The Long Count Fight Dempsey v. Tunney

above photo provided by and available at Amazon...see below.

The neutral corner rule regarding the fighter still on his feet after a knockdown was in place for this fight at the request of Dempsey. The rule states that the fighter on his feet must retreat to a neutral corner before the referee can start the count on the fallen fighter. The referee would start the count at 'one' and the fallen fighter has 10 seconds to rise to his feet on his own power.

Tunney was dominating rounds 1 through 6 by points. Although round 6 is disputed by some who say Dempsey had the lead. Then came the fateful 7^th round. Dempsey had Tunney against the ropes and pummeled him with a barrage of lefts and rights sending Tunney to the floor. This was the first time in his career that Tunney was knocked down.

Dempsey either forgot or ignored the new rule and did not retreat to a neutral corner, instead he stood over Tunney waiting for him to get up as he always did with his opponents. Referee Dave Barry directed Dempsey to a neutral corner but by the time Dempsey complied 5 seconds had elapsed on the clock. Tunney with one hand on the rope rose to his feet at the official count of nine; the unofficial count was actually 14 seconds giving Tunney five precious seconds to recover.

Tunney dominated the final two rounds and won by a unanimous decision.

Of course there are those in the Dempsey camp who said Dempsey would have won had it not been for the extra 5 seconds of recovery time for Tunney.