Sharkey sometimes gets under-rated for mine though Conn would have to be favourite, IMO. Are we giving Conn the benefit of a lesson learned vs Louis? If not I could see Sharkey catching him out with enough combinations to steal rounds. A smart Conn wins on points.
Sharkey's victory over Tommy Loughran makes him seem like the right guy to beat Conn. Also wins over Young Stribling, Jack Delaney and Johnny Risko. The ko wins over Delaney and Loughran are especially impressive as those guys were near impossible to stop. Conn on the other hand put up one of the best boxing performances of all time against Joe Louis. But it wasn't just his performance against Louis that Conn has going for him at heavyweight. He beat the second best heavyweight of the late 1930s, Bob Pastor, via knockout. And he beat Lee Savold, Melio Betina, Gus Dorazio, Al McCoy and others. This fight is a toss up. Both guys are terrific boxers and either one can take this one. However, Conn's focus and consistency makes him a favorite. As brilliant as Sharkey was, he sometimes made stupid decisions during fights or just underperformed and lost opportunities such as when he lost his chance to face Tunney twice by recklessly turning away from Dempsey to speak to the referee and getting kayoed and then drawing with Tom Heney whom he should have beaten. The best of Conn beats Jack 2 out of 3 times but don't be surprised if Sharkey scores a KO or wins a decision.
I'm a little torn. I feel that Sharkey has the tools to win but I think Conn's speed and discipline would make the difference. Sharkey had a habit of shooting himself in the foot (like he did against Dempsey). I'll go with a Conn UD, 9-6.
His KO win over a prime Loughran (who I believe was on par with Conn) speaks very well for him. I do think the circumstances of the knockout were somewhat fortuitous
Great fight. Sharkey I feel was better suited to fight a sneaky smaller guy (which requires a particular skillset--a set of tools that requires apprecation of boxing going beyond trying to degrade Conn into a blown-up light-heavyweight) than Louis. Watching Louis-Conn is always a feast. Billy was otherwordly defensively at times.
There’s a first time for everything, and Sharkey was pretty good at outhustling, rather than outboxing light heavys.
Sharkey. Peak Jack Sharkey would let anyone, anywhere, anytime know that they'd been in a fight even if he ultimately loses. You just don't know when peak Sharkey would show up.
