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-   -   Gene Tunney vs Harry Wills exhibit card? (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=291462)

LuckyLarry 11-07-2020 03:30 PM

Gene Tunney vs Harry Wills exhibit card?
 
I picked up this card today at our local show. I don't know boxing but it appears this card is from 1923 (Tunney listed as 26 years old). Wills was the number one contender Jack Dempsey held the crown. Since he was the number one contender Wills wanted to fight for the crown, and Tunney wanted to fight Wills. Apparently a contract for a fight (Tunney vs Wills) was signed. But for some reason this fight never occurred. Wills then had two fights with Dempsey which both got called off. Finally in 1926 Tunney beat Dempsey for the heavyweight crown. Do I have this correct lol?
There are a couple images of these "Table Of Comparisons" exhibit cards via Google including a Wills/Dempsey for another fight that never happened.
So what have I got here?
Larry
https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=29078https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=29079

Exhibitman 11-07-2020 04:41 PM

This was part of a group of heavyweight contenders Table of Comparisons cards issued by ESCO. Here's Dempsey-Tunney:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ey%20table.jpg

One or the other of the vital stats is incorrect; Dempsey was born in 1895, Tunney in 1897. If I had to bet, I would guess that Tunney's age was incorrectly stated at the time the art was created; in 1925 he would have been 28 and Dempsey would have been 30. Some others:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...%20Sharkey.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...%20Dempsey.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...s%20Tunney.jpg

I don't think the age given for Tunney is correct. The Sharkey-Tunney card says he is 26 but the image dates to a few years later. Also, in 1923 he was still fighting as a light-heavyweight. Jack Sharkey (born October 1902) is listed as 24, which would put the card at late 1926.

LuckyLarry 11-08-2020 03:23 AM

Thanks Adam!

Larry


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