Evening star., 1927-09-16
GENE HAS MELTED
MORE THAN JACK
Champ Is Fast and Accurate,
but Has One Bad Habit
Dropping Left Hand.
RY JIMMY DE FOREST,

-,mous conditioner of boxers and former
irssn-r cf Jack Dempsey.
downright 1897 in all countries by North
American Newspaper Alliance
~HICAGO. September 15.-Turn-
ing into the home stretch,
Gene Tunney. the champion,
and Jack Dempsey, the chal-
lenger. appear in pretty fine
rhvsical condition. as fit as they could
he bv the methods they have followed
in training.
T1,nnev has melted" away more
than Dempsey The heat here affected
the champion more than the chal-
Ieneer Tunney's work has thinned
him down rapidly. perhaps just tritte
too rapidly. for he has not done enough
hard work to taper him down so
quickly. He has sweated off several
pounds.
But he seems in good form. He says
that he feels fresh, and is in the pink
of condition.
Tunney is fast. He is accurate. He
boxes we'll ! am sure that when he
is nut to it in the big fight, he will
show even better than the best he has
exhibited in his training bouts. But
he has had one bad habit in his box
Ing, which. if he carries it into the
ring, will surely get him into trouble.
We all know that Jack Dempsey
can hit hard with either hand. He
can hit a mighty blow with his right
hand. Tunney has shown A marked
tendency to drop his left hand at his
side.
4 Warning for Gene.
Now. he can get away with thing
like that when he is playing with a
Sparrinc partner. but when it comes to
the real thing in the championship
fight, ii will behoove Tunney to keep
that left hand up where it will he of
some use to him, not drop it at his
side. thus making himself an easy
target for a right hook or one of the
straight rights Dempsey can murder
man with.
like the way Gene goes at the big
bag. The champion doesn't try any
fancy stuff here. but just tears in and
fights the bag. Tunney may be only
boxer, but / have a suspicion that if
he has to. Gene can fight and mix il
~ with the best of them.
Tunney has more barrel than
Dempsey. BY that L mean that he
doesn't taper in at the waist as much
as the challenger. He looks as if he
could take walloping about the body.
and there is no doubt by this time in
anybody's mind where Dempsey is
In his recent workouts, since he
suffered the cut eye and had the
consequent lay-off. Tunney has been
practicing for speed and accurcy in
hitting. He also is doing quite a bit
of footwork, and herein lies his big
asset. Gene will need plenty Of foot
work against Dempsey. He will have
to move around. Tunney does not
move back and forth in straight
lines. Anybody who does this is
doomed to sample some terrific
wallpps in the ring with Dempsey.
But Tunney circles about, and in this
way prevents a straight rushing at
tack from being very effective against
him.
It's a case first of catching him
and then trying to measure him. Or
of catching him and then steadying
yourself. Where man simply keeps
backing up without circling, all YOU
have to do is to catch up to him
and let your punches go. There
bound to land on him somewhere.
But circling target is one you have
to tag" not merely catch.
Eye May Trouble Tunney.
gave that injured eye of Tunney's
the once-over and while it is heal
ing as we'll as could be expected
under the stress of boxing l am not
so sure it won't give him trouble
when he faces Dempsey. especially
if Dempsey gets any kind of
smack at it in the early rounds.
1t will not do Gene any good in
any case, for I think that when he
gets into the ring he will be anxious
to protect the eye against being re-
opened, and SO will be too much on
the defensive.
In a way this will be a good
thing for Tunney, for / think his
road to victory lies in a defensive
battle at the start and through sew
eral of the early rounds, just as he
fought in Philadelphia. / suspect,
however, that he will find much
more formidable adversary in front
of him this time.
However. Gene is supremely confr
dent that he will win. He has had
q little the better of it over Dempsey
when it comes to sparring partners,
although both the champion and the
challenger could be a whole lot
better off in this respect.
/ said some time ago that / didn I
think Tunney's left jab was as good
today as it was when he fought Tom
Gibbons. | have not seen anything
since then to make me change my
opinion.