Closest Gall For Joe Louis Since He Became Champion

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 169, 19 July 1941, Page 4 (Supplement)

Closest Gall For Joe Louis Since He Became Champion

Conn

Conn Ahead On Points With Only Six Minutes To Go

Joe Louis is still world heavy-weight champion, after his eighteenth defence of the title he won four years ago from Jim Braddock in Chicago.

The famed Brown Bomber sank Billy Conn, former world light-heavy-weight champion, with a depth-bomb in the thirteenth round of their scheduled fifteen-round battle before a crowd of 54,487 wildly excited fight fans, who paid 450,000 dollars, in the Polo Grounds.

But the Bomber will never come closer to being toppled from his throne than he did before Conn collapsed under the paralysing power of nerve-deadening blows. Thus Joe escaped crashing into the category of the ring's ex-champions.

IN a battle that was thrilling and highly spectacular to a degree not generally anticipated, Conn came within the proverbial eyelash of upsetting predictions as he stirred the emotions of the great crowd with a brand of battle few had dared expect, Louis least of all, states the "New York Times" in its commentary on the bout of June 18.

Frail in Comparison The doughty Pittsburgher, 25£lb lighter than Louis, frail in comparison and with none of the heavyweight fighting experience the champion boasts, held his rival even in action and on rounds through 12 sessions while men and women, envisioning a transfer of the title, yelled themselves hoarse, encouraging the challenger as he seemed about to succeed where few had given him a chance. Then the fight ended, as it had been predicted it would end. Conn l£ft himself open for one dangerous blow to a vital point. A desperate, harried Louis, fighting with the savage fury of desperation, whipped home through the opening with a right to the jaw. The blow landed high, but it was a powerful one. Conn, a few seconds before on the high road to fame and fortune, tottered backward. His knees buckled. The Brown Bomber was the Alabama Assassin. He leaped in savagely, thudding home with both hands with a crushing fire. Conn fell under the barrage, a right to the jaw, as a final thrust, sending the brave challenger careening and crumpling. The challenger, who gave promise of becoming the champion, was counted out by Referee Eddie Joseph in 2 minutes 58 seconds of the 13th round, amid a scene that was veritable bedlam. That is the way of the ring. One second you are on top. The next you are down in despair. Conn came to the realisation of this painfully. Only Six Minutes More Billy was within two rounds of what appeared a victory. Actually, the battle had only six minutes and two seconds more to go. And the way Conn had performed there was every reason to believe a new champion would be crowned. Perhaps it was his own contempt for the punching prowess of the champion that led Conn into the fatal error. He had felt the Louis blow and survived. More, he had outboxed and, at times, outslugged the devastating puncher, who has established himself as one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all times and without a peer as defender of the throne. Perhaps Conn had come to the end of his endurance. His energy may have been burned up with the slashing battle he gave Louis through the eighth and up to and including the 12th round, when the challenger treated the amazed onlookers to the spectacle of Louis being pounded steadily about the ring by a lighter, fearless foeman. Whatever it was, the battle started as it had been predicted it would start, and it ended as it had been predicted it would end. Because, in advance, it had been said that Conn must rely on his speed if he were to survive and defeat Louis. It also had been told that Conn would drop the first time Louis hit him with a powerful punch to a vital spot. Avoids Bomber's Punches The surprise, in addition to the wonderful battle Conn made, came in the delay before Louis connected. This was a tribute to the ability of Conn, not only «to avoid the Bomber's wallops, but his ability to withstand those that Louis landed. More, it was a testimonial to the surprising manner in which Conn fought in retaliation and sometimes on the attack, against the man every one else had feared since he ascended the throne. One of the greatest heavyweight battles of recent years, the struggle was waged in an atmosphere reminiscent of older and better times in boxing. In the double-decked concrete and steel stand, in the temporary wooden chairs that had been placed on what is ordinarily the Giants' baseball playing field, men and women sat, in rows extending back as far as the eye could reach in the darkness. They came from all sections of the country and from every walk of life. They came early ar.d stayed late to thrill to a really great battle for the championship, one that will take its place alongside the best in ring history, from the standpoint of surprise, excitement and competitive appeal. A sportsmanlike battle, it was cleanly fought, bitterly and cagily waged. It was tense with the element of the unexpected to a high degree.

Governors of nearby States were in the gathering. There were Mayors of cities, national leaders in politics, representatives, senators, State lawmakers, bankers, merchants, leaders of the country's commercial and industrial life, members of the clergy, stars of the stage and screen. They were drawn by the championship magnet and that uncertainty about whether the title would change hands, the majority, wishing it would be, but feeling that it couldn't.

Fights True to Style This great gathering saw Conn fight a battle that was true to his style, of necessity, but better than usual, though it proved inadequate. And the crowd saw Louis fight as a champion should, a champion who refused to become discouraged though he was buffeted about outlandishly at times.

Naturally, the greatest thrill came from Conn. The finish by Louis was an anti-climax. Most of those in the vast throng expected Joe to knock out the challenger, as he had done to challengers in 15 previous defences of the title. Few, however, expected of the frail-looking Conn the battle he flashed—least of all Louis, if the truth is known.

Unmistakably Louis has slipped. Even making allowances for style— the contrast in styles was inescapable—the champion is not the champion of old. He was not sure of himself last night, a fact which might be explained by the circumstance which found him in the ring with a veritable wraith for speed. But the speed that Louis once boasted himself is gone, the accuracy behind his punch is slipping. He is becoming heavy-footed and heavy-armed, weaknesses which were reflected as he floundered at times in his quest of the target that was Conn.

