Watch boxing’s most controversial moment!

‘The Long Count’ – Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney, 1927

Heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey had reigned the heavyweight division from 1919 until 1926. He finally lost his title to great champion, Gene Tunney in a unanimous decision in front of 125,000 fans in Philadelphia. The largest gate crowd at the time to ever attend a single sporting event.

Dempsey by this point was a tired champion and was beaten to the punch by the Tunney. It was Dempsey’s first loss in 6 years and only his 2nd loss in a decade.

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He’d have a chance to regain the title in a rematch with Tunney 364 days later but fell victim to a new rule in place where after scoring a knockdown, the boxer would have to go to a neutral corner before the count began.

Dempsey poleaxed Tunney with many punches, flooring him hard in the 7th in what is known as “The Long Count”. Tunney was on the floor for almost 15 seconds and recovered to win by unanimous decision.

It was the end of the Dempsey era, a climax to “The Roaring Twenties” and still to this day, one of boxing’s most controversial moments.

Watch this historical boxing moment below…