Looking Back at Joe Louis Vs Billy Conn 1

By Joshua “City” Brewer

It was June 18, 1941, in a night in which the earth stood still, figuratively speaking. It was one of the most exciting and career defining moments in this game of thrones that we call boxing. On this day, we saw a bold rise as light heavyweight champion, the “Pittsburgh Kid” Billy Conn, 64-11-1, 15 KO’s, took on the heavyweight champion of the world, “The Brown Bomber” Joe Louis, 66-3, 52 KO’s. There have been others in recent memory who’ve risen from light heavyweight, or below, to fight for a heavyweight championship to include the likes of Roy Jones, JR., and James Toney. This fight, though, pitted a light heavyweight rising in weight to take on the undisputed heavyweight champion near his absolute peak.

Louis weighed in at 199 pounds to Conn’s 174. Yes, Louis would have essentially been a cruiserweight had he fought today, but this was during a time when weight truly had no boundaries. The fight took place at the Polo Grounds in New York, in what was the 18th title defense Louis. The anticipated fight started like many thought as Louis stalked the constantly moving Conn as he tried his best to stay clear of any hooks, even at one point throwing a shot from so far out that he missed and stumbled to the ground. Louis continued to work to cut the ring off and was able to keep Conn honest as Conn continually tied Louis up in a clinch.

Louis made a sound investment in Conn’s body early and dug in at every opportunity with cringe worthy hooks and uppercuts from both hands. Louis was routinely able to snap Conn’s head back and essentially bully him around the ring as the more powerful man. Miraculously through this all, Conn was able to get in the occasional shot and stayed on his toes constantly forcing Louis to come forward. As the rounds wore on, Conn started to get more and more comfortable and by the ninth round, he had frustrated Louis and found himself landing combinations, seemingly taking control of the momentum. By the 10th, Conn was undoubtedly in control of the fight and had as much pep in his step as the first round.

Through the 10th and 11th, Conn repeatedly landed combinations on Louis as he was seemingly following him around the ring at this point unable to get off combinations on the swift moving Conn. For the first time in a long time it seemed as though Louis was on the verge of letting the fight slip through his grasp. The 12th round was the most dramatic moment of the fight. Conn essentially caught Louis sleeping on the inside and left off a combination that was capped by a sharp left hook that snapped the heavyweight champion’s head back and had him staggering to the ropes, forcing Louis to tie up. Conn continued to go for the kill as Louis showed heart and was able to eventually regain himself enough to make it through the round.

Shock had to be on the faces of all in attendance and all listening to the fight from everywhere else in the world. The start of the 13th round had to surely have everyone on the edge of their seats as the possibility of the heavyweight champion of the world being upset by the light heavyweight champion of the world was a real possibility. Conn came out looking to capitalize on his dominant 12th round and take out Louis. Conn had seemingly forgot that Louis went by the moniker of “Brown Bomber” for a reason. The two fighters found themselves in a hellacious exchange that saw each fighter take a bit of punishment as Conn pushed for the knockout after again landing a snapping combination though this time Louis landed one of his own in return.

Conn emptied the tank looking for the knockout but Louis showed great resolve. As Conn was in search of his second wind, he was caught with a bomb of a right hook that staggered him. Louis then dug in with more hooks to the body and a head snapping uppercut landed on Conn, who tried to fight back. Eventually the power of Louis took over as he landed around 15 unanswered shots capped off by a devastating right hook that sent Conn to the canvas face first. Conn tried but failed to answer the count in time and the rest was history.

The fight officially went down as a knockout at 2:58 of round 13. Two of the judges actually had Conn up on the scorecards. This was no doubt one of the greatest fights to ever have taken place and one that must be told when describing the history of boxing. There wasn’t a loser on that great night in 1941. The two eventually fought again and Louis won via knockout though it wasn’t able to live up to the epic first fight. Regardless, these men fought the fights and didn’t back down from any challenges. Conn deserves tremendous credit for stepping up in a dangerous fight. That’s the reason that he, like Louis, is one of the greatest of all time.

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