One thing remains undiminished with Louis and that cannot be denied. He still is an annihilating puncher. His right hand claims a victim when it lands. His left hook jars a foe to the heels and props him for the finishing potion that is in the right hand. Surprises Most Onlookers Conn, almost exclusively, boxed Louis through the first seven rounds. Having gone so far, Billy became confident. He became overconfident in the eighth and surprising most onlookers, was hammering his way past Louis in grand style.

The challenger started the fight on treacherous feet. He slipped coming out of his corner soon after the opening gong and, before the first round ended, he went down while pivoting to escape Louis' rush. Neither time was Conn struck a blow.

Through the first three rounds Conn sparred cautiously and skilfully, dancing before the shuffling, plodding Louis who moved steadily, stealthily in on the attack. Billy's plan was to stay away; Louis' was to get close and strike home with short jolts to the body and head.

Louis struck a number of these blows in the first three, rounds, picking most of Conn's left hooks off in midair the meanwhile. The champion's blows, however, had no deterring effect on the sprightly Conn, who only once, in the third round, resorted to a covering stance as a defensive move. But the challenger ended the third with a flurry in which he drove Louis to the ropes under a fiery volley of lefts and rights to the head and body, amid the roars of the crowd.

Conn outdid himself in the fourth when he started making the champion's jaw the target for a succession of rights. They were blows driven home at long range, but, reflecting the lack of power in Conn's fighting armour, they only made Joe blink.

Shoots Home Left Hook The challenger was proceeding with a daring attack in the fifth, when Louis suddenly shot home a left hook to the jaw. Conn staggered under the blow and sought retreat. But Louis was upon him. drilling lefts and rights to the head and face as Billy, lurching and staggering, covered against attack. The blows opened a cut over Conn's right eye. Another cut appeared on the bridge of his nose.

But Billy survived the storm and managed to keep out of harm's way in the sixth and in the seventh. Then, with the eighth, Conn launched a thrilling attack of his own. He parried most of Louis' lunges early in the round and began making a target of Joe's jaw for right-hand smashes that went home straight and often. The blows lacked steam and merely flustered ths titleholder. More important, however, is the fact that the success of his offensive lifted Conn's confidence.

This was reflected as the ninth started and Billy added a verbal assault to his fistic fire. "You got a tough fight to-night," it developed later, was what Conn said, although the words were indistinguishable at the time above the roar of the crowd. "That's right," replied Louis, who continued shuffling into a rival who was banging him around scandalously.

Trades Blows Willingly Repeatedly Conn drilled home with his right to the jaw in the ninth. He ripped full-arm rights to the body. Left jabs brought blood from Louis' nose. A left hook to the body hurt Joe before the bell. All the time Louis was helpless to counter the fire. Infuriated in the tenth, Louis pressed his foe hard. Once Conn slipped on the wet canvas in his own corner in escaping a fierce lunge. Billy traded blows with the champion, giving as good as he received and sometimes better.

Through the eleventh Conn fought gallantly as he hammered the titleholder from all angles, beating Louis about the face and jaw with rights at long range and about the heart and body at close quarters. Louis winced under some of these blows. He was infuriated under others. But he could do nothing about them. In the twelfth Conn, after an exchange in which one of Louis' lefts cut him under the left eye, suddenly rocked Louis on his heels with a fullarm left hook to the jaw. Staggering, Louis dived into a clinch to keep from falling while Conn fought furiously in a bid for a knock-out.

Maybe this shot that went true and staggered the champion made Conn over-confident. At any rate, he was the pursuer instead of the pursued as the thirteenth started, and he made the mistake of going too close to Louis too often.

Battered by the desperate champion's powerful lefts and rights about the head, Conn suddenly emerged from close quarters flailing furiously for Louis' jaw with lefts and rights in an outburst that electrified the crowd.

Lands Flush on Jaw Suddenly Louis' right shot out on an opening with a blow that landed flush on Conn's jaw. The challenger's knees buckled. He swayed backwards. He was hurt, and Louis knew it. And Joe thundered in with that savagery that is his characteristic when he has a foe in distress.

About the head and face Louis fired countless rights and lefts, while Conn sought to cover and retreat. Some of the blows missed, but many of them landed, carrying force even against Billy's defence of raised gloves. The Bomber shifted his fire to the.body. Blows there hurt Conn, sapped the speed from his legs, took the last ounce of his endurance. Billy was slipping about uncertainly

when Louis drove over the righthand blow to the jaw that toppled him in defeat within two seconds of the end -of the round, and shattered a dream of championship. What the Police Did The police detail was the largest ever assigned to a boxing event in this city. A total of 2250 of New York's finest patrolled the Polo Grounds, inside and out, and the streets of Harlem.

Chief Inspector Edward M. Butler was in charge of the detail inside the park. Deputy Chief Inspector John J. De Martino was in charge of the outside detail.

Seven hundred police, some of them carrying the old-fashioned night sticks, patrolled Harlem streets from 8 p.m. on. More than 300 others were on reserve duty between the East 126 th Street and the West 135 th stations. There were 200 detectives, 66 mounted police, 35 motor cycle men and two emergency squads on the job.

Trouble was not expected. It has been characteristic of Louis battles hereabouts that they have been taken in stride, with a minimum of disorder in the Harlem district, regardless of whether he won or lost. But the Police Department, at the same time, wanted to take no chances.

Plenty of Betting Betting on the fight was active, with no change in the odds. Louis was the favourite at 1 to 4 to win, and the price on him to score a knockout was 5 to 11. Trick bets on the number of rounds were numerous but inconsequential. The volume was reported on decision. The 1 to 4 odds appealed to many Conn supporters and others who inevitably "invest" whenever odds are better than 1 to 2. or 3.