Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunny
Jack Dempsey lost his title to Gene Tunny in 1926. Gene tunny was a great boxer who had only been defeated once by Harry Greb who he later defeated four times. Jack was boxing after a three year layoff and was much slower then when he took the title. Gene Tunny had studied Dempsey and fought an almost perfect and very intelligent fight. Jack was soundly out boxed by tunny over ten rounds.
A year Later the two men fought again after Dempsey had defeated Jack Sharkey in an eliminator bout.
Dempsey put up a better fight this time around but the fight took a similar pattern as the first fight with Tunny out boxing Dempsey. Then Dempsey unleashed a lethal combination in the seventh round knocking Tunny to the canvas. The crowd held its breath in excitement but Dempsey did not retreat to a neutral corner which was a new rule that had been brought in to give better protection to a downed fighter. The referee would not start the count until Dempsey went to a neutral corner and tunny was down from between fourteen and eighteen seconds.
Know one knows if Tunny could of survived Dempsey's onslaught without the extra break. this fight became known as the battle of the long count.
Even more controversy was caused when Tunny put Dempsey down and the referee began the count instantly without instructing Tunny to retreat to a neutral corner. Tunny went on to win the fight on points in what was Jack last major fight.Below is a video of the second fight