Legendary heavyweight champion Louis took on the Pittsburgh Kid Conn at the Polo Grounds. Giving away at least 25 pounds, Conn was the heavy (or should that be light?) underdog but proceeded to outbox Louis. Boxing historian Bert Sugar wrote that, “Conn could block punches with his arms, elbows and gloves, and further nullify his opponents’ punches by ‘rolling’ with them.” By the eighth round, dehydration had set in on Louis and by the 12th he was completely exhausted with Conn ahead on two of the scorecards (Louis later admitted in his autobiography that he rested up toward the end of his training schedule because “I didn’t want them to say in the papers that I beat up on some little guy”). Conn got cocky in the 13th and tried to finish Louis off; but by going for the KO, he exposed his impressive defense, was caught by his opponent and was counted out with two seconds left in the round. Let that serve as a lesson to underdogs everywhere.
Top 10 Boxing Matches of All Time
On the morning of 17 April 1860, boxing's inaugural "world title" match took place. Though illegal, sporting historians accept that John C. Heenan vs Tom Sayers (U.S. vs England, in a Hampshire field) was the first of many thousands of "fights of the century." Here's TIME's selection of the greatest bouts of all time
Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn, June 18, 1941
Full List
The Sweet Science
- Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier III, Oct. 1, 1975
- Jack Dempsey vs. Luis Angel Firpo, Sept. 14, 1923
- Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, Sept. 16, 1981
- Micky Ward vs Arturo Gatti I, May 18, 2002
- Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn, June 18, 1941
- Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo, May 7, 2005
- Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns, April 15, 1985
- Erik Morales vs Marco Antonio Barrera I, February 19, 2000
- Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Meldrick Taylor, March 17, 1990
- Chris Eubank v Nigel Benn I, November 18, 1990
