Editing Joe Louis (section)

====Louis vs. Conn====
Louis's string of lightly regarded competition ended with his bout against [[Billy Conn]], the light heavyweight champion and a highly regarded contender. The fighters met on June 18, 1941, in front of a crowd of 54,487 fans at the [[Polo Grounds]] in New York City.<ref name="eastside2">{{Cite web |title=EastSideBoxing.com: Billy Conn – Joe Louis Fight |url=http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=10504&more=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615103825/http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=10504&more=1 |archive-date=June 15, 2009 |access-date=April 27, 2009}}</ref> The fight turned out to be what is commonly considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxing fights of all time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.si.com/boxing/2015/02/13/si-60-billy-conn-joe-louis-boxer-blonde|title = The Boxer and the Blonde: Billy Conn won the girl but lost the best fight ever| newspaper=Sports Illustrated }}</ref>

Conn would not gain weight for the challenge against Louis, saying instead that he would rely on a "hit and run" strategy. This prompted Louis's famous response: "He can run, but he can't hide".<ref name=arlington/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ayto |first1=John |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable |last2=Ian Crofton |year=2006}}</ref>

However, Louis had clearly underestimated Conn's threat. In his autobiography, Joe Louis said:

<blockquote>I made a mistake going into that fight. I knew Conn was kinda small and I didn't want them to say in the papers that I beat up on some little guy so the day before the fight I did a little roadwork to break a sweat and drank as little water as possible so I could weigh in under 200&nbsp;pounds. Chappie was as mad as hell. But Conn was a clever fighter, he was like a mosquito, he'd sting and move.<ref name=eastside2/>
</blockquote>

Conn had the better of the fight through 12 rounds, although Louis was able to stun Conn with a left hook in the fifth, cutting his eye and nose. By the eighth round, Louis began suffering from dehydration. By the twelfth round, Louis was exhausted, with Conn ahead on two of three boxing scorecards. But against the advice of his corner, Conn continued to closely engage Louis in the later stages of the fight. Louis made the most of the opportunity, knocking Conn out with two seconds left in the thirteenth round.<ref name=eastside2/>

The contest created an instant rivalry that Louis's career had lacked since the Schmeling era, and a rematch with Conn was planned for late 1942. The rematch had to be abruptly canceled, however, after Conn broke his hand in a much-publicized fight with his father-in-law, Major League ballplayer [[Jimmy Smith (baseball, born 1895)|Jimmy "Greenfield" Smith]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BillyConn.net |url=http://billyconn.net/aPhotos/biography.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105161157/http://www.billyconn.net./aPhotos/biography.htm |archive-date=January 5, 2009 |access-date=April 27, 2009}}</ref> By the time Conn was ready for the rematch, the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] had taken place.