Where do you rate Billy Conn p4p of all time?

:goodThanks Burt.Conn was my grandfather's favorite ever and one of my dad's favorites.They always told me what a classy boxer and tough guy he was.Cheers,my friend:good

 

I have, in my possession as we speak, a Fritzie Zivic from 1940. That same night, my aunt (a well known vocalist, in that area, at that time) got an autograph from Billy Conn.
I don't think that Conn was the best middleweight that ever fought, but he was pretty freaking good. Good welterweight, too. Real good at LHW, and gave Louis a tough night at HW. Of 14 kos, 8 came at Hw. I think he was just growing into his ability then. Keep in mind, he fought Zivic when he was 18 years old.
A really good fighter. I'd love to see him fight Charles or Moore, at 160, 175.

 

Welcome newbie. Billy Conn ,according to Joe Louis, no less, called Billy Conn,the best LH he had ever seen,and the Brown Bomber saw Charles and Archie Moore. For what it's worth...

 

Billy would clean out the lhw division today, as I have said before, if you were great then, you would be even greater today.

 

He was never a heavyweight , and of course a former middleweight would have given away weight fighting Joe Louis . He was a huge middleweight and a very big lightheavy for his era.

 

ff, what do you mean saying "Billy Conn,was a very big lightheavyweight for his era' ? When Conn fought as a LH, he always weighed under the 175 pound limit for a LH.Always !

 

Just like d rest of his era , except from Archie "Le Grand Weightcutter " Wright . So ? 6'1" in an era when stats were not as vastly exaggerated as today is very big . For comparison Charles was 6" , "Moore" was 5'11" , LaMotta was .. 5'8" ? To this day you have heavyweights shorter than 6'1" . I promise you that Antonio Tarver would have been shorter than Billy Conn had they stood next to each other , get what I mean ?
Yet Billy Conn could not stop the vast majority of his vastly overrated opponents but he did find his ways to getting stopped himself , Joe Louis aside !

 

you realize you are talking about a guy that weighed in under 140lbs for many fights, right? he was by no means a big guy

 

Chris Byrd fought Kostya Tszyu at the amateurs just under 139lbs. So Byrd would have definitely been a small middleweight , and btw , even he was shorter than Billy Conn

 

"Ways"? Like how? Other than Joe Louis who stopped Billy Conn when he was at his peak?

Look at his record and the weights. He sometimes gave away weight, even when fighting in the sub-heavyweight divisions.

 

ff,I don't understand your post,about Billy Conn being a "huge" LH.? Do U mean weight [under 175 lbs] or do you mean height [6ft],which is not the way fighters are seperated in 8 divisions ? Either way you look at it ,there were very, very few LHs that would have beat Billy Conn, pre WW2 service. Fast as lightning ,in his movements,great flurries, great courage,with a great chin to boot. Probably NO LH in history goes 13 rds with the great Brown Bomber. For example, I cite an all-time great John Henry Lewis, who lasted LESS than one round in 1939...Billy was GREAT...

 

top 5

 

See my reply to Swarmer .
Conn's 6'1" is something like 6'3.5"/6'4" in today's inflated tales of the tapes.
To be great you need to destroy your opponents on a regular basis or at least to not be destryoyed by much larger opponents.
It is only a concensus in these forums that Chris Byrd wouldn't have lasted 13 vs Louis. Same with Michael Spinks . I guess John Henry Lewis was somewhat less than an all-time great , a mere top lightheavy of his era , maybe even all-time , but not great as anything but a h2h lightheavy.
Again , if Billy Conn was so great he would have at least stopped his opponents besides Louis , but he didn't. And in fact , he was stopped once at age 17 by Pete Leone whom had 2 fights on his record (Conn had more at that time) and floored by Louis Cook , Young Corbett 3 , who knows how many more and even at least 1 of his few stoppage wins was due to cuts , then consider his lack of longevity and see how far from great he was. Hector Camacho >> Billy Conn. Bert Cooper > Billy Conn

 

Probably not in my top 100.