He thought Tunney an affected snob who put on airs. Lots of folks did, actually. It all came to a head when Billy was going into the service. Tunney suggested he go into the Navy. Billy agreed as long as he didn't have to wear the pants the Navy boys wear or something comically Conn-ish like that. Tunney got indignant, saying something to the affect of "Billy Conn will wear what he's ordered to wear!" (You don't say something like that to Billy Conn, even if you're joking) Conn effectively informed Tunney as to which orifice he could shove the Navy. Then joined the Army. Wait! I just found it! Glad to see my memory doesn't fail me. Start on the second half of the page: http://books.google.com/books?id=B6...Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=billy conn tunney&f=false
I had no intention of making it "an issue"..just asking, y'know? By the way, from what I read in that book excerpt, Conn, as I've said, had balls the size of a school bus..challenging SRR like that..but come to think of it, I think Conn would have beaten Robinson..definitely at lightheavy, but also at middle. It goes bac to what I said in an earlier post, who the hell at 175 could worry Conn? After how he nearly toppled Louis..
Everybody was down on Tunney for "being pretentious"..open minded critics, lol..bet they wouldn't be so quick to carp about an individualist in today's boxing scene.
By "individualist" i mean't anyone who's behavior and values didn't fit a strict mold..such as reading Shakespeare instead of fitting the popular stereotype of what a fighter is or was supposed to be. Is there any proof that Tunney wasn't sincerely interested in the things he was so roundly condemned for by the cogniscenti of the time? If there was proof that he actually wasn't sincerely interested in books, and Shakespeare and the likes, then he could surely be labeled a "snob", or a phoney..but otherwise, then he was just guilty of being different from the popular conception of what a prizefighter was supposed to be. Nothing like being judged wrongly by your peers when you follow your own path. What I'm saying is that today, that kind of thinking would considered narrowminded to say the least. Tunney could have been badly misjudged by the sportswriters of his time because he was just "different"...that went hand in hand with being the conquerer of a national sports idol as well.
rc,so Billy Conn, didn't like the Navy, cause he would have had to wear "bell bottom trousers", well I wore them and as a young gob,had no trouble getting young chicks...:happyAs to Billy against Ray Robinson ? Conn was 4 years older than Robinson and bigger than Ray so they never met, but there was a great boxing writer of that time named Frank Graham,who wrote a column in the NY News ,in which he picked the garrulous Conn to have beaten Robinson were they to have met at 147-57 pounds. Billy Conn was a tough,aggressive fiery young fighter who never had an AMATEUR fight...At the tender age of 19-20 years, Billy's "brave" manager, Johnny Ray [ not the singer], threw young Conn to the wolves, facing this tremendous roster of Fritzie Zivic , ex champs, Babe Risko, Vince Dundee, Teddy Yarosz, Young Corbett, Solly Krieger, Oscar Rankins, all seasoned tough fighters, and Billy Conn not only survived, he conquered ! The second greatest Pittsburgh fighter ever, was Billy Conn ,even if he didn't like to wear bell bottom trousers...Cheers...
Conn, to me exemplified the "man of the 40's"..the generation that fought in WW2...that waded fearlessly into the enemy at Normandy, Guadalcanal, etc., and represented the "Greatest Generation"...balls personified, as I said....but I also believe that Tunney has always been sadly misunderstood and unfairly judged..being the giant killer that he was....and an individualist to boot.
:good (though I would disagree with the giant killer distinction. I see Tunney as more of a "mugger" who got to guys and beat them after they were clearly on the downside of their careers: Dempsey, Gibbons, Carpentier, Jeff Smith, Leo Houck, etc. In fact, as you can see, Gene was the one who liked to be sure that he was the "giant", picking on MWs and such throughout much of his career).
The great near triumph over Louis was a positive in a way, because it showed that no lightheavy, past, present or future would have been man enough to defeat Conn, IMO
Wouldn't it be great to have Conn and his cotemporaries around today? The fight game would be fun again. Great fighters and a great era.
Conn, would be devastating today, hammer the bums we have masquerading as light heavies, however, Tunney managed to beat Dempsey, so he ia my pick here.
I agree Conn would as a LH, be devastating today as would Moore, Charles, Tunney, Delaney, Berlenbach, Rosenbloom, JH Lewis, etc. Yes Tunney managed to "beat" Dempsey , [probably not in the long count], but that Dempsey, after a 4 year layoff as we know, was a slow shell of himself, whilst the Joe Louis of 1941,who finally caught up to Conn in the 13th round, was just a shade past his prime. Conn had the harder task as Billy was fighting at 169 pounds ,whilst Gene Tunney against Dempsey was a solid 192 pounds...Cheers...