Evening star., 1928-12-20
GENE CUT UP JACK
IN LAST 3 ROUNDS
Referee Gave Champion 81
of 100 Points and 8 Out
of 10 Rounds.
THE TRUTH ABOUT
THAT Ia COUNT-VI
BY DAVE BARRY.

Copyright, 1928, by Chicago Tribune)
T the sound of the gong for the
n eighth round Tunney came out
N with amazing freshness, con-
1 4 sidering his experience of the
previous round He seemed to
realize he had much lost prestige to
make up. He never had been fioored
before, never in his career, and the
memory of new predicament appar-
emily spurred him on. From the first
second Gene performed with greater
speed than he previously had shown
since the opening round of the fight.
Dempsey was fading fast. His legs
were more wabbly than ever. The
failure of his underpinning had shown
up while he was pursuing Genes bicycle
in the seventh round. They continued
to fail him, but he proceeded doggedly
sWaying with his flail-like technique in
an endeavor to again counter one of
Tunney's left leads with either a left
or right hand swing. Suddenly Gene
stepped inside of one of these left-hand
swings with a short, choppy right to
the chin and Jacks legs buckled from
under him and his knees hit the
canvas.
The Same Posture.
Again I approached with my right
hand upraised, ready to begin the
count. My posture was identical with
my posture on the approach to Tun-
ney's side when he sank beneath the
hurricane of Dempsey's blows in the
seventh round. There, too, had my
right hand upraised, and there, too, my
right hand had fallen without my ut
tering the count of zone"
Critics have made much Of the fact
| that when Tunney fell I did not start
| to count until Dempsey had gone to
a neutral corner, whereas in the eighth
round when DempSey'S legs buckled and
| his knees topped to the canvas my
right hand swung down in the count
of "one" before Tunney had retreated.
Where the critics err is in the assump-
tion that if my right hand descended
it evidenced the beginning of the count.
1t did not did not say zone"
Even had I momentarily forgotten
| the knockdown rule and had attempted
| to start the count before Tunney hac
taken a neutral corner, couldn't have
done it. Dempsey was back on his
feet in less than second.
An Appeal to the Fans.
1t is true that Tunney, after send.
| ing Dempsey to the floor, retreated II
the direction of his own corner, the
northeast corner, and not to a neutra
corner. Had Dempsey stayed dowr
the situation would have been exactly
| the same as was that in the seventh
round, with the principals reversed.
I would not have started the coun
until Tunney had taken a neutral cor
ner, I realize that what ] might hav
done is matter of conjecture. Hon
estly, in my own mind, I'm certain
that I would not have given Tunne.
a shade different treatment than I gav'
Dempsey. Isn't it fair to give me tn
benefit of the doubt?
After Dempsey had arisen Tunne.
continued with his flashing left hant
and the oft-repeated one-two to ham
mer Dempsey's face. Dempsey wa
beginning to show the effects of th'
beating and the reaction probably in
duced by bitter disappointment.
My score of the eighth round was
Tunney, 7; Dempsey, 8.
Climax Was Past.
The climax of the fight had passed
Dempsey reached his peak in the sew
enth round. But Tunney's edge in the
ninth was not greater than in tht
fourth, fifth and eighth rounds.
scored the ninth: Tunney, Z; Demp'
sey, 3.
| The tenth saw Tunney make a strong
finish. The score of the closing session
as 1 marked it on my card was: Tun-
ney, g.; Dempsey, 4.
At the final bell I separated the
| fighters. Then 7 added up my card
The total score was: Tunney. 81; Demp-
sey, 43. Had been scoring by rounds