Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-12-07

/
Barry seemed suddenly to have suf-
! fered petrification of that arm. He
didn't seem to be able to get it down
| for that ''ten," although, to me, 1t
seemed that he held it there for nearly
| ing off the floor
Delay of Barry's personally con-
Quoted count, gave Tunney 15 sec
ond rest on the floor. But I'll always
feel that he could have had that much
time for resting" and I'd still have
won a knockout victory if Barry
hadn't poised his arm, after the count
of 'nine," and delayed dropping it
thus giving Tunney all the chance in
the world to beat the chant of ten" !"
Some of the newspapers quoted
Gene Tunney as saying, after our bat
tie:
"I wasn't hurt when went down
in. the seventh round and, if necessary,
I could have climbed back to my feet
with the count of 'one.'"
I doubt very much whether Tunney
ever made such statement; doubt
| it very much because Tunney is not a
humorist
When Tunney went down in that
seventh round, he went down In a
state of collapse The two left hand
punches to his chin, plus the right
hand drive, certainly had enough pow
er in them to drop any living human.
And, in fairness to Tunneys ability
, to take a beating, I'll say that / don't
think any man, other than Tunney,
would have come up from that floor IN
less than 80 seconds after those punches
landed
'Tunney was hurt-and hurt plenty
when he went down.
The position of Tunney on the floor
seems to be proof conclusive in the
mind of impartial ring experts, that
Tunney was temporarily paralyzed. For
when he collapsed, his left arm flop
ped over the rope. Don't get the idea
he was holding onto the rope then.
He was too completely out. His arm
was draped over the strand in help
| less faSnion-and SO it remained for
many, many seconds.
What Pictures Show
None who have seen the moving or
| the still pictures of that fight and
noticed the position of Tunney'S legs
| during the first ten seconds that he
was on the floor, take the viewpoint
that there was enough life in those
legs up to that time to enable Tunney
| to- climb back4to his feet s s
| Tunney was out completely for ten
iseconds land more. 's'-ig@'7'
| Between the time that Tunney hit
the floor and when Referee Dave
Barry actually started his count, mat
1 40, - ~ csx - oil
AS Barry's arm went up and down
over Tunney I watched Tunney close
| ly; studied him to learn what shape
he was in-and what chance he had of
making a recovery and getting up.
Through the IA years that I've been
in this fight racket, I've had quite a
few men on the floor. I don't pose
as an expert in the matter of how
badly that fellow is hurt, but I be-
| lieve that I know can size up a
fallen mans chances pretty well.
felt, as I watched Tunney, that
even with the help of those six Sec
onds that the charitable Barry had
given him, that the chances were slim
that Tunney could recover in time to
beat Barry's count.
Calls Tunney'S Act Wild
1t was not until Barry had reached
his personal count of "SiX," which was
about IL seconds after Tunney went
down, that a look of intelligence came
back to Tunney'S eyes. At the count
of "seven" he seemed to be trying to
collect his senses and at "eight" he
was doing the same thing. AS the
pictures will show, Tunney had not
made any definite effort to arise with
the count of "eight" and was not
Barry was about sounding ''nine"
If Tunney could have climbed back
to his feet as soon as he went down,
I'll say that he took the widest chance
any ringman ever took in all history
when he delayed making real mo-
ton to get up until the count OIL
"nine."
Tunney is smart fighter, and be-
cause he is just that, feel that any
story that deals with his ability to- get
up at the count of zone" or at the
unofficial count of "ten" or twelve
in that fight. is completely discounted
by the position he was in up to the
time that he referee had counted
"eight" over him.
A smart fighter who is down and
who is able to get up, always gets
himself into the position where he can
leap to his feet after the count of
mine" and before the count of "ten''
possibly can be sounded. Usually he
gets his legs in such position that he
can spring from the floor in less than
a second, or he gets on one knee so
he can leap up into fighting position
in fraction of second.
Doubts If Tunney Said 1t
I've never seen a smart fighter-or
even a boob-who didn't do just that
if he was able so to do. Yet Tunney,
a cagey ringman, did nothing of the
sort. What's the answer? Either
Tunney was too helpless to get "set"l
for the upward leap, or he was takingl
long gamble for grandstand pur-
poses.
Inasmuch as Tunney is not a grand
stander, and does nothing for theat-
rical effect, and inasmuch as he is
not fellow who will gamble with
oYautIiTO a YNrooin11c Pc