The Best of the Rest: 160lbs Tier II Tournie - Round 1 - Fight 16: Billy Conn UD15 Tommy Gibbons

What i've done is i've lifted top tiers out of my top fifty at the poundage and organised them into a seeded tournament to uncover "the best of the rest" at the poundage, with you, the denizens of the world's greatest boxing history forum, casting the deciding vote. The difference between this middleweight tournament and the equivalent at 175lbs is that I've left ALL the guys with no footage in this time. I understand that makes things difficult and for some, frustrating but there are just far too many excellent and intriguing fighters from middleweight history. I understand this makes making a pick very hard, but i hope you'll still place a vote and make a post because obviously without your input the whole thing becomes meaningless.

Pick your man! Write however many details you like or don't in a post below. But maybe try to post, to keep things moving a little bit. You have three days.

And let's be nice. No reason for disagreeing over total fantasies after all!

15 rounds, 1950s rules and ref. Ten points must. Weigh in is 18 hours before the fight.

I'll only vote if it's tied, then I'll decide the result.

Round of Thirty-Two Fight 16: Tommy Gibbons vs Billy Conn

TOMMY GIBBONS (57-4-1; Newspaper Decisions 39-1-3)

Tommy Gibbons turned professional at middleweight in 1911. There he remained until the end of World War One, and the total losses he recorded in this time was zero, despite some healthy competition. Billy Miske was healthy competition if, like Gibbons, rather green; Willie Brennan was certainly healthy competition, a veteran of a losing war with the great Jack Dillon who had shared the ring with Tommy’s brother Mike and would go on to get the better of men such as George Chip and a creaking Jack Sullivan, but Tommy saw him off over ten. Even more dangerous was Buck Crouse who Tommy matched over ten rounds just a month later but needed only four to stop him, the only man to do so in over one-hundred fights.

It was Harry Greb who defines Gibbons as a fighter, however. Gibbons was so good that he was a fighter fit for Greb’s prime but contested the bulk of their rivalry over 160lbs; but their one battle at middleweight was won by Gibbons, easily. It must be stated that Greb was short of his savage prime, however, at the time of their meeting, although he was already a lethal competitor, fast and deadly. It must also be stated that Gibbons, who held no weight advantage over Greb at the time, left him battered, bloody and in possession of as few as a single of the ten rounds the two fought.

Gibbons managed around 40 fights at or around 160lbs, and finished up there dominating George Chip before leaving the division behind, unbeaten.

BILLY CONN (63-11-1)

Billy Conn, like Tommy, did his best work above the MW limit but he may have the wider 160lb resume for all that Gibbons has the best win: Young Corbett III, Teddy Yarosz, Oscar Rankin, Vince Dundee, Babe Risko and Frtizie Zivic all feel to him at the weight, all fighters who were either too good for this tournament, are in it, or were close to being in it.

Conn, like Gibbons, was fast-handed and streetwise beyond his experience when still relatively green and although both built significant advantages based upon their experience, it's clear that their physical gifts and ability to learn quickly ("this is easy, Moonie") makes this a thrilling contest IMO, perhaps the best of the round.

Conn last made the middleweight limit in 1937 but in what must have ranked among his best performances. Just 29-6-1 at the time, he was certainly as brilliant against Risko as he was in any of his other un-filmed fights.

 

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Try to keep in mind, middleweights. What a fun fight at the weight though. I can't stop thinking about it now.

 

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Shocked at the early lead Billy has tbh! This is the first one out of the sixteen I've had wrong on how Classic would vote (Assuming it stays the same).

Fascinating fight IMO but i'd favour Tommy for sure.

 

Two hours left to decide the last fight of the first round!

 

I voted in this one, just to make it closer couldn't bear it otherwise.

 

An inexperienced Billy Conn proved speed to make the final berth of the tournament, consistently outspeeding Tommy Gibbons to take a close but clear decision on all three scorecarsd. Conn started fast and maintained his pace through to the ninth, taking six of the first ten rounds, before drilling a startled Gibbons with two-fisted attacks on the inside when Gibbons finally tracked him down in the final five. Conn edged in front over this spell, his marginally superior defence probably the difference in delivering a 9-6, 9-6, 8-7 decision to the satisfaction of an enthralled crowd.