Sweet William: The Life of Billy Conn (Sport and Society)

Billy Conn was the pride of the Pittsburgh Irish. Good looking, charming, witty, supremely confident, and always a smooth dresser, Conn attracted the attention of the media and the fans as he moved up the ladder from light heavyweight to heavyweight.When Conn defeated Fred Aposloi in Madison Square Garden in January 1939, the New York dailies declared a "new fistic star is born."Conn won the light heavyweight championship that year by beating Melio Bettina. Heavyweight champ Joe Louis was the only bigger attraction than Conn, who had his sights set on Louis.Conn continued to dispose of opponents, despite his reputation of not being a hard puncher. Critics thought he lacked a KO punch.Conn got his chance to fight for the heavyweight title vs. Joe Louis on June 18, 1941, at the Polo Grounds. Although Louis KO'd Conn with 2 seconds left in the 13th round, the kid from Pittsburgh had been leading before he hit the mat.Billy had dominated rounds 8-12, but instead of "hitting and run," he started thinking KO. He left himself open and Louis took advantage of it. After the fight, Louis said Conn "was a great fighter with a lot of heart." Billy said he had "too much courage."A second fight with Louis was postponed after Billy broke his hand in a fight with his father-in-law. A third-year stint in the Army kept Billy out of the fight game.Once discharged, Conn got his rematch against Louis on June 19, 1946. There was unprecedented hype for the match as more than 700 press credentials were issued.Prior to the fight, Louis issued his famous "He can run, but he can't hide" quote, referring to Conn. Unfortunately, the rematch was extremely embarrassing for Conn as he danced most of the night before getting KO'd in the eighth.Author Andrew O'Toole does a fine job of detailing Conn's career and his two matches against Louis. He gives particular attention to Conn's relationship with his manager Johnny Ray. After reading the book, the reader feels like he knows Conn as well as his career.I didn't know much about Billy Conn before I started the book and I found it interesting and enjoyable.

My name is Ray McCormack, and I am a boxing historian. I have been following boxing for almost 50 years. This book is one of the most informative and objective books I have ever read about a boxer.The book gives you a very accurate and exciting glimpse of the life of Billy Conn, and of the 1930's and 1940's in boxing and the USA.I rarely recommend books about boxing. The reason being the books are usually full of mistakes and unsubstantiated rumors which soemhow become accepted as facts as the years go on. This book is 100% legitmate. I strongly recommend giving it a read

A classic book on one of the greatest fighters who ever entered the ring. Billy Conn was Pittsburgh through and through. There has never been, nor never will there be, an athlete as colorful, down to earth, approachable, humorous, precocious and poignant as Billy Conn.

Great Book about a great Fighter in the 30, if you are Boxing fan you will love it too

Great book! Very pleased!

Well written and easy reading...enjoying the local references...brings the fight scene during the 30's and 40's alive and vivid...lots of facts..anyone living in the Western PA area will appreciate the narrative

I moved to Pittsburgh in 1988, and grew up a passionate fight fan after watching Muhammad Ali knock out Oscar Bonavena in his second comeback fight. Days after my move, I ventured to the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, found Billy Conn's home, and knocked on his door. He answered the door, erect in bearing and straight-forward in manner. I explained to him that i had read about his fight and career, and wanted to meet him and get his autograph. It was late afternoon, and he and his wife, a beautiful lady, were having appetizers and a drink.I was treated to one of the most surprising and enjoyable couple hours of my life. he brought me down to his basement, where there was a gallery of pictures of eleven champions he had fought hanging on the wall. He told me stories of his fights with Melio Bettina and Teddy Yarosz. He gave me his opinions on Muhammud Ali and Mike Tyson, and of course, spoke of his life-defining fight with Joe Louis. He was disarming, strong, and unpretentious.I shared a drink with him and his wife, who likewise, permeated a genuineness that filled their home. She told me to call their son, Tim, who became a friend who I would go to fights with.This has little to do with this book, other than the subject.This is the story of an American icon. An underdog, who captured the hearts of the American sporting public. Billy took the elevator almost to the top floor, but was grounded not by any quit or lack of heart, but by too much heart.This book traces his ascent through the middleweight ranks and to the light heavyweight title. It paints a bullseye on the character and personality of Billy Conn, and what he meant to the people of Pittsburgh and sadly, a generation who pined for a White Hope.It colors in his flaws and humanness as well.Where it falls slightly short is in recounting his true raw greatness as a fighter, and his place in the history of the light-heavyweight division. There have been few who have battled so many champion and champion caliber fighters.The war definitely stole some of his glory years away as a fighter, and given Billy's penchant for winning rematches, a second fight against Joe Louis, had it come off much sooner, may have gone far differently. But that is mere conjecture.This is an immensely enjoyable biography about a worthy and relevant subject.

I was expecting a full bio after being disappointed with the first Conn book that came out but this was no better.If you want a book with rd by rd descriptions of Conn's fights then get the book. If your looking for a bio into the man forget it your better off reading the SI article The Boxer and the Blond from the SI Vault web site. Extremely disappointed.

Billy Conn is one of those boxers whose career is forever defined by one fight, his knockout loss to Joe Louis for the heavyweight championship of the world in 1941. Yet there is much more to Billy Conn than this fight, and he was the personality kid who lit up the light-heavyweight division before and during his championship reign, 1939-41. The book tells a great deal about Billy Conn's life in and out of the ring, and is a fascinating read throughout its 322 pages, enabling the reader to learn much about both Conn the fighter and Conn the human being. The only negative point is that the book does not include Conn's ring record, which as a shame.

Great product and seller