Not in a true sense. Most don’t know who he is at all. Those who know his name do so mainly by extension of Mike Tyson.
Great post. I remember, a quarter of a century ago or more, arguing with my friend that Billy Conn had a case for being among the top middleweights of all time.
It’s a fact he’s an atg at 175, arguably the best, but 100% Tyson’s destruction of him is the first thing that comes to peoples minds when Michael Spinks is mentioned, then it’s what a fighter he was at 175
Yeah, but that’s different because that was nowhere near Spinks’s peak performance whereas the Louis fight was Conn’s peak performance and prime
Ya don’t say? It was by far his most high profile fight, thereby the one that got him the most exposure and the one he became known for. Same as Spinks’ fight against Tyson. There’s little to suggest it was his best performance, considering there’s hardly anything else to compare it with. It’s one of only 3 fight films available of Conn that I’m aware of. The others being the Louis rematch 5 years later (Conn having spent 4 of those years fighting in the war) and highlights of his first fight against Melio Bettina for the Lt. Heavy title. So who can say?
