Boxing: A Hard Rock from our place

By SIMON SHEPPARD

He was known as the Hard Rock from Down Under and it took a superman to beat him — a superman in the form of the legendary Gene Tunney.

His name was Tom Heeney, from Gisborne, the ninth child of poor Irish immigrants, and he was the last New Zealander to challenge for the world heavyweight title, against Tunney on July 26, 1928, at New York's Yankee Stadium.

It was one of boxing's most punishing fights, and afterwards Tunney paid tribute to the toughness and spirit of his opponent.

Heeney was born in Gisborne on May 19, 1898. When he left school he was apprenticed as a plumber. On his 19th birthday Heeney enlisted, but he was still training in Britain when the Armistice was signed.

Heeney represented Poverty Bay against the Springboks in 1921, but boxing was the family passion. His father would give lessons to his boys and neighbourhood, and Heeney's brother Jack later became New Zealand middleweight champion.

Heeney turned professional in 1921 and soon made his mark, beating the New Zealand heavyweight champion that year.

When Heeney left New Zealand in 1924 to follow his career in Britain, Sir James Carroll, an MP, attended his send-off. "Now, Heeney, don't disappoint Gisborne," Carroll said. "Don't bring sorrow and tears on the North Island. You have youth and muscle and I urge you to be strong and do your best, for it will reflect not only on yourself but also on Maoriland."

When in Britain, Heeney didn't exactly set the boxing world on fire. Two years later he went to the United States, where he intended to continue boxing to pay for his trip home.

Then his fortune changed. He won a succession of fights and the nickname of the Hard Rock from Down Under. He worked his way up to fourth-ranked heavyweight and secured a title shot in 1928 after a 10-round draw with future champion Jack Sharkey.

Heeney would be matched against Gene Tunney, a former Marine who was one of the most scientific boxers who ever fought as a heavyweight. After beating Jack Dempsey in 1926, Tunney successfully defended the title against him the following year.

Heeney trained with brothers Arthur, Patrick and Jack, who fought on the undercard. His sparring partners included future heavyweight champion James J. Braddock.

The critics were not impressed. "It can be said with safety that he is carrying too much flesh," was the verdict, and Heeney was considered awkward where timing and accuracy were concerned. The consensus was: "He will not step back from Tunney. The question may be whether he can catch him." And Tunney was in outstanding form."

Of the challenger the critics said: "Heeney is the immovable object and onrushing force rolled into one, with the heart of a lion and a jaw of corrugated iron."

Even Dempsey was impressed: "Heeney has a better than even chance of winning. Only a superman can beat him."

Heeney was giving nothing away to the press: "To tell you the bloody truth, I don't know just what we are going to do against Tunney. However, I am going to fight my own fight."

Tunney was guaranteed $525,000 and Heeney $100,000. But promoter Tex Rickard lost substantially. From 88,000 tickets printed, only 45,890 were sold. The betting odds of 3:1 in Tunney's favour reflected the general assumption that Heeney was outmatched. Heeney had a professional record of 34 fights with 27 wins (10 by knockout), four draws and three losses. Tunney had fought 62 times and lost only one fight.

Heeney was described as "pale and nervous" when he weighed in at 92kg to Tunney's 87kg. He stood only 1.77m to Tunney's 1.85m and had a reach of only 1.8m compared with Tunney's 1.9m. When the fighters entered the ring Heeney was wearing a Maori cloak sent to him by Lady Carroll, Sir James' widow. The fight was broadcast in what was described as "the most ambitious radio station hook-up in history." Listeners throughout the world would hear Heeney receive, in the words of the press, "the beating of his life."

He started aggressively and was warned at the end of the first round for punching after the bell. His best shot came in the third round. The commentator said Heeney "almost upset the champion with a right to the jaw as Tunney missed a punch for the chin. The punch landed almost full in Tunney's face as he was out of balance and the champion almost dived through the ropes near his own corner."

But Heeney was then given a boxing lesson as the champion exhibited all his ruthless skill. Heeney's face was opened up in the fourth round and in the eighth he was nearly blind. He took a terrible beating for three more rounds and was floored by a left hook at the end of the 10th.

The announcer, Graham McNamee, blurted: "Heeney caught a terrific left to the body. Heeney's half out of the ring. I think it's going to be all over now." At the bell Heeney was "knocked out as cold as ever a fighter was knocked out."

Heeney gamely came out for the next round but Tunney fired "a broadside of rights and lefts so viciously and effectively that Heeney was barely able to stand."

It was so one-sided that Tunney dropped his hands and snapped at referee Eddie Forbes: "How much more do you want him to take?" Forbes stopped the bout after 2m 52s of the 11th round.

Tunney was generous in victory, saying: "I have nothing but admiration for Heeney's courage. I found the Hard Rock hard indeed ... I saw that it was impossible to knock him out with one punch and so I shifted to an attack that would wear him down."

Heeney was resigned in his appraisal: "I can't say that he is a terrific puncher, but he did to me what no other man ever did. That tells the story."

The New York Times said : "After the fight Heeney went to the broadcasting microphone, with a Maori mat in his hand, and he thanked the gathering and the people of New Zealand, concluding his speech with the words, 'Kia ora,' the meaning of which he explained.'"

New Zealand papers acknowledged that the local boy was outclassed: "Yet he did something better than winning. He 'played the game' and he played the man, and he took his beating as a man should."

It was Tunney who retired after the bout. Heeney married a New York girl, Marion Dunn, and continued boxing for five years. But he was never the same fighter — of his 22 subsequent bouts he won only five. He retired in 1933 and set up a restaurant in Miami, where he died in 1984.

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