Gene Tunney
Tunneyc. 1925
Born	James Joseph Tunney (1897-05-25)May 25, 1897 New York City, U.S.
Died	November 7, 1978(1978-11-07) (aged 81) Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Other names	The Fighting Marine
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light-heavyweight Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Reach	76 in (193 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	85
Wins	80
Wins by KO	48
Losses	1
Draws	3
No contests	1

James Joseph Tunney (May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978) was an Americanprofessional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He held the worldheavyweight title from 1926 to 1928, and the Americanlight heavyweight title twice between 1922 and 1923.

A highly technical boxer, Tunney had a five-fight light heavyweight rivalry withHarry Greb in which he won three, lost once, and drew once, though many ringside reporters believed Greb should have won the decision in their second meeting. Tunney also knocked outGeorges Carpentier and defeatedJack Dempsey twice; first in 1926 and again in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey remains one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known asThe Long Count Fight. He retired undefeated as a heavyweight after his victory overTom Heeney in 1928, after which Tunney was named the inauguralFighter of the Year byThe Ring magazine.

James Joseph Tunney was born on May 25, 1897, inNew York City to Irish immigrant parents fromKiltimagh,County Mayo. His mother, Mary Lydon from Culleen House, Gorthgarve,Kiltimagh immigrated to the United States after theGreat Famine and settled inNew York City, where she met John Tunney, from Cill Aodain, Kiltimagh. They married after a short courtship. The Tunneys had seven children. At an early age, Gene Tunney was inspired by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt to become physically fit.^[1]

Tunney fought some 68 official professional fights, losing only one, toHarry Greb, while fighting as alight heavyweight. Tunney fought many other fights whose scoring was unofficial, judged by newspaper reporters. He also lost none of these "newspaper decisions". He reported that he lost a second fight during World War I, a 10-round decision, toTommy Loughran, as a Marine before he began his professional boxing career. Tunney was regarded as an extremely skillful boxer who excelled in defense. In addition to beating Dempsey, the most famous fighter of his era, Tunney defeatedTommy Gibbons,Georges Carpentier and many other fine boxers.

Already theAmerican Expeditionary Forces champion, Tunney spent the winter of 1921 as alumberjack in northernOntario for the J. R. Booth Company ofOttawa, without revealing he was a champion boxer. He explained this as "wanting the solitude and the strenuous labors of the woods to help condition himself for the career that appeared before him."^[2]

Tunney also had a briefacting career, starring in the movieThe Fighting Marine in 1926. Unfortunately, no prints of this film are known to exist.

He was elected asRing Magazine's first-everFighter of the Year in 1928 and later elected to the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1980, theInternational Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Tunney was a thinking fighter who preferred to make a boxing match into a game of chess, which was not popular during the times when such sluggers asJack Dempsey,Harry Greb andMickey Walker were commanding center stage. Tunney's style was influenced by other noted boxing thinkers such asJames J. Corbett andBenny Leonard. Nevertheless, it is incorrect to think of Tunney as a stick-and-move fighter in the Ali style. While Tunney's heavyweight fights against Gibbons, Carpentier, and Dempsey featured his fleet-footed movement and rapid-fire jabbing, his earlier bouts, especially the five against Harry Greb, demonstrated his vicious body punching and willingness to fight toe-to-toe. It was Benny Leonard who advised Tunney that the only way to beat Harry "The Human Windmill" Greb was to aim his punches at Greb's body rather than his head.^{[citation needed]}

Always moving and boxing behind an excellent left jab, Tunney would study his opponents from the first bell. He generally preferred to stay outside and nullify any attacks, while using quick counters to keep the opponent off balance. In his fights against Jack Dempsey, today's viewer can see Tunney's style: hands held low for greater power, fast footwork that adjusts to every move his opponent makes and quick and accurate one-two style counter-punches with the left and right.

Tunney was never knocked out, while only ever being knocked down once, that in his second fight with Dempsey in the infamousLong Count. This makes him one of only five Heavyweight champions, alongsideRocky Marciano,Riddick Bowe,Sultan Ibragimov andNicolai Valuev to retire without ever suffering a stoppage defeat. Tunney, along with Marciano, Lewis andVitali Klitschko is one of four heavyweight champions to have retired as champion and to have ended their career with a win in a world title fight. Having avenged his only loss toHarry Greb, Tunney joinsIngemar Johansson,Rocky Marciano,Lennox Lewis andRiddick Bowe as the only five heavyweight champions to have retired while holding a victory over every opponent he faced as a professional (barring no-contests and draws).^{[citation needed]}

Tunney enlisted the Marine Corps duringWorld War I and served as private with11th Marine Regiment inFrance and later inGermany during theoccupation of the Rhineland in 1919. He saw no combat and spent most of the war in the Marine boxing team, becoming U.S. Expeditionary Forces champion. Tunney was demobilized following the war, but remained in theMarine Corps Reserve, ultimately reaching the rank of major in theConnecticut Naval Militia.

