Billy Conn versus Ron Lyle

[goose 5]

12 rounds.

[DrDuke]

Because of his skill and technique Conn could cause problems, but eventually the bigger and stronger Lyle would prevail.

[oogiebe]

Lyle flattens Conn in 8.

[margaret thatcher]

the man that caused joe joe so many problems, vs big ron..............probably ronneh stops him

[HomicideHenry]

It's kind of hard to assess Conn as a heavyweight when most of the time he was pocketing weights just to make weight on the scales, and he was fighting in an era where good heavyweights were few and far between.

In the 1970s, one could argue there was quite a few men in and around the caliber of Joe Louis, Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles. Ron Lyle was one of them. Conn wouldn't have gotten far in the 1970s era, just like Bob Foster didn't go far in the 1970s era of heavyweights.

The best heavyweight that Conn ever beat was Buddy Knox, the heavyweight champion of Ohio, but he wasn't all that good; the same year he lost to Conn he was knocked out in the 1st round by Turkey Thompson. Sure, Conn made Louis look silly but largely that was because Louis was a plodder.

Ron Lyle beat Jimmy Ellis, a middleweight turn heavyweight, so it demonstrates that Lyle could overcome speed advantages that Conn would have. Even if I gave Conn the benefit of the doubt that he was better equipped to compete at heavyweight than Foster, etc I think eventually Ron Lyle would've caught up to him and stopped him.

[Joson]

This is very interesting because Lyle had trouble with quick, smooth, lateral moving technicians. Look at how easily Jimmy Young handled Lyle twice. You'd think that Conn, just maybe, could do the same.

Problem is, we don't know enough about Conn's functioning as a heavyweight. He weighed just 174 lbs for his career-best performance against Joe Louis. In his final few bouts - when he was aging - Conn weighed in the low 180s. That's pretty small to mess with 218 lbs powerhouse like Lyle.

I don't know who to pick, but I'm inclined to go with Lyle. At his best, Ron was more than just a big banger. He could box efficiently too. His boxing talent may have been enough to neutralize Conn's slickness, setting the stage to win by KO.

Just my guess.

[gilgamesh]

I suspect it'd be similar to the 1st fight with Louis in that Conn would be way out ahead, and controlling Lyle throughout the majority of the fight, but he'd have to continue to fight perfectly all night long because one slip up and it's curtains.

I suspect that slip up would happen somewhere in there because Lyle would probably be easier to hit than Joe so the temptation to unload a lot of offense on him would be strong.

[scorpio83]

Like everyone said, Conn would have moments outboxing Lyle early like in the first Joe Louis fight, but Lyle would rally back by getting the better of the exchange of punches with Conn, who tried to knock him out which was the mistake to do and Lyle would KO Conn in the late rounds.

[elmersalsa]

Ron Lyle wins before the tenth. Bigger and stronger. And hit harder. Does Lyle hit harder than the great Joe Louis? I don't know. But he can hit. Ask Big George