Boxing Classics. Louis vs. Conn 1. - kensoldtimeboxingchat.com

On June 18, 1941, heavyweight champion Joe Louis met the former light heavyweight champ Billy Conn at the Polo Grounds in New York City before 54,487 fans. Louis was coming off of 13 straight title defenses since his knockout of Max Schmeling in June of 1938 and was a 5-2 favorite to defeat Conn. Louis tipped the scales at 199 1/2 lbs. to Conn’s 174 lbs., a huge weight advantage for the ‘Brown Bomber’. Despite the size difference, a confident Conn predicted a knockout of Louis all during his pre-fight interviews, claiming he knew what it took to stop Joe.

After an even first few rounds, Billy found a comfortable rhythm and starting outboxing Joe, landing jabs and left hooks over the slower Louis. By the 10th round, it was obvious Conn was no joke and appeared on his way to a rather easy decision win. In the 13th round however, an overconfident Conn went in for the kill and instead got nailed by a Louis hook that hurt him. Joe then pounded Conn with a series of right hands that knocked him down and out, ending Billy’s brave effort and retaining his title for the 14th time.

Conn was ahead on two of the three scorecards, and even on the third, proving he would have captured the championship if he had remained on his feet. Joe admitted he had underestimated his smaller foe and despite all of Conn’s claims that he would have won if he hadn’t gotten too brave, the bottom line was he lost. An often talked of rematch finally took place 5 years later at Yankee Stadium in New York with Louis winning by an 8th round knockout.

While it’s sometimes not fair to judge fighters from different eras, any ideas that Joe Louis could have defeated Muhammad Ali are ridiculous to me. If Joe had as many problems with a shrimp like Billy Conn’s boxing skills, Ali would have easily schooled the ‘Brown Bomber’ and won a points decision win, or perhaps by a late round knockout.

For that one June evening in New York City in 1941, Billy was the heavyweight champ for 12 rounds at least and his brave performance made his bout with Joe Louis one of ‘Boxing’s Classics’.