Following the United States entry into World War II, at the request of Navy UndersecretaryJames Forrestal, Tunney accepted a commission in theUnited States Naval Reserve as alieutenant commander to set up a physical fitness program for student pilots. He headed the Navy's physical fitness programme for the duration of the war and also made an inspection trip toHawaii and the surrounding area.^[3]

Tunney was consecutively promoted to the ranks ofcommander andcaptain and retired shortly following the War. For his wartime service, he was decorated with theNavy Commendation Medal and was awarded theAmerican Defense Service Medal,American Campaign Medal,Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal,World War II Victory Medal. He also held theWorld War I Victory Medal with France Clasp,Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, andMarine Corps Good Conduct Medal for his World War I enlisted service.

In 1932, Tunney published a book calledA Man Must Fight, in which he gave comments on his career and boxing techniques.In 1928, the U.S. Marine Corps presented – as a sign of friendship – a challenge cup to the Corps of Royal Marines, in the hope it might be competed for byRoyal Marines association football teams.^[4][5] The Royal Marines named the trophy the "Tunney Cup," in honor of then-USMC Captain Tunney, who, with Sergeant MajorCharles R. Francis, presented the trophy on behalf of the U.S. Marine Corps.^[4][5]

In 1928, Tunney married a wealthysocialiteMary "Polly" Lauder (April 24, 1907 – April 19, 2008). After Tunney's retirement, the couple lived inStamford, Connecticut and raised four children.^[6] They had three sons and one daughter:

• John Varick Tunney (1934–2018), who was aU.S. Representative andU.S. Senator fromCalifornia from 1965 until 1977;
• Jonathan "Jay" Rowland Tunney ofStamford, Connecticut;
• Gene Lauder Tunney (1931–2009),^[7][8][9] who became a lawyer and served as district attorney for Sonoma County, California, for 20 years; and
• Joan Tunney Wilkinson (1939–2008)^[10] ofSan Francisco,^[11] who was committed toMcLean Hospital on June 6, 1970, after she murdered her husband, Lynn Carter Wilkinson Jr.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Previous to his marrying Polly Lauder, Tunney was sued in 1927 forbreach of promise by Katherine King Fogarty.^[16]

Tunney died on November 7, 1978, at the Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut at the age of eighty-one, after suffering from a circulation ailment.^[17] He was interred at Long Ridge Union Cemetery inStamford, Connecticut.

Dean Martin andJerry Lewis had a comedy routine in which Lewis (in boxing shorts and gear) states he will be fightingGene Tierney (the actress). Martin corrects Lewis and suggests that he must mean "Gene Tunney". Lewis then quips "You fight who you wanna fight, I'm fight'n who I wanna fight, I'm fight'n Gene Tierney."^[18]

In the song "She Twists the Knife Again" fromRichard Thompson's 1985 albumAcross a Crowded Room, describing the mismatched intensity in a strife-ladened relationship, Thompson writes: "I'm in a fist fight/She thinks she's Gene Tunney!"

He is also mentioned in Act 1 ofArthur Miller'sDeath of a Salesman: Willy tells his sons he has a punching bag with Tunney's signature on it.

Mentioned inA Whistle in the Dark (Act 1, p. 31) by Tom Murphy: "in the words of the great Gene Tunney, a man must fight back. His father was a Mayoman too".

Mentioned in the short story "Fallon" by J. D. Luther, when imprisoned character Tyson Wayne Vance recalls his abusive father, "Was more than one night momma'd look like she went fifteen rounds with Gene Tunney...".

In the 1932 boxing filmWinner Take All,James Cagney's character Jimmy Kane—a has-been former champion trying to get educated—laments thatWilliam Shakespeare was "the one who ruined Gene Tunney."

The noveletteA KO for Christmas by Shawn Pollock features a character, Stitch Stanford, who hopes to fight Gene Tunney for the heavyweight title.

All information in this section is derived fromBoxRec,^[19] unless otherwise stated.

Allnewspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Record with the inclusion ofnewspaper decisions in the win/loss/draw column.

• NYSACheavyweight champion (200+ lbs)
• NBA (WBA) heavyweight champion (200+ lbs)

• The Ring heavyweight champion (200+ lbs)

• S.O.S.light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)^[20]
• American Expeditionary Forces light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)^[21]
• American (ABA) light heavyweight champion (175 lbs) (2×)

• Undisputed heavyweight champion

• List of heavyweight boxing champions
• List ofThe Ring world champions
• List of undisputed boxing champions
• International Boxing Hall of Fame
• Boxing in the 1920s
• List of people on the cover ofTime magazine (30 August 1926)

Wikiquote has quotations related toGene Tunney.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toGene Tunney.

• Works by Gene Tunney atOpen Library
• Boxing record for Gene Tunney fromBoxRec(registration required)
• https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/NBA_World_Heavyweight_Title_Fights
• https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/NYSAC_World_Heavyweight_Title_Fights
• Gene Tunney atFind a Grave
• Gene Tunney profile at Cyber Boxing Zone
• Boxing Hall of Fame
• ESPN.com

• 1897 births
• 1978 deaths
• American male boxers
• United States Marine Corps personnel of World War I
• United States Navy personnel of World War II
• American people of Irish descent
• International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees
• Lauder Greenway family
• Military personnel from New York City
• People associated with physical culture
• Sportspeople from Greenwich, Connecticut
• Boxers from New York City
• Sportspeople from Stamford, Connecticut
• The Ring (magazine) champions
• United States Marines
• Writers from New York City
• World heavyweight boxing champions
• United States Navy captains
• United States Navy reservists
• Connecticut National Guard personnel

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