I've checked his record which is 64-11-1 with only 15 KOs. The most interesting thing is that before moving up to HW he was considered featherfisted having only 7 ko's in like 60 fights. But against HW opponents he scored 8 KOs in 14 wins, having lost only 2 to great Joe Louis and even staggered Louis in the 1st fight. And he only added like 6-7 lbs to his frame. So "featherfisted" former middleweight and light heavy had 14-2 (8 KOs) at HW division.
Two things probably helped his KO percentage at heavyweight. 1) good chance he was physically draining himself to make the LHW and MW divisions and 2) his blinding speed was something the big boys were unacumstomed to seeing and probably they got caught a few times thinking they could walk over this "feather foisted" LHW
Some fighters do become more effective punchers as they step up in weight. It is unusual but it happens.
With his fast feet I think Billy had more space to time fully leveraged blows on heavyweights. He was really striking Louis with all he had. On film I can see There was real whip on those hooks he hurt Louis with and they landed real flush. Maybe the smaller guys prevented Billy from having the time to really sit down on his punches?
Conn was a young fighter, 22 or 23 I think, so it could just be he was developing power as he matured physically. On the other hand, he might just have been matched favourably.
I think its really rare when boxer moves up to HW and his KO % gets better, any examples (excluding Conn)?
Yeah, been saying this for year, he's badly misunderstood as a HW. The Pastor stoppage is superb, despite the low-blow chat.
Several factors. Level of competition, difference in speed and boxing ability, and the fact that you no longer have to cut weight. Michael Moorer's KO% went down when he moved to HW from LHW. He stopped everybody he fought at LHW but the toughest guys he fought at LHW were Leslie Stewart KO8 and Frankie Swindell KO6. At HW he stopped his first 5 opponents. Mike White was the first man to last the distance with Moorer (10 rounds) but he lost every round, was dropped a couple of times, and was almost stopped toward the end of the 10th round. Mike White is 6'10" with an 85' reach and weighed 270Lbs. He had been stopped 4 times prior to this fight. In Moorer's next fight he was dropped by Everett "Bigfoot' Martin but won about 9 out of 10 rounds. Martin had also gone the distance with Dwight Qawi, George Foreman, and Pierre Coetzer. He had been stopped by James "Bonecrusher" Smith and others though. He did go on to upset Tim Witherspoon by SD. At HW Moorer stopped Alex Stewart, Bert Cooper (was dropped twice though), Frans Botha, and Vassiliy Jirov (who had moved up from CW). Not a big KO artist at HW. Ezzard Charles still had a good amount of KOs at HW but at LHW you were much more likely to get KTFO by Charles.
Plenty of Middles/ Light Heavies went the distance with Archie Moore.Partly its a question of quality.imo.
