Joe Louis vs Billy Conn II official on-site programme, 19th June 1946, Yankee Stadium, New York.

Condition very good (top corner clipped off and slight wear & tear - contains 68 pages)

Louis W KO 8

The rematch with Billy Conn on June 19, 1946 at Yankee Stadium in New York, had been in the making since the conclusion of the first, but, because of the war, it was postponed indefinitely. As a result, public demand for the bout continued to grow. The end of the war, resulted in the return of servicemen stateside, the increased popularity of both Louis and Conn, and a growing economy, produced nearly two million dollars in gate receipts--the largest figure in almost two decades. Louis’s share of the purse was $625,916, the largest any fighter had made in a single night before. Nearly all of it went to paying off his enormous debts. But now he owed taxes on this purse. The fight itself was a dud. Conn was past his prime and Louis was rusty. The challenger simply ran the entire night, neglecting to exchange punches until the champion caught up with him and knocked him out in the eighth round, proving his now famous prediction before the fight: “He can run. But he can’t hide.”



JOE LOUIS vs BILLY CONN I.
On June 18, 1941, Joe Louis squared off with the former light heavyweight champion of the world, Billy Conn, at the Polo Grounds in New York. Known as the “Pittsburgh Kid,” Conn was a popular fighter and one of the pound-for-pound best of the era. Slick and elusive, yet with a cocky attitude and a solid punch to boot, he had cleaned out both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions in the same period that Louis had done the same with the heavyweights. In 1940 he jumped up into the heavyweight division and, while besting some of the best men in the ranks, established himself as the only remaining valid contender for the champion’s crown. Their highly anticipated match up is still regarded by many today as the greatest heavyweight championship battle of all time. Certainly, despite Conn’s highly respected skills, the drama of the match was not expected. The official results of the weigh in revealed a twenty-five pound weight advantage for the champion (199 for Louis and 174 for Conn). However, promoter Mike Jacobs had tweaked those numbers just to make the bout seem like less of a mismatch; the actual weights were 200 for Louis and 169 for Conn, a thirty-one pound advantage for the former.

Leave it to the clever Pittsburgh Kid to turn his disadvantage into an advantage however. Conn’s lighter weight allowed him to constantly dance around the ring, not allowing Louis to plant his feet to land his famous bombs. In the opening few rounds, Conn neglected offense, content to circle his opponent and stay out of range. By round three, however, the challenger’s advantage in hand speed became obvious. Louis was being repeatedly pelted with jabs and straight rights, followed by fusillades of solid hooks from both hands. By the time the champion offered anything in return, Conn had skipped around behind him. There was little else Louis could do but plod after his tricky opponent and take punches. “You’ve got a fight on your hands,” the ever plucky challenger boasted to the champion at one point during the fight, to which Louis replied, “I know it.” By the opening of the eleventh round, despite having opened up two cuts on Conn’s face, Louis seemed to have lost all of his energy. He simply plodded after his foe with the sagging body language of exhaustion. Yet he kept his famous “poker face” and never showed signs of panic or discouragement. During the closing seconds of the twelfth, a series of left hooks and right crosses from Conn stunned the "Brown Bomber," whose knees sagged. The staggered champ stumbled backward into the ropes. When the challenger charged in to finish him off, however, Louis’s remaining instincts allowed him to hold, allowing him to make it to the bell.

As the fighters returned to their corners after the end of the twelfth, Conn was leading on two out of three judges scorecards. The third had the fight a draw. Though he did not know the scores, the challenger was also confident that he was winning, but resisted the idea of carefully boxing his way through the final rounds. “This is easy,” he told his trainer, Johnny Ray. “I can take this son of a bitch out this round.” Ray adamantly advised his charge against the idea, but Conn charged out for the fourteenth intent to war with the most feared puncher on the planet. He settled down on his feet and stood toe-to-toe with the champ, and both fighters exchanged hard punches. Still Conn’s hand speed kept him in front, but Louis was clearly landing now and the crowd erupted in excitement. As the round reached its final minute, Louis landed a hard right hand that seemed to double Conn over. Seeing his chance, the always dangerous champion let loose with a volley of combinations, the final one tipping the frozen challenger over onto his right side. By the time a dazed Conn staggered to his feet, the referee had counted to ten. Billy Conn’s impetuousness, combined with the awesome punching power of Joe Louis, had given the boxing world one of its most thrilling moments in history and immediately sparked interest in a rematch.

Price: £195

Joe "The Brown Bomber" Louis

JOSEPH LOUIS BARROW, the legendary "Brown Bomber," is considered by many to be the finest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing. He held the world's heavyweight title from June 22, 1937 until June 25, 1948 and made a division-record 25 successful title defenses.
Born in Alabama, Louis moved to Detroit as a child and began boxing at the Brewster Recreation Center. In his first amateur bout, Louis was knocked down seven times. But he improved rapidly. He captured the 1934 National AAU light heavyweight crown and turned pro later that year.

Louis won his first 27 fights, 23 by knockout, beating the likes of former heavyweight champions Primo Carnera and Max Baer and contenders Paolino Uzcudun and Natie Brown. But in his 28th fight, Louis met defeat. He faced another former heavyweight champ, Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium, and was knocked out in the 12th round.

Louis rebounded from the defeat and won seven straight bouts -- including victories over Jack Sharkey and Bob Pastor -- to earn a shot at the heavyweight title. Louis faced champion James J. Braddock on June 22, 1937 in Chicago's Comiskey Park. Although he was dropped early in the bout, Louis rose from the canvas to score an eighth-round knockout. He became the first African American to win the heavyweight title since Jack Johnson in 1908.

Louis possessed an excellent jab and power in both hands. His right cross was as devastating as his left hook. His punches were so compact that some in the media claimed a Joe Louis punch need only to travel six inches to render an opponent unconscious.

After winning the crown, Louis began piling up defenses. He dispatched contender after contender with such ease that his opponents were said to make up "The Bum of the Month Club." Along with Louis' success came tremendous popularity. He was widely respected by Americans of all color. He won the title a decade before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier and later would put his career on hold to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. Reporter Jimmy Cannon once wrote that, "Louis was a credit to his race ... the human race."

While Louis generated countless highlights, he is widely remembered most for his 1938 rematch with Schmeling. The boxing public admired Louis for risking his crown against a man who, just two years earlier, had knocked him out. But because Schmeling was from Germany, the bout took on a broader meaning. The media inaccurately portrayed Schmeling as a Nazi and painted Louis as a symbol for the rest of the free world. The rematch, also at Yankee Stadium, was over fast as Louis scored a devastating first-round knockout.

In another one of his most memorable bouts, Louis took on light heavyweight champion Billy Conn on June 18, 1941 at the Polo Grounds in New York. Conn, a masterful boxer, was ahead on the scorecards after 12 rounds. But miraculously, Louis scored a 13th-round knockout to save his title. After the war, during which Conn served in the Navy, they met again and Louis scored an eighth-round knockout.

In 1947, Louis was dropped twice by Jersey Joe Walcott but managed to hang onto the title by a controversial split decision. The end was nearing for the great champion and shortly after he knocked Walcott out in a rematch, he announced his retirement.

In 1950, at the age of 36, Louis returned to the ring to challenge heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles but lost a 15-round decision. He fought nine more times over the next year, beating the likes of Lee Savold and Jimmy Bivins but announced his permanent retirement when Rocky Marciano knocked him out on October 26, 1951.