Pundit v. Downunderer
There were three significant men at the fight: Jack Dempsey, 33, who climbed into the ring before the fight, waved a straw hat, shook several hands, evoked the loudest cheer of the evening and such remarks as: "There's a real guy, a colorful guy, for yuh." James Joseph Tunney, 30, pundit, who again demonstrated that the public can be damned, that he is the cleverest heavyweight boxer since "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, that he also has a punch which might well dispute Dempsey's reputation as peerless killer. Henry Ford, 65, who had a good time and whom few people noticed. Also present was Thomas Heeney, 29, hairy-chested blacksmith from New Zealand, who had never before been knocked out by a man's fist. He was beaten, that night last week at the Yankee Stadium, by terrific punches to his heart, by jabs and hooks which made a bloody mush of his nose and left eye. From the fourth to the tenth round, "The Hard Rock from Downunder" was being chewed. And then his jaw, game and unchewed, received a blow which caused the heavy sound upon the canvas of a falling body. Several seconds passed and what was left of Heeney remained almost motionless. Then the gong rang, ending the tenth round. Heeney's seconds carried him to his corner, poured water on him, rubbed him, wiped some of the blood off his face, got him on his feet for the eleventh round. Courageously, he delivered two or three blows, but received a dozen which made his knees bend and his back feel the ropes. Referee Edward Forbes, night sports-editor on the Brooklyn Eagle, stepped forward and stopped the fight, awarding Champion Tunney what is called a technical knockout. Heeney's head was drooping and there was a liquid in his eyes in addition to blood. Tunney went over to him, put two arms on his shoulders, said: "Tom, you are a game man." . . . Promoter George L. ("Tax") Rickard, complaining that the radio was ruining his business and threatening to bar broadcasting in the future, announced a fight deficit of $155,719. The figures: Receipts Gross gate ............................. $691,014 Federal and state taxes........ 169,591 Net gate.................................... 521,423 Cinema rights........................... 20,000 Radio rights............................... 15,000 $556,423
Expenses Tunney................................. $525,000* Heeney................................... 100,000 Yankee Stadium rent..............52,142 General expenses.................... 35,000
Total expenses......................$712,142
Among the 40,000 spectators were Ina Claire, Al Smith Jr., Theodore, Kermit, Archie Roosevelt with their ladies, Vincent Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney with their ladies, Florenz Ziegfeld, Otto Herman Kahn, the Governors of Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey. Graham McNamee's "word picture" via radio to four continents contained the sentence: "I am a little bit more nervous tonight than usual." Pundit Tunney prepared to sail for Europe to be companion of Pundit Thornton Niven Wilder, preparatory school instructor and author of The Bridge of San Luis Rey (TIME, June 25). Whether pundit Tunney would fight again, become a banker or study philosophy remained in doubt.
* Tunney offered to share part of Rickard's loss. Rickard, vexed, said to reporters: "Tell Tunney I will ask for favors when I want them. I made a bargain with Tunney and I have kept it." Rickard also related how he answered Oilman Harry Ford Sinclair's query about the fight. "I just drilled a dry hole, Harry. You should know what that means."