Lloyd Marshall v Billy Conn?

This is a very tough one. This one hurts my head. I'm gonna go make myself a Manhattan and think about it.

 

I may have to revisit my youthful days and do a Long Island Iced Tea to process this one. At least you had the foresight to apologize as soon as you posted it.

 

we say Conn because we think we have too.

I have never believed this Boxing Bull****.

TOP MEN are TOP MEN...

this is not a given for Conn, not at all, Conn can and should win, though he would never do it everytime.

Marshall could and would beat him plenty, and at times good & proper. But Conn might just have the edge, 'might' and just.

Not a 50/50 scenario, but perhaps 60/40 Conn, or less even 55/45.

I'd pay good money to see them in a series!!!

 

"Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread". So here I go. The Billy Conn of 1940-1 would outpoint Lloyd Marshall without too much problems. Ths Conn of the Louis fight who besides giving Louis hell for 13 rounds,was on a roll whipping such fighters as Melio Bettina, Gus Lesnevich, Lee Savold, koing the tough boxer Bob Pastor, Gunnar Barlund
etc. This Billy Conn would have whipped Lloyd Marshall because of his speed and
innate toughness. Because of WW2, Conn lost 4 years of his prime, and might have beaten most every LH in my opinion. The key word is MIGHT...Conn by unanimous dec.
over Lloyd Marshall...

 

22 days is plenty of time to think about it. I watched footage of both (including Conn-Bettina on youtube, complements of

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which anyone reading this ought to subscribe to) and here's how I see it....

Conn is the greater boxer. What catapults him high is not only what he was doing to a who's who of world class middleweights in the 30s when he was still growing, but Louis I.

That being said, I'd bet a bunch on Marshall. Marshall was a couple of inches shorter but had a couple of inches on Conn in reach. That counts for a little -but what counts for alot is their contrasting styles. Conn was not a rhythm fighter and I am not so sure that he'd be comfortable dealing with a rhythm fighter who could bang as well, especially something like Marshall.

Watch Charles-Marshall II. I don't see Conn handling that version of Ezzard. No way. Marshall lost in a sixth round KO but had Ezzard down in the first for a 9 count.

Conn did not move his head much. He moved on the perimeter and was a good judge of distance, had a good jab; but when the other guy attacked, he tended to drop his head low and grab or counter or grab and counter -that was effective against guys who fought a more sedentary style. He had gams like Ginger Rogers but I think Conn's best con was inside when he'd grab a guy and the guy would relax and Conn would appear to relax and then he'd explode 6 shots to the head and body punctuated by left hooks. It's beautiful how he did that. That was how he hurt guys -including Louis.

But see, on a guy like Marshall, that ain't working. Marshall would be dipping all over the place, feinting all over the place, and his counters were harder shots. One of his uppercuts to the body of Ezzard lifted him off the canvas. He punched in combinations like Conn, but was more relaxed, more loose.

Billy was a pure boxer, a stand-up boxer with tricks and a large heart, but while his style was good for other stand-up types (including Louis), it would not work as well with Marshall who was a boxer-puncher and counterpuncher who knew all the angles and how to counter from blind ones.

Gotta go with Marshall here, reluctantly, so I'll say by SD.

 

I'm not qualified to give an opinion on this but, Marshall supposedly had chin issues ,against the relatively light punching Conn,and with his own acknowledged power I think Marshall has a good shout here. Maybe Conn's speed makes the difference?:think

 

Marshall did have a suspect chin but like you say that won't be much of a factor here. I don't see Conn as all that much faster than Marshall, at least not fast enough to overcome the difficulty I see him having with Marshall's style and assets.

 

Roy Jones Jr.

 

There isn't enough of Marshall to make an accurate pick, but he does look to have amazing skills, speed, power, well maybe everything except a tad shy on punch resistance but that may have been down to being a little reckless and taking chances. Marshall also absolutely has some of the best wins of all time with his KO of Ezzard Charles, a close Burley win, a win over Holman losses and 2 close controversial losses to him.

I don't know who'd win, it's hard to call but Marshall's somewhat reckless nature maybe beneficial in this kind of bout against a lesser puncher

 

Conn wins a close one.

 

I have this one: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56fBd7nfmUY[/ame] on a dvd, only its better quality, slowed down to just about real speed and colored in an eerie green tint. The smoke rising up the lights is surreal.

Lloyd is about 30 here and I absolutely love his style. Ezzard is in his prime and it is painfully clear how dangerous he was. I was struck by how completely relaxed Lloyd is despite what was in front of him.

 

REPEAT...

agree totally too with a Marshall victory - he is one of my favorite fighters, and for good reason, he's a Great!!!