / By Robert Portis
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  Columns 0

  The Second Coming Of Dempsey?

  Jack Dempsey. That’s who David Lemieux reminds me of: Jack Dempsey. The Manassa Mauler. Maybe it sounds crazy, but bear with me for a minute. Because there are ...

  On October 16, 2015 / By Sean Crose
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  Features 2

  Above All Mortals

  Just past 11 p.m. at Madison Square Garden on a cold March evening in 1971, the undefeated former champion was growing visibly weary. “Don’t you know I’m God?” ...

  On September 18, 2015 / By Patrick Connor