Gene Tunney VS Muhammed Ali?

Question

Both had identical styles anyone think that Tunney would beat Ali in their Primes?

Answer 1

both great athletes, but ali is bigger and faster and probably has the faster hands too, so ali takes a close unanimous decision.

Answer 2

Ok Gene Tunney, thats a better fight, Unlike Dempsey being overrated, Tunney is vastly Underrated.  Years ahead of his time in terms of boxing ability.

His battles with Greb alone show the talent he had and the heart to come back and defeat the only man to ever beat him.

That being said, Tunney is a good boxer, but in more basic form then Ali. The Military style boxing, Ali was more refined.

So I would just say when you got one really good boxer/counter puncher against a bigger great boxer,When the two greats have similar styles, A great big man beats a great little man every time out. Although Tunney would not be in front of Ali all night, he would give Ali some angles and even get in with some pouncing in one two combos when Ali stopped moving. In the end Muhammad is the winner be it by late round knockout or Unanimous Decision.

But all respect to Tunney, I cant understand when I see top 10 list with Dempsey on it and not Tunney. I personally don't have either of them in the top 10 of all time, but Tunney is certainly higher then Dempsey.

box rec has had  errors on their a few times. Allot of their info is based on word of mouth of the guys running it and not necessarily hard fact.

I know one things, Ali was as tall as George Foreman, maybe Foremans Fro was a bit bigger.  who is listed as 6'3 1/2 inches where they have Ali at 6'3 I have seen Ali listed at 6'4, but checking his website it now sais 6'3, I guess you would have to ask Ali for the exact measurement.

Allot of fighters lie about their height though, Like Tyson used to be listed as 5'10 then in some fights he was listed as 5'11, now in his bio's he is listed at 5'10. Not sure what their reasoning is, intimidation or something I guess.

If you have all the fights, or have seen all the old fights then you shouldn't really need Box rec. I use Box rec as a way of finding out who fighters are fighting next because they are usually pretty accurate on that and usually have it posted before other sites. You cant base who would win based on records, especially seeing as how Ali fought in the greatest era of the division. If Ali was fighting local farm boys and tough men who were part time fighters like the guys Marciano,Louis, and Dempsey ate up, he would have never lost.

Answer 3

good question i really never thought of this.i would have to say and this may sound really dumb but I think Tunney could have beaten Ali.Tunney was a very underrated fighter.not to say that Ali couldn't have beat him because he could have.but Ali never really faced a guy with blazing speed who moved like he did.look at foreman,norton,frazier,shavers,quarry,an... liston they were not fast punchers and Ali beat most of them with his speed.could you imagine a guy who could keep up with him.yes ali was faster but he isn't that much faster.I think Tunney wins by ko in the 11 round

Answer 4

Interesting question sir.  I have watched films of Dempsey vs Tunney and there are some similarities in their styles.  It's a lot like watching Ali vs Frazier.  Tunney was a very clever boxer, a good body puncher, great ring technician, great counter puncher and had some pop in his punches too.  Had he fought 15 rounders vs Dempsey, he very well may have knocked him out.  Muhammad Ali is undoutedbly one of the greatest of all time and fought the very toughest opponents in his career.  At his best he was the fastest heavyweight of all time and had incredible footwork and amazing reflexes.  Several smaller opponents did give Ali trouble in his prime such as Doug Jones who many think should have been awarded the decision over Ali weighing around 185 lbs, Henry Cooper who hurt him badly knocking him to the canvas and weighing only about 190 and Karl Mildenberger who weighed in at 195 lbs.  When it comes down to it, it really is can a guy box and fight and Tunney could do both and deserves a heck of lot more respect than he is given because of fighting in a different era.  There is a size difference between these two men.  Ali 6'3" to Tunney's 6'0 and Ali would weigh in at between 205-210 during his proime to Tunney's 189-192.  Ali also has the reach advantage at 80" to Tunney's 77.  Ali is the faster man, but Tunney is not slow and would land his share against Ali.  This would be a classic boxing match.  Ali would win most of the early rounds with his superior speed and footwork but Tunney would hold his own.  Tunney would steal a few of the middle rounds with some well timed counter punches.  In a 15 round fight, I have Ali winning about 9 rounds.  Ali by unanimous decision in a good fight.