The Friday Flashback: The Dempsey-Tunney "Long Count" Fight
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 21, 2011 9:47PM
As Benjy mentioned earlier, a lot of folks around town are referring to Bears-Packers III Sunday as the biggest game in Bears history. Never mind Super Bowl XX or Super Bowl XLI. With the NFC championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLV on the line, it's certainly the biggest game in the rivalry in 70 years. It's also the biggest sporting event to be held in Soldier Field (old or new models) since the legendary heavyweight championship boxing match between former champion Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, the man who beat him for the title a year previous in Philadelphia. Their September 1927 rematch is also forever known as "the Long Count fight."
Dempsey suffered from inactivity and ring rust in his first match with Tunney, but he also was in hock to Philadelphia mobster Boo Boo Hoff to the tune of $200,000. Knowing what to expect the second time around, Dempsey trained with a purpose and even turned down an offer from one Alphonse Capone to manage him. Capone would later lay a $50,000 bet on Dempsey, fueling speculation of a fix. This despite Dempsey being heavily favored by boxing fans betting on him because they remembered the Dempsey of old.
104,000 fans poured into Soldier Field to watch the rematch. With a gate of $2,658,660 (almost $22 million, when adjusted for inflation in today's dollars) it was the highest-grossing sporting event of its time. The fight itself took place under the new rules regarding knockdowns, with the ten-count, the standing eight-count, and the neutral corner rule. Although the new rules weren't recognized in Illinois, Dempsey insisted on using them before the match. Dempsey also recognized that he couldn't beat Tunney on points and went for a knockout. With Tunney trapped against the ropes and near a corner, Dempsey unleashed a combination of punches that floored the champion. Two rights and two lefts landed on Tunney's chin and staggered him, and four more punches deposited him on the canvas. It was the first time in Tunney's career that he'd been knocked down.
Dempsey forgot the neutral corner rule and, as was his custom, stood above Tunney instead of heading to a neutral corner per referee Dave Barry's instructions. this gave Tunney precious seconds to recover before Barry started his standing eight-count. the rest, as the adage goes, is history. Had Dempsey retreated to the neutral corner sooner, he would have regained his title.
Further fueling the myth of this fight was that no film of it was seen for years, due to a federal law that prohibited transportation of boxing matches across state lines. When the law was later rescinded, boxing enthusiasts and historians finally managed to see this.