ROUND 1
Dempsey rushes out at the opening bell, which is drowned out by the roar of more than 80,000 fans packing the creaking, wooden rafters at Boyle's Thirty Acres.
Dempsey lands a solid right to the body, then a left hook to the ribs. Tunney probes with a couple of jabs while backing away from the charging Dempsey, a dance that continues for better than half the round.
With less than a minute left, Tunney slips a wild right to the head, sets himself, and unloads a stiff jab followed by a right cross down the middle. The shot mashes Dempsey's face and forces The Manassa Mauler to stop in his tracks, then stumble back a couple of steps.
Tunney, sensing that Dempsey is hurt, pounces, driving the tournament's top seed to the ropes as the crowd gets even louder, if that is possible.
Dempsey tries to bob and weave, but can't make Tunney miss. After briefly grabbing the top rope with his right glove to steady himself, Dempsey tries to clinch, but Tunney rebuffs the embrace with a hard right shortly before the bell.
Dempsey stays on his feet, but blinks his eyes hard, twice, and shakes his head before trudging to his corner after a first round that did not go at all the way he had planned.
ROUND 2
Rather than build on his dominant first round, Tunney is content to backpedal and jab in the second.
Dempsey is left with few options but to chase and spends most of the frame swinging at air. About a minute in, he connects with a jab-cross-hook combo that lands with some force, but is unable to follow up. Still, the flurry is probably enough to carry a slow round.
Dempsey's frustration shows late in the round, when he slams his right shoulder into Tunney's chin, drawing a reprimand from referee Samuel Viruet.
ROUND 3
Tunney begins the round back on his bicycle, but after withstanding another three-punch combination, sets his feet and begins trading with Dempsey.
This seemingly foolhardy approach works because Tunney is able to time Dempsey's attacks perfectly, slamming home right-hand leads and quick jab-hook combos as the latter begins to throw his wider punches.
Dempsey has some success after shifting his attack to the body, but Tunney seemingly takes the round with a hard right cross followed by an uppercut with the same hand shortly before the bell.
At ringside, Roy Paeth scores each of the first three rounds for Tunney, though many along press row give Dempsey at least the second.
ROUND 4
In a repeat of the second round, Tunney backpedals and jabs while Dempsey stalks. After little action for the first two minutes, Dempsey lands a double hook to the jaw, though neither connects with full force.
Tunney straightens the crouching Dempsey with a right uppercut, then clinches before his pursuer can respond. Dempsey lands a straight right just above the belt that seems to knock some of the wind out of Tunney. Another tough-to-score round, depending on whether the judges prefer defense and technique or the occasional hard punch.
ROUND 5
Tunney opens with uncharacteristic aggression, landing a right uppercut from waaay outside that takes Dempsey by surprise.
He quickly shakes it off, though, connecting with a crunching overhand right and following up with a hard left hook at the belt line.
Dempsey traps a wounded Tunney in a neutral corner and lands a four-punch salvo, forcing Tunney to clinch.
After Viruet separates them, rather than resume his retreat, Tunney stands toe-to-toe with Dempsey.
After several pretty even exchanges, Tunney snaps Dempsey's head straight back with a cracking right, then lands a jab inside a wide right. But with 10 seconds left, Dempsey jars Tunney with a nasty left hook to the side of the head.
At ringside, Roy Paeth gives a second straight round to Dempsey, putting his unofficial scorecard at 48-47 in favor of Tunney.
ROUND 6
Dempsey opens strong, scoring with a pair of hooks to the ribs and a right uppercut under the chin.
Midway through, though, Tunney starts having success with the jab and then the right cross.
Scoring is again a matter of taste, with Dempsey scoring fewer, but harder, shots.
ROUND 7
Dempsey leaves a pair of jabs short and Tunney responds with a crashing right cross. Dempsey lands a jab, but Tunney counters with an even harder right, which sends The Manassa Mauler stumbling back and to his right.
Tunney pursues, but Dempsey meets him with a left hook that stops him in his tracks. Dempsey seizes the momentum with a blinding flurry of at least eight punches, all of which at least partially land.
Now it is Tunney on the ropes, trying to dodge and parry as Dempsey unloads the heavy artillery.
After ducking a left hook, Tunney delivers a hook to the ribs and a right uppercut to the belly.
Dempsey plants a jab, Tunney connects with a left hook to the face.
The crowd roars more loudly than it has since the opening moments of the first round, responding to the best sustained action of the night.
At ringside, Roy Paeth scores a fourth straight round for Dempsey, giving him an unofficial 67-66 edge.
In the corner, cutman Jimmy Montoya applies an Endswell to Tunney's right eye, which has begun to puff.
ROUND 8
Tunney comes out moving forward, but is slowed by Dempsey's surprising reliance on an effective jab.
After Viruet warns Dempsey for a rather blatant low blow, Tunney misses with a right lead and is punished with a jab-cross combo up top.
Dempsey misses with a hook, leaving an opening for Tunney's arrow-straight right to the face. The two trade hooks to the body shortly before the bell. The swelling around Tunney's right eye worsens.
ROUND 9
Montoya has little luck reducing the swelling and Dempsey immediately targets Tunney's injured right eye.
Dempsey feints as if sending a hook to the ribs, then adjusts his aim upward and crashes a left to the eye. Dempsey misses with a jab but a follow-up cross lands flush.
Driven to the ropes, Tunney sets himself and drills Dempsey with a vicious right that halts the assault, but only temporarily.
Dempsey smashes Tunney with a pair of jolting jabs, hooking off the second one with a heavy shot to the ribs.
Tunney ducks a left hook, but Dempsey lands a brutal right to the top of the head, then straightens his target with a uppercut flush to the face.
Sensing that Tunney is hurt, Dempsey shifts into destroy mode, mixing hard body shots with blazing combinations to the head. All but out on his feet, Tunney is unable to so much as clinch as Dempsey follows a left hook just above the belt line with a thudding jab and a right uppercut that leaves Tunney draped over the top rope near his own corner.
Viruet jumps between the fighters, waving his arms. The crowd and both corners initially think it is merely the end of the round, since the din produced by more than 80,000 ecstatic fans renders any other sound, including that of the bell, mute.
But then Viruet continues walking around the ring, waving his arms above his head. Tunney's trainer, Enzo Calzaghe, realizes what is happening and goes berzerk, charging into the ring after Viruet.
As Montoya tackles Calzaghe to keep him from assaulting the referee, Dempsey, looking bewildered, wanders around the ring, tentatively raising his arms over his head as the crowd is split into three factions -- those cheering Dempsey's apparent victory, those booing an ending they believe to be at best premature and at worst indecisive, and those hollering for someone to explain exactly what happened.
The din quiets, if only slightly, as ring announcer Jimmy Lennon steps to the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, referee Samuel Viruet stops the fight at 2:57 of the ninth round. The winner, and champion of The Roaring Twenties Heavyweight Extravaganza: JACK DEMPSEY!"
POST-FIGHT
If Tunney has any complaint about the stoppage, he is in no shape to voice it. His right eye having swollen shut, he has to be helped from his stool to greet Dempsey, who has come across the ring to check on his opponent's condition.
"He was just too strong," is all Tunney has to say to reporters before being helped through the ring ropes and to his dressing room.
At ringside, Roy Paeth had Dempsey ahead 77-75 through eight completed rounds. The official scorecards had Dempsey even more firmly in control, by scores of 78-74, 78-75 and 78-74.
"I always knew I could take him, if I was at my best," Dempsey said. "Tonight, I was at my best."