When the heavyweight champion of the world tears through one opponent after another to the point of exhausting all credible challengers, fans often start to wonder what would happen if he faced the dominant force of a lower weight division. That’s exactly what happened on June 18, 1941, when the legendary Joe Louis—reigning over the heavyweight division for four years and making his eighteenth title defense—was matched against light heavyweight champion Billy Conn, who had cleaned out the 175-pound division.
Some believed that the obvious size difference between the two and Louis’s undeniable skill would make for a one-sided affair. But that night, more than 84 years ago, turned out to be far more thrilling than expected…
The “Brown Bomber’s” Power vs. the “Pittsburgh Kid’s” Speed
Still considered one of the most lethal punchers in boxing history—thanks to his extraordinary killer instinct and surgical precision—Louis had won 14 of his previous 17 title defenses by knockout. You could argue the number should be 15, since Buddy Baer, who was officially stopped by disqualification, had only been “saved” from a KO because of protests from his corner over what they claimed was an illegal knockdown. Fighters with iron chins had fallen to the Brown Bomber, including the famous “Cinderella Man” Jim Braddock and the rugged, heavyset Tony Galento.
Conn, far inferior in terms of raw power, had to rely entirely on his remarkable speed. Despite his modest knockout ratio, his quick hands and feet had carried him to 19 straight victories, including several that earned him the light heavyweight crown. Conn had a contractual clause put in place that Louis could not weigh more than 200 pounds on fight night, and he stepped into the ring with a weight disadvantage of around 26 pounds. However, according to some sources, Louis’s official weight may have been manipulated to meet that requirement, and the actual gap between the two may have been even greater.
The Unexpected Fight: A Miracle That Slipped Away at the Last Second
The early moments of the fight seemed to confirm the predictions of those expecting an easy night for the champion. Conn, visibly tense and nervous, spent the first six minutes darting around the ring, even managing to fall to the canvas by himself after missing a jab in the opening round, and absorbing a fair amount of heavy punishment in the second.
But that nightmare start seemed to serve as a wake-up call for the Pittsburgh Kid. Realizing that running alone wouldn’t get the job done, he began firing back—beating the legendary champion to the punch with clever timing and impressive accuracy.
Joe Louis likely stepped into the ring thinking he could handle the lighter man with ease, a belief only strengthened by the early going. But when the momentum unexpectedly shifted in Conn’s favor, the champion grew frustrated. He roared back to dominate the fifth round and kept control over the next two. Just when the fight seemed to be returning to the script everyone had expected, Conn regained his confidence and started producing high-level boxing once again.
The former light heavyweight now had a clear head: he had broken the ice early on, realized he could give the living legend in front of him some real trouble, and had even managed—though with difficulty—to withstand the champion’s best shots without hitting the canvas, as many other accomplished fighters had done before him. So why not try to do something more? And so, starting from the eighth round, Billy Conn took center stage once again. Perhaps the turning point came with a vicious left hook that momentarily rocked Louis at the end of the round, or maybe it was simply the challenger’s golden moment. Whatever the case, the fast combinations from the Pittsburgh Kid, his quick hands in the clinch, and his mastery in avoiding the champion’s potentially lethal counters began to take control of the fight.
Round after round, Conn sensationally took command of the action. In a dramatic twelfth round, he even managed to buckle Louis’s legs with another sharp left hook to the jaw. The Brown Bomber had to hold onto his opponent with both arms to avoid the humiliation of a knockdown and stumbled back to his corner, where trainer Jack Blackburn made it clear: only a knockout could save his belt. Based on what came out later, two of the official scorecards before the fateful thirteenth round had Conn ahead by two and three points respectively, while the third was even. All Conn had to do was win just one of the final three rounds to secure the victory on points…
Billy Conn simply needed to do his job: circle the ring, stay out of danger, land quick, clean shots, and avoid unnecessary risks. Had he done that, perhaps boxing history from that era would be told differently today. But the blood of the Pittsburgh Kid ran too hot for him to hide behind the cautious mindset of a ring accountant. He had already managed to shake the champion, he felt he had him right where he wanted him, and he wanted to put his stamp on the era with a shocking, unthinkable knockout. So he stayed in the center of the ring, welcomed the exchanges, and loaded up on his punches.
Not even the first hard right hand that Louis landed flush on his face was enough to make him reconsider. Conn remained “in the pocket,” and in doing so, sealed his fate. The Brown Bomber’s blows found their mark, stunned the challenger, and compromised his clarity to the point where he stood still and defenseless. The final right hook was little more than a formality: the miracle had slipped away, and His Majesty Louis had retained the throne.
The regret of not having handled those final rounds differently must have haunted Billy Conn for the rest of his life—especially since the chance for a rematch was first delayed by a broken hand and then denied by the United States’ entry into World War II. The two fighters finally shared the ring again five full years later, but Conn, unrecognizable and out of shape, was battered and stopped in eight rounds. His performance even earned the ironic label of “Flop of the Year.”