The 26^th July 2018 brought up a unique 90-year anniversary, since Gisborne born Tom Heeney climbed into the ring at New York’s Yankee Stadium, to challenge Gene Tunney for the World Heavyweight boxing title.

The gravel voiced man in the centre of the ring held up his arms for silence and as the chatter of the crowd died down went into his routine.

“Ladeeez and gentlemen” rasped out Joe Humphries, doyen of all ring announcers “now we have the main event of the evening.  Fifteen rounds of bahxing action for the heavyweight champeenship of the world. On my right weighing in at one-hunnert ninety-two pounds from Noo York, the champeen - Gene Tunney”.

With the dying away of the applause, by no means as deafening as that which a few minutes earlier had greeted the introduction of the crowds deposed idol, ex champion Jack Dempsey (a spectator on this occasion) announcer Humphries then turned to the opposite corner.

“On my left, at two hunnert three-and-one-haff pounds, from Noo Zealand, the challenger – Tom Heeney”.

The occasion was as described by Joe Humphries. The place was New York’s huge Yankee Stadium, capable of seating 100,000 but not asked to do so in this instant. The date was July 26, 1928.

The referee, Ed Forbes beckoned the two fighters out into the centre for their final instructions. Tunney, tall and smiling wrapped in his old US Marine Corp dressing gown. Heeney several inches shorter, thickset, stern of features and cloaked by his distinctive Maori mat, a memento of his homeland that he had not seen for more than four years.

A few short words from the third man, who had already briefed the fighters at the weigh-in, then back to their respective corners to await the bell.

(Extract from Kiwis With Gloves On by Brien O’Brien)

Tunney was guaranteed the equivalent of 105 thousand pound, Heeney some twenty thousand pounds, only a fraction of the champions take but still a staggering 200 times what the New Zealand had received for his first professional fight in Gisborne eight years before.

In paying such staggering sums to the fighters, promoter Rickard had to bank 850,000 dollars (around 170 thousand pound) to avoid an actual loss. While the official attendance was 45,890, Rickard end up losing 152,000 dollars, in spite of the fight drawing the eleventh biggest crowd of (then) all-time.

As pre-fight preliminaries were being attended to with the fighters in the ring, Tunney was his Saul calm unruffled self, but the normally phlegmatic Heeney was visibly nervous. He sat in his chair in his corner. maori clock about his stocky figure, chatting with his seconds and smiling and nodding to people in the crowd, but he was noticeably fidgety and every so often his homely features would take on a strained look.

Heeney gave Tunney a mild shock when he opened the exchanges, without wasting any time on feeling his opponent out. He got home a couple of lefts and ducked beneath Tunney’s first counter. Tunney seemed nettled and lashed out after Heeney had again him again 'over the top'. Heeney was certainly the brisker man at the start.

Close range punching, clinching and Tunney now and again breaking ground were the features of the first two rounds, although there was something happening all the time. Tunney’s counters to Heeney’s leads began to come more often and with more degree of accuracy, although he couldn't check Tom's steady pursuit.

It seemed to be in the fourth round that Gene Tunney gradually began to assume command. Missing with two lefts, he landed a hard right to the heart and when Heeney hooked to the face in return Tunney quickly came back with two jabs and a jolting left hook. Heeeney again forced the champion to retreat with a barrage of swings but they were left effective blows and Tunney stood in to score with another of those dangerous rights to the heart.

Heeney’s forward march gave no indication of slowing down and he was back with a right to the jaw, although by the end of the round he was bleeding from both the nose and right eye. Tunney was jabbing and hooking accurately with his left to the jaw and every so often stepping in with straight rights to the head.

Although Heeney’s punches in the open-order fighting were not distressing Tunney, the champion was forced to pull out all he had to stand off the aggressive challenger. In the eighth Tunney cut loose and for the first time the New Zealand boxer looked in real trouble.

Near the ropes towards the conclusion of the tenth round, Gene Tunney struck the blow that sewed up the up the fight for him and enable him to retire with an unblemished record. As Heeney groped his way inside, Tunney smashed a murderous right to the head that felled Tom as if he had been poleaxed. The bell rang shortly after afterwards, with Heeney half-out on the ring apron and with little chance, it seemed, of regaining the perpendicular with ten or even twenty seconds.

Heeney came out for certain execution in round eleven, but although Tunney was throwing punch after punch at him, Tom actuality got through the round with a hard left swing to the head. This was his final effort of any account with Tunney hitting him at will, though still unable to lower him, when the referee (Ed Forbes) moved in and ended it with eight seconds of the round remaining, blind and helpless, Tom had only his huge pumpkin of a heart left.

Tunney retired after a few weeks after beating Heeney and not once with all the mediocrity which surrounded the heavyweight title in the early thirties, was tempted back for “just one more”. Heeney, now aged thirty boxed on for another five years but his star quickly waned and he became known as a useful trial horse for the rising young heavies. However if they weren’t destined for a place at the top, Tom beat them (Adapted from Kiwis With Gloves On by Brien O’Brien)

WHO WAS GENE TUNNEY

Gene Tunney, was born James Joseph Tunney to a working class Irish Catholic family in New York City, on the 25^th May 1897. His father worked as a longshoreman, loading and unloading freighter cargo at New York harbour and was a boxing fan for most of his life. Tunney’s father fought in matches at the Oweney Geaghan boxing club in the Bowery. The young Tunney got into fights on the streets of Grenwich Village, so his father gave him a pair of boxing gloves for his tenth birthday, in the hope that he would learn to properly defend himself.

At fifteen years of age, Tunney dropped out of school and got a job as an office boy at the Ocean Steamship Company, earning five dollars a week. He moved up to mail clerk and from there was promoted to freight classifier. During breaks, Gene sparred with any of his office mates, who were willing to shove desks and filing cabinets aside to form a makeshift ring. He further honed his skills at the Grenwich Village Athletic Club

In 1915, Gene Tunney became a professional boxer. His first match-up was against an accomplished young boxer named Bobby Dawson. Tunney’s seventh round knockout earned him eighteen dollars and left him with a taste for more.

Gene Tunney, fought some 68 official professional bouts, losing only to Harry Greb in a fight where the World Light Heavyweight title changed hands. However Tunney fought many more unofficial contests in the ring, called “newspaper decisions” where the unofficial scoring was offered up by newspaper reporters. He lost none of the “newspaper decisions” but he said that he did lose to a ten round decision to Tommy Loughran while in the Marine Corps during WW1.

However Gene Tunney, is best remembered in boxing for the Battle of the Long Count, in the second fight with Jack Dempsey.

The Long Count Fight between Tunney and Dempsey, was the rematch from their first meeting, where Tunney had taken Dempsey’s World Heavyweight title. The second fight was held on the 22 September 1927 at Soldiers Field in Chicago and drew a gate of $2,658,660 produced by the  120,000 spectator’s ringside, which equates to around 22 million in 2018 dollars. It was simultaneously the first $1 million gate and the first $2 million dollar gate in entertainment history.

The fight took place under the new rules regarding knockdowns. The fallen fighter would have ten seconds to rise to his feet under his own power, after his opponent moved to a neutral corner. The new rule, which wasn’t universally applied at the time, was requested by the Dempsey camp.

Tunney was by all accounts dominating the fight, however in round seven, Dempsey had Tunney trapped on the ropes and unleashed a combination of punches that floored the champion. Apparently dizzy and disorientated Tunney grabbed hold of the ring rope while Dempsey stood over him. Dempsey ignored referee Dave Barry’s instructions to go to a neutral corner

Referee Dave Barry ordered Dempsey into a neutral corner to no avail and by the time that the former champion finally walked to the neutral corner and the referee started his count – some 13 seconds elapsed before the count began. Tunney recovered and went on to win the contest by way of a unanimous decision.

Gene Tunney was elected the esteemed Ring Magazine first ever Fighter of the Year in 1928. He was later elected to the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1980, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Gene Tunney - Professional Boxing Record

68 Fights          65 Wins (48 Knockouts) - 1 Defeat – 1 Draw – 1 No Contest

THE HARD ROCK FROM DOWN UNDER

Like Tunney, Tom Heeney was born to Irish immigrant parents and came into the world on 18th March 1889 in Gisborne, New Zealand. The similarities between Tunney and Heeney continued with both brought up in modest circumstances with boxing being a family tradition.

Tom learnt to box from his father at a young age, with older brother Jack the first to excel in the squared ring. Jack won the New Zealand Amateur Welterweight championship in 1914 and held the Middleweight Professional title from 1919 to 1924.

Standing five-foot ten, Tom was a trifle short for a top class heavyweight. What he lacked in reach he made up with an explosive punch. For Tom there could be no sitting back and of necessity fought most of his battle at close range. (Sounds like a description of David Tua some seven and eight decades later).

Tom Heeney excelled at other sports and was also a strong swimmer. He was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Humane Society in 1928 for helping rescue two women from the sea off Waikanae beach in Gisborne. The aspiring boxer was a more than useful rugby player and represented the combined Hawkes Bay/Poverty Bay team, against the touring Springboks in 1921.

Turning pro in 1920, Tom won the New Zealand Heavyweight Professional crown at his third pro start, when he beat Albert Poole in Gisborne during 1921. While he defeated the best in New Zealand, one boxer that he struggled with was Australian Colin Bell, with whom he battled to a draw on their first meeting in Gisborne and then lost on two subsequent occasions.

Tom Heeney boxed in England and South Africa in 1920’s, before moving to America in 1927. He beat Jim Maloney, Johnny Risko and Jim Delaney to be ranked number four in the World Heavyweight ranks.

A draw with Jack Sharkey, who would go on to become the World Heavyweight Champion in 1932, propelled Tom Heeney into the World Heavyweight title contest with Gene Tunney on the 26^th July 1928 at Yankee Stadium.

The sobriquet of The Hard Rock from Down Under, was bestowed on Tom Heeney by renowned writer and journalist Damon Runyon, after his gritty performance in the World Heavyweight title fight.

Tom Heeney was inducted to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1996

Tom Heeney - Professional Boxing Record

69 Fights          37 Wins (15 Knockouts) - 22 Defeats – 8 Draws – 1 No Contest       

Article added: Saturday 04 August 2018