So the official weight given for Billy Conn in the first fight is 174 lbs, but I've seen numerous people claim that Conn's actual weight was 168 lbs. I decided to go on Boxrec and check Billy's weight trend in the last fights before his fight with Louis and saw something interesting: Conn weighed 180 lbs on the 26th of May against Buddy Knox. He fought Louis on the 18th of June. If we take Conn's weight of 168 lbs as valid, then he lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks to fight Louis. Now that's not impossible though Conn was already a lean 180 lbs at 6"2, so it's not like there was much water weight or fat for him to cut. 12 lbs is a substantial amount. What really caught my attention however was that the last time Conn weighed below 170 lbs was 2 years ago, when he rematched middleweight Fred Apostoli, weighing 167 lbs (Billy, not Fred). Conn never weighed below 170 lbs ever again in his professional boxing career. He was 21 years old for the Apostoli fight. The 168 lbs claim now sounds even more outlandish, especially given the time frame for which Conn had to cut from 180 lbs down to 168 lbs, to face the heavyweight champion, when he was consistently winning fights in that division while weighing a good 10 lbs above that. Now that doesn't seem right. On the other hand, going from 180 lbs to 174, that's 6 lbs in 3 weeks, 2 lbs a week, perfectly reasonable. I know Bert Sugar was a respected historian, and he did like to claim that Conn's actual weight was the alleged 168 lbs but how valid is that claim? I spoke with some people who told me that Conn himself said it but when asked to provide me with a source they stopped responding. I thought it was interesting to point out. Feel free to share any information you have on this subject.
I see listings of 6’1 1/2” for Conn but he was actually more like 6’. I tend to believe the 174 lbs is correct. On one hand, if he carried 180 lb well, you might guess he wouldn’t want to lose weight (at the very least) when moving up to fight Louis - but then Conn might’ve also been looking toward optimal mobility and stamina, so dropping the 6 lbs appears to logically cross reference - in terms of motive and being achievable whilst remaining viable.
Both he and Louis were the same height, 187 cm, roughly 6"2. I agree. Dropping 6 lbs for mobility seems reasonable, but would he go down to 168 lbs, a weight he last showed in to fight a middleweight? He didn't show up that light for any heavyweight, why go so low for the baddest of the bunch?
It’s possible Conn purposefully went below 170 to have that speed advantage, but 174 seems healthier and more plausible
Hey Pedro my friend, the photo below isn’t the perfect angle but I think it indicates a clear height difference between Joe and Billy - bearing in mind also that Conn is wearing reg. shoes while Joe is wearing relatively flat heeled boxing shoes. https://www.gettyimages.com.au/deta...w-york-stars-of-the-ring-news-photo/517394392 The photo below is a much better angle and pretty much confirms Joe’s clear height advantage over Billy - the latter appearing very much 6’ flat relative to Joe’s listed height. https://www.gettyimages.com.au/deta...s-ella-burgess-and-boxer-news-photo/577334013
I think this is a Liberty Valance deal: When the legend becomes truth, print the legend. it’s a far more entertaining tale to envision Conn in his 160s boxing Joe’s ears off and then getting greedy and being taken out than it is him being a full light heavy and Louis biding his time and chopping him down.
As far as I can make out the story that Conn was 169 lbs was made up by his manager to help in the campaign for a rematch in 1946. Supposedly Conn was so worried about his mother's illness and his dispute with his prospective father in law that he wasted away and was in no condition to fight. The weigh-in which produced the figure of 174 was observed by a large group of press and none of them reported seeing anything amiss.
Good golly, I've been led astray once more! Good find Pug, so Boxrec is wrong on this one. Question is, is Louis taller than 187 cm or is Conn just 185 cm? Because Louis sure looks taller than 6"1½ next to Ali. In any case, 180 lbs is still pretty lean for a man of Conn's height. He'd still need to shed 12 lbs worth of water and fat in 3 weeks. I wouldn't be completely dismissive of the possibility but 174 lbs is much more in line with his weight fluctuations around that time period.
Yes, going from 180 to 168 lbs in such a short time frame would've sapped him away a good deal. Problem is, he looks superb on film. I have a feeling the "Conn got cocky and went for a knockout claim" also originates from the effort to hype the rematch.
