I think billy conn is one of the greatest fighters who ever lived Resume: His record against hall of famers is a respectable 7-4 His record against world champions is a very impressive 17-5 His record against men who were once rated top 10 is 21-5 He defeated Tony Zale Melio Bettina 2x Gus Lesnevich 2x Teddy Yarosz 2x Young Corbett III Fred Apostoli 2x Solly Krieger 2x Vince Dundee Eddie Babe Risko Fritzie Zivic Oscar Rankins Bob Pastor Gus Dorazio Lee Savols Gunnar Barland Al McCoy A very impressive resume top to bottom. It has quality, it has depth from 160-heavy. Most of these men he defeated were young and near their primes. He defeated a wide variety of styles. He nearly defeated a prime Joe Louis. Ahead on 2 cards after 12 rounds. For the first 12 rounds, it was one of the finest performances in boxing history against the greatest heavyweight who ever lived. Louis held a 25lb weight advantage. Despite the loss, I still rate it as one of the best performances in ring history. How many men weighing 175 or less in ring history could have done what conn did that night to Louis? Head to Head: Billy ranks way up there, he impresses on film. Tall for his weight class at 6’2, Brilliant mind in the ring, he had elite boxing skills, very fast hands, elite footwork, a nice left jab, he understood range and distance as well as any one in history. He possessed an underrated offense capable of hurting anyone from 160-heavy, an accurate good combination puncher, wore fighters down with attrition, threw punches from all angles. Where do you rate him?
I think that he was one of the greatest p4p talents, but that the war prevented him from realizing that potential.
Absolutely brilliant fighter and a true all time great. The war robbed him of so much historical standing. Turned pro immediately or almost immediately was given tough fights early on that paid dividends and became near unbeatable for long stretch. No war, I think Conn goes down as a top 10-15 p4p talent.
The Old-timers always brought up Conn's name when listing out the great fighters 1950 and earlier. He was LtHvy Champ from 7/39 to 6/40....before he moved up to go after the heavies & Joe Louis. Unfortunately time has caused his ranking to fade. Pre-Louis 1 1941-04-04 : Billy Conn 178 lbs beat Gunnar Barlund 194½ lbs by TKO in round 8 of 10 Location: Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois, USA Referee: Barney Ross When he came back from the WAR, he fought Tony Zale as a "tune-up" before the Louis v Conn 2 fight Billy Conn vs Tony Zale (Redirected from Fight:17509) This content is protected 1942-02-13 : Billy Conn 175¾ lbs beat Tony Zale 164¼ lbs by UD in round 12 of 12 Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA Referee: Eddie Joseph Judge: Bill Healy Judge: Charles Draycott Photo #2, Photo #3, Photo #4
Did Joe C. ever go up and fight Heavies / Cruisers? I see Joe won the The Ring Mag LtHvy Title against BHop, and defended it against Roy Jones. I believe Conn had 10+ fights against the definition of "heavyweights" back in the early 40's.
I don’t see it. Conn had beautiful footwork, he understood range, he moved a lot. CalZaghe took great angles with his feet but he wasn’t a mover..he stayed right in the pocket. Both threw similar flurries and combinations, but conn hit much harder based on him knocking out world ranked cruiser weight size fighters. conn was also taller and bigger than joe