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Billy Conn
William David Conn. AKA Billy Conn, The Pittsburgh Kid, a place he was immensely proud to come from. Born and died there. How do you measure him? I mean, how do you measure his achievement inside the ring? Well I tend to measure any light/heavyweight fighter of the era by how he did against the great Joe Louis at his peak. If they didn't fight him they weren't so good. If they did, how did they do? Max Baer, splattered - not as good as he thought he was; Carnera, splattered - game but wholly inadequate against the very best; Golento: knocked him down but out in four - not bad but if he had actually trained he might have been a champion; Schmeling: won one, lost one - legend; Braddock, strong and brave to go as far as he did but his face ended up buried in the canvas - admirable; Jersey Joe: pushed him all the way - great fighter against the greatest fighter ... and finally Billy Conn. If you consider he was a light heavyweight and that if he had stayed out of trouble in the first fight with Louis he would have won then even in losing his achievement ranks up there with the very best in boxing history.
To try and go for the knockout when all he had to do was jab and move must have been something that haunted him for the rest of his life. In those moments legacies are made and in that moment he made the wrong call. Invariably whenever a fighter made a wrong decision against the greatest heavyweight of all time it meant, if he was lucky, seeing the referee stooping over him and peering into his eyes and hearing the numbers from 5-10.
His reasoning for going for the knockdown when he didn't need to are now famous: "What's the use of being Irish if you can't be thick?".
For what he did and so nearly did on that June night in 1941 means that The Pittsburgh Kid joins the immortals of the boxing ring.
When they were kings.
Real name: William David Conn
Boxing record
THE PITTSBURGH KID:
There has never been a fighter like Billy Conn. Handsome as a movie star and tough as a junkyard dog, Conn threw combinations with the beauty and speed of later masters Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali.
The kid from the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh began boxing professionally at age 16, as his manager Johnny Ray fed him older, more experienced pros in a "baptism of fire."
Conn developed quickly. At age 19 and 20 he defeated most of the world's best middleweights, a division rich with talent. Still growing, by age 21 he won the world light-heavyweight title. After dominating that division, he sought greater challenge in the heavyweight division. He beat three of the best heavyweights, one by knockout and two by easy decision. Only one challenge remained - the great heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Their first fight remains one of boxing's all-time classics, ranked by some as the greatest fight ever.
Conn's story transcends boxing. He pursued and eloped with the love of his life, the beautiful
Mary Louise Smith, despite her father's vehement and public opposition. Conn and his father-in-law tangled in a chaotic brawl at a lavish christening party at
the Smith home. Billy starred in a Hollywood movie, The Pittsburgh Kid, and developed friendships with big stars like
Bob Hope, Robert Taylor, and Frank Sinatra.
Through all the glamour Billy remained the unpretentious "kid" from gritty Pittsburgh, the city he loved. He became an icon of that city, of the downtrodden Depression-era working class, and of the American Irish. Conn's place in boxing and American folk history has been neglected and forgotten in recent decades. His story of a poor kid with talent and spirit who went for it all is one worth finding out about.
FURTHER READING:
Billy Conn - The Pittsburgh Kid
MORE:
Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1965.
Told Gus Lesnevich straight after beating him for the World Light Heavyweight title to go for it again as he was vacating it to go up to heavyweight.
Billy Conn prints @ amazon.co.uk (direct link to prints)
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