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Sweet William: The Life of Billy Conn (Sport and Society) ReviewI 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.Sweet William: The Life of Billy Conn (Sport and Society) OverviewAn Irish working-class hero of Pittsburgh, Billy Conn captured the hearts of his contemporaries through his ebullient personality, stellar boxing record, and good looks. A light-heavyweight boxing champion, Conn had defeated nine current or former champions in three weight divisions by the time he was twenty one. Best remembered for his sensational near-defeat of heavyweight champion Joe Louis in 1941, Conn is still regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1965, Billy Conn was one of the most popular athletes of his era. "The Pittsburgh Kid" captured the public's imagination with his boxing, Hollywood, and army careers, which Andrew O'Toole chronicles by drawing from fascinating interviews with Conn's family, newspaper accounts, and Billy's personal scrapbooks. Presenting an intimate look inside the champion's relationship with his girlfriend, manager, and rivals, O'Toole captures the personal life of a public icon and the pageantry of sports during the 1930s and '40s.
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