Tweet
There is often a lot of inevitable debate on forums and amongst fans about who is the greatest heavyweight of all time, with the camps being pretty evenly split between Ali and Louis. Whilst I am firmly in the Ali camp I do not believe the gap between the two is as wide as often portrayed and despite preferring Ali’s claims to top spot thought I would write a thread to deal with one of the bigger sticks that is often used to beat Louis and diminish his claims to top spot, that being his perceived poor showing in the first Conn fight.
Now it would be remiss to claim this was a great performance from the Brown Bomber as patently it wasn’t but having read a bit about this fight in both a biography of Conn I recently finished and on the excellent Cox’s corner it does seem there are often a lot of myths perpetuated about the fight that perhaps need nailing and also a number of mitigating factors that perhaps explain the poor showing from Joe.
The first myth is that Conn was a career light-heavyweight, whilst it is undoubtedly true he did his best work at that weight and is deservedly an all time great at that weight going into the Louis fight Conn had fought at heavy with some distinction, holding wins over contenders Gus Dorazio, Al McCoy and perhaps most impressively a win over the excellent Bob Pastor, the last being a KO win, which also serves to give lie to the myth Conn was not a puncher.
However perhaps the biggest myth that needs putting to rest is the idea if Conn had coasted he would have won the fight comfortably. This idea, oft repeated is simply not supported by the score cards. After 12 completed rounds the official score cards (the only ones that matter) were 7-5 and 7-4-1 (both to Conn) and 6 all. This means that had Louis swept the last three rounds he would have had scores of 8-7, 7-7-1 and 9-6 meaning he would have took the fight on the cards.
This ties in with the next point the idea that Conn lost the fight because he decided to go for the KO on Louis, whilst over confidence may have played a part in the fight turning round the idea that Louis did nothing the influence the turning tide is perhaps a little harsh. At the end of the 12th, which was Conn’s round Jack Blackburn was heard to tell Louis he was losing and needed to knock Conn out. The common telling of the fight states that Conn came out more aggressive in the 13th but the film simply does not support this, Conn comes out fighting as he had previously, circling to his left. What does change is, probably based on Blackburn’s stern warning Louis comes out more aggressive firing stiff jabs and stiff combinations to the still circling Conn before showing the brilliant finishing skills he was famed for when the opportunity arose.
The other thing that should perhaps be noted is there was a lot of widespread criticism in the press of the weight differential between the fighters in this fight and to respond to this Louis made a point of coming in at under 200lbs, and dehydrated himself quite dangerously to acheive this, which perhaps explains his slightly sluggish showing. Appreciate this was totally Louis' choice but cannot be overlooked when assessing his performance. All the reports suggest Blackburn was furious with Louis for doing this and it was very much against his wishes.
There is a reasonable argument that it was Louis’ increased aggression that was the real turn around in the fight rather than any change in tactic from Conn. Sugar Ray Leonard is often rightly praised for turning round a losing fight against Hearns in their first battle, but Louis is often dismissed as having got lucky, despite the fact that as we have already established even had the knockout not come the fight was not a lost cause on the cards.
It is easy to go along with the myth that Conn blew it in this one, and it should be said this was a line Conn was perhaps happy to perpetuate but having read about things a bit closer and watched the fight again it does appear this does the Brown Bomber a disservice. Still think Ali has a greater claim to top spot but think of all the raps thrown against the Brown Bomber the Conn fight is perhaps one of the more undeserved.
Now it would be remiss to claim this was a great performance from the Brown Bomber as patently it wasn’t but having read a bit about this fight in both a biography of Conn I recently finished and on the excellent Cox’s corner it does seem there are often a lot of myths perpetuated about the fight that perhaps need nailing and also a number of mitigating factors that perhaps explain the poor showing from Joe.
The first myth is that Conn was a career light-heavyweight, whilst it is undoubtedly true he did his best work at that weight and is deservedly an all time great at that weight going into the Louis fight Conn had fought at heavy with some distinction, holding wins over contenders Gus Dorazio, Al McCoy and perhaps most impressively a win over the excellent Bob Pastor, the last being a KO win, which also serves to give lie to the myth Conn was not a puncher.
However perhaps the biggest myth that needs putting to rest is the idea if Conn had coasted he would have won the fight comfortably. This idea, oft repeated is simply not supported by the score cards. After 12 completed rounds the official score cards (the only ones that matter) were 7-5 and 7-4-1 (both to Conn) and 6 all. This means that had Louis swept the last three rounds he would have had scores of 8-7, 7-7-1 and 9-6 meaning he would have took the fight on the cards.
This ties in with the next point the idea that Conn lost the fight because he decided to go for the KO on Louis, whilst over confidence may have played a part in the fight turning round the idea that Louis did nothing the influence the turning tide is perhaps a little harsh. At the end of the 12th, which was Conn’s round Jack Blackburn was heard to tell Louis he was losing and needed to knock Conn out. The common telling of the fight states that Conn came out more aggressive in the 13th but the film simply does not support this, Conn comes out fighting as he had previously, circling to his left. What does change is, probably based on Blackburn’s stern warning Louis comes out more aggressive firing stiff jabs and stiff combinations to the still circling Conn before showing the brilliant finishing skills he was famed for when the opportunity arose.
The other thing that should perhaps be noted is there was a lot of widespread criticism in the press of the weight differential between the fighters in this fight and to respond to this Louis made a point of coming in at under 200lbs, and dehydrated himself quite dangerously to acheive this, which perhaps explains his slightly sluggish showing. Appreciate this was totally Louis' choice but cannot be overlooked when assessing his performance. All the reports suggest Blackburn was furious with Louis for doing this and it was very much against his wishes.
There is a reasonable argument that it was Louis’ increased aggression that was the real turn around in the fight rather than any change in tactic from Conn. Sugar Ray Leonard is often rightly praised for turning round a losing fight against Hearns in their first battle, but Louis is often dismissed as having got lucky, despite the fact that as we have already established even had the knockout not come the fight was not a lost cause on the cards.
It is easy to go along with the myth that Conn blew it in this one, and it should be said this was a line Conn was perhaps happy to perpetuate but having read about things a bit closer and watched the fight again it does appear this does the Brown Bomber a disservice. Still think Ali has a greater claim to top spot but think of all the raps thrown against the Brown Bomber the Conn fight is perhaps one of the more undeserved.
Comment