DEFEATING HIS OWN PURPOSE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 595, 22 February 1929, Page 12

DEFEATING HIS OWN PURPOSE

is »11“ Daily Mail” pungently observes, it comes as a rude A shock to find a studious man of letters and social distinction like 'Mr. J J. Tunney handing out a knock-out punch to an over- • photographer who vainly sought to persuade Mr. Tm nev and his million-dollar wife to “watch for the diekeyhird.” Even in the days when he was plain Gene of the prize'll r . Tunney was denounced as a poseur, but after cold • r •ncr had triumphed over Tom Heeney’s bulging strength, it , thought that the champion’s marriage and accumulated social prestige had eliminated the primitive lust for battle. One can imagine that Mr. Bernard Shaw will chuckle noisily in the depths of his belligerent beard, and hail Mr. Turtney’s fall from grace as diverting proof of his meaty theories ilia nian’s progression down the “ringing grooves of change” is al;in to a toboggan slide. This time, Mr. Tunney has got tipped nut. and the whole world laughs. It is at least fair to the luckless adventurer along the treacherous paths of social distinction to firmly contradict the “Daily Kxpress's” suggestion that Mr. Tunney has gone back on his bumble supporters of less affluent days. Mr. Tunney can truthfully urge in extenuation of his unfortunate lapse that he owed little or nothing to the swarm of press agents who cluster round the world championship throne. Whatever success he achieved was by his own hard work, self-denial and sheer determination to win liis way to the top of the tree to one day lay fame and fortune at the feet of one of America’s richest heiresses. Whether his oft-expressed abhorrence of publicity was a pose or not, Joseph James Tunney was a credit to the prize-ring during his brief and genuine career as world’s champion. After he had achieved what he set out to do, he did not cling to the title and <lodge matches while he made money out of it, as other champions have done. When he heat Heeney, he immediately gave up his title, and said he was “through” with the ring. Because of that, he is entitled to the respect of all sportsmen, and although he acted rashly and inconsiderately at Cannes the other day, he has suffered for it by bringing on himself the publicity which he seeks to avoid. It is so strange to find anyone dodging- the spotlight of publicity these days that Tunney is having a hard task to persuade the world that he is sincere in his desire to be left alone. In time he may achieve his wish, hut it will not be by committing foolish assaults on enterprising publicity men. By doing that, he is simply defeating his own purpose.