The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-07-14
CONN CAPTURES WORLD TITLE IN
 CLOSE CONTEST
Light.Heavy Ring Stars Thrill l5,000 at Indoor
 Fight
HARRY FERGUSON United Press Sports Edit0r)

New York, July IA (U.P) - Sure and Mother Machree's Irish eyes should be smiling at the Sham rocks where the River Shannon Flows today, for one of Erin's fight- ing boys has tucked his way into the light heavyweight championship of the world.
 There's no other word except luck for the victory that Irish Billy Conn won last night in the din made by 15,000 rasping throats at Madison Square Garden. He took the decision away from the Light Heavyweight Champion Melio Bettina, but a cou- pie of punches one way or the other could have turned victory into de- feat for him.
 The fight was that close. And even though the referee and the two judges were unanimous in giving the decision to Conn, there were com petent observers at the ringside who thought Bettina deserved the nod. The United Press score sheet gave Conn seven rounds, Bettina seven rounds, and called the 10th round even.
 Bettina forced the fighting at the start. He forced 1t in the last round, round, piling Conn into the ropes and slamming away at him with both hands. But in between the first and the 18th rounds Conn got the range and his picture book left jab was in Bettina'S face so much that 1t looked like Melio was eating a sandwich made out of fist and lea- ther.
 Wants Return Bout
 Jimmy Grippe, Bettina's manager, screamed for @ return bout today. There probably will be one because the 4,000 persons who came down from Bettina's home town of Bea- con, N. Y, went back convinced that their man had the better of 1t. And all of them are willing to come down again and watch Bettina try to prove 1t at 10 bucks head.
 For the first 12 minutes of the fight they were getting ready to light the bonflres on the main street of Beacon. Bettina was winning go- ing away, he was making @ monkey out of a lad who is the canniest boxer since Tommy Loughran pranced and jabbed, he was crowd- ