How much of a factor do you think Louis' drying out and not eating prior to the Conn 1st fight,to ensure he came in under 200lbs was contributory to Joe's sluggish performance? They had a rematch scheduled but Conn broke his hand on his Father in law's head and the fight didn't happen until 1946, 5 years later by which time Conn had badly regressed , Louis defending against Nova instead. If they had immediately re-matched would Conn have kept his cool and won a decision or,given Louis' rep for doing better second time around would Joe have taken him out earlier?
It might have affected Louis' performance to a degree. I'm sure in fact it would have. That said, I think Conn just had the right style to give Louis problems, so I doubt it would ever have been much easier for Louis. Coming to the rematch... well, it's extremely difficult to pick against Louis, who never lost one, and who always did better in rematches. I'm confident he'd have done his homework coming into a rematch and made adjustments. Still, I think Conn would have given him issues yet again, and their fight may have at times, resembled their first fight. But I'd be very surprised if Louis didn't finish off Conn more quickly the second time around.
I agree that drying out probably hurt Louis's performance, and I also agree that Conn was just plain wrong for him. Louis underestimated Conn, and boy did he pick the wrong man to underestimate. If Louis Conn II happens before the war, then Conn is going to be much more dangerous, but Louis is going to be in no doubt that this is a very dangerous opponent. He is going to prepare like he did for the second Schmeling fight, and Conn would be able to run but not hide. On a side note, there was talk of Conn Nova to decide who got the shot at Louis, but Louis's management stopped it because they wanted both pay days.
How much info do we have on Louis drying out? 199lbs really isn't that bad for Joe. I had a thought, maybe his team didn't really underestimate Conn and risked the crown out of pity and they were shooting for a lower weight to catch him because they respected his elusive game. Hell using weight loss is a good excuse for nearly losing to LHW a for the public and it possibly had it's benefits in there mind for beating Billy.
I don't think Joe Louis made excuses for bad performances.Louis said he almost starved himself and dried out because he did not want to be perceived as the " big bully," against the smaller man.I for one believe him.
Yes, I understand this. The fight was proposed before the first Louis Con fight. Obviously it was better to see Louis fight both, but we might be interested.
