Re: Footage of legends/disappointment etc

You just showed Langford footage that makes him look skilled and smart. What is your point?

 

Part of the problem with this film of Conn-Bettina (beyond the poor quality) is that Bettina looks to be getting the better of Conn in much of this footage. I have never studied this fight but I suspect the footage was edited down to the most competitive parts which wouldnt do Conn, the winner, any favors.

 

Mr Bean.

 

From the reports it seems it just wasn't a very good performance from Conn

 

This may be very true. Bettina had a raft of followers from Beacon, NY who attended his big fights in droves. They even had a band play at some of his MSG fights as I recall reading. Usually during this time period, promoter Mike Jacobs was the person who commissioned the filming of fights to be shown later at theaters. Generally speaking, only the most important fights, like the ones with fighters like Joe Louis and occasionally Henry Armstrong or Barney Ross were filmed for commercial use. Most other films which survive from the 1940s were home movies filmed by friends of the fighters. With Bettina's rabid following, a reasonable guess would be that one of his fans may have filmed the fight and edited it to show Melio to advantage for showings back home to his friends in Beacon. Had he defeated Conn and continued to defend the light-heavy title, there likely would have been more Bettina fights filmed for his hometown folks.

There is no evidence I know of to suggest that any of Conn's fans ever filmed his fights. The only other films I know of were the Louis fights filmed at Jacobs' direction.

 

The Conn-Bettina film was commercially produced by Jacobs. However its been edited down for Greatest Fights of the Century or Famous Fights or some such program and often times when edited down (and maybe in the original theatrical production) it was made to be as exciting and competitive as possible.

I found mention once of a film of the Conn-Zale fight which was being shown but I believe that one was a home movie that someone took from ringside. Id pay a fortune for that one.

 

That would explain the good technical quality of the film.

 

What can't be seen on any film is how hard the boxer's punches are. Every man that boxed Langford said he was the hardest puncher they ever fought. You can't see that on film.