On This Day
In Boxing History!
1927: Jack Dempsey vs Gene Tunney
Infamous Long Count
September 22nd
National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Title
Soldiers Field, Chicago
On September 22, 1927, Gene Tunney retained the world heavyweight championship with a unanimous 10-round decision over Jack Dempsey at Soldier Field in Chicago, in one of the most debated and enduring championship bouts in boxing history. The rematch—later immortalized as The Long Count Fight—drew a reported 104,943 spectators and produced a gate of $2,858,660, underscoring the immense national interest surrounding the return meeting between champion Tunney and former titleholder Dempsey. Referee Dave Barry officiated the contest, which was Tunney’s first defense after he had won the championship from Dempsey by unanimous decision in Philadelphia on September 23, 1926.
The decisive controversy unfolded less than a minute into the seventh round. Dempsey, the feared “Manassa Mauler,” trapped Tunney and sent the champion to the canvas with a crushing left hand after a sustained attack. Under the Illinois rule in effect for the bout, the standing fighter had to retreat to the farthest neutral corner before the referee could begin counting over a fallen opponent. Dempsey, accustomed to remaining close to hurt opponents in anticipation of an immediate follow-up attack, did not promptly comply with Barry’s orders. The referee therefore could not start the official count until Dempsey had moved away.
That delay created the moment that would define the fight. Contemporary and later accounts differ on the exact elapsed time, but the delay before the official count is widely described as approximately four or five seconds; an official timekeeper was later quoted as having reached 13 when Tunney rose, while Dempsey maintained that the champion had been down for 14 seconds. What is undisputed is that Tunney rose at referee Barry’s official count of nine, successfully beat the count, and survived the round. The episode became permanently known as “the long count,” although the official count itself remained within the rules once it began.
The seventh-round knockdown marked the first time Tunney had been knocked down as a professional, yet it did not decide the championship. Tunney regained his composure, used his movement and boxing intelligence to blunt Dempsey’s attack, and answered decisively in the eighth round dropping Dempsey with a right hand. The "Fighting Marine" then took control of the bout’s closing stages, outboxing Dempsey over the remaining rounds and securing the unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
The fight’s aftermath helped cement both men’s legacies. Dempsey never fought professionally again, making the Tunney rematch the final bout of his celebrated career. Tunney fought once more, defending the heavyweight championship against Tom Heeney in July 1928 before retiring undefeated as heavyweight champion. Although the long-count dispute fueled debate for generations, the official result stands unchanged: Gene Tunney retained the world heavyweight title by unanimous decision over Jack Dempsey.
The historical significance of the fight extends beyond the ring. In March 2011, the Tunney family donated the gloves Gene Tunney wore in the 1927 Dempsey rematch to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The museum described the gloves and related artifacts as important pieces of American sports history, preserving the legacy of a championship contest whose seventh-round controversy remains one of boxing’s most recognizable moments.
*** Tunney down for the infamous long count in round seven, strange and almost systematically most historians skip the fact that Tunney dropped Dempsey in round eight enroute to controlling the rest of the bout.
2005: Leavander Johnson Passes!
Leavander Johnson
Birth Name: Leavander William Johnson
Born: 1969-12-24
Hometown: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Birthplace: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Amateur Record: 120-6
Division: Lightweight
Pro-Debut: February 14th, 1989
Alias: Hook
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5′ 9″
Reach: 70″
Career: 1989-2005
Bouts: 42
Rounds: 204
KO’s: 61.9%
Pro-Record: 34-5-2, 26Ko’s
Died: Age 25, September 22nd 2005
On June 17, 2005, Leveander Johnson captured the vacant IBF lightweight title with a 7th round TKO over Stefano Zoff in Milan (Milano), Italy. This was Johnson's fourth attempt at capturing a version of the World Lightweight Title. He was stopped in the 8th round in 1994 by Miguel Angel Gonzalez for the WBC belt; he was also stopped in seven rounds by Orzubek Nazarov for the WBA belt in 1997; and in his 3rd attempt he was stopped in the 11th round in 2003 by Javier Jauregui for the vacant IBF belt.
Johnson did win the less recognized IBO lightweight title in 1995, when he stopped Fabian Hector Tejeda in the 6th round; Johnson never defended this belt.
On September 17, 2005, Johnson defended his IBF lightweight title against Jesus Chavez on the Barrera-Peden undercard in Las Vegas, Nevada. Johnson was never in the fight and was dominated, taking a pounding in the later rounds, before referee Tony Weeks stopped the bout in the 11th round. Following the fight Johnson collapsed and was diagnosed with blood clot on the brain, and was induced into a coma. He was rushed into the hospital where he did make progress for a couple of days. However, his condition showed no signs of improvement, and with his organs failing, his family decided to remove care. On September 22, 2005, Leavander Johnson died. He was survived by four children, who were at his side as he died.
September 22nd
1927: Gene Tunney W10 Jack Dempsey
1932: Ingemar Johansson is born in Gothenburg, Sweden
1933: Young Stribling W10 Maxie Rosenbloom
1937: Frank Gelb born.
1938: Peter Kane W15 Jackie Jurich
1950: John H. Stracey is born in Barking, England
1960: Pone Kingpetch KO8 Pascuel Perez
1964: Emile Griffith W15 Brian Curvis
1973: Jose Napoles W15 Clyde Gray
1977: Adonis Stevenson is born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
1981: Lupe Pintor KO15 Hurricane Teru
1983: Donald Curry KO6 Nino LaRocca
1984: Richard Sandoval W15 Edgar Roman
Donald Curry KO6 Nino La Rocca
1988: Roger Mayweather KO12 Gato Gonzalez
1989: Antonio Esparragoza KO5 Fili Montoya
1990: Tony Lopez W12 Jorge Paez
1991: Orlando Canizales W12 Fernie Morales
1998: Sugar Shane Mosley KO5 Eduardo Morales
Angel Manfredy W12 John Brown
Freddy Norwood KO10 Koji Matsumoto
2001: Fernando Vargas KO7 Shibata Flores
2005: Leavander Johnson passed days after collapsing following his September 17th 11th round IBF Lightweight Title TKO loss to Jesus Chavez at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
2006: Sharon Anyos TKO6 Esther Schouten
2011: Naoko Fujioka TKO9 Kanittha Kokietgym
Etsuko Tada W10 Nongmuay Kokietgym
2012: Cecilia Braekhus W10 Anne Sophie Mathis
Diego Gabriel Chaves TKO2 Jose Miranda
Juan Jose Montes W12 Oscar Ibarra
Irma Sanchez W10 Carina Moreno
Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr KO9 Rodel Mayol
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk W12 Francisco Palacios
Hekkie Budler W12 Florante Condes
Ricky Burns TKO4 Kevin Mitchell
2015: Shinsuke Yamanaka WSD12 Anselmo Moreno
Moises Flores TKO12 Luis Emanuel Cusolito
Gilberto Ramirez W12 Jesse Hart
Oscar Valdez W12 Genesis Servania
2018: Anthony Joshua TKO7 Alexander Povetkin
2021: Masamichi Yabuki TKO10 Kenshiro Teraji
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