These are the latest results from the tournament’s first round action!
George Foreman vs. Tommy Burns
Little 5’ 7” Tommy Burns put his head into George Foreman’s chest and swung away! He took a ferocious beating along the way but wasn’t dropped for the first time until the 11th round! By that time, the crowd was cheering wildly for the huge, Canadian underdog. Burns hit the floor again in the 12th – barely beating the count. By the 13th round, Foreman was out of gas but Burns was so beat up and lumped up around the eyes, both fighter stumbled through the 14th and 15th rounds. The final scores – all for Big George – 147-137 twice and 148-136.
Rocky Marciano vs. Leon Spinks
Rocky puts on a workman-like performance, slowing breaking Leon Spinks down with punches to the head and body. A combination capped off by a bludgeoned right to the jaw drops Spinks face first to the canvas with 15 seconds remaining in 4th round. He doesn’t come close to beating the count.
Jack Dempsey vs. Tommy Morrison
Dempsey comes out like a whirlwind and a few punches into the fight, drops Morrison with a perfectly timed left hook to one knee. Morrison gets up and survives the round. After surviving the 2nd, Morrison begins to fight in spurts in the 3rd. Tommy then beings to get a little braver and takes a pounding in the process. With his left eye badly swollen and bleeding, Morrison hits the canvas for the second time in the 6th. He rises only to get engulfed in a torrent of leather. With seconds left in the 6th, referee Stanley Christodoulou rescues Morrison as he sags through the ropes.
Mike Tyson vs. Jess Willard
A prime Mike Tyson is a larger version of a prime Jack Dempsey in many ways. Tyson races out of his corner with bad intentions from the opening bell. Big Jess Willard gets nailed with two huge uppercuts and never recovers. The fight is stopped at the 2:55 mark of the opening round with Willard out on his feet.
Larry Holmes vs. John Tate
Holmes dishes out the most brutal, one-sided pounding of the tournament thus far. Tate takes a beating in this one and arises from a few knockdowns to somehow still be standing when the bell sounds ending the 15th round. Holmes used one of the best jabs in the history of the Heavyweight division to dictate the pace and the fight from the outset. Holmes comes away with a 15-round, one-sided, unanimous decision win.
Gene Tunney vs. Mike Weaver
In the opening round, Weaver cracked Tunney with a hard right hand that buckled his knees. Unfortunately, for Weaver, his best opportunity of the fight slipped away in the opening frame. Tunney employed a hit and move strategy throughout and while Weaver’s size and power advantage gave him sporadic success… it wasn’t enough to keep the fight competitive on the scorecards. By the 10th, Weaver was missing more and more punches and paying with hard, crisp counters from Gene Tunney. A counter hook wobbled Weaver badly in the 11th. In the 12th, a hard combination dropped Weaver hard and an exhausted “Hercules” wasn’t able to beat Stanley Christodoulou’s count.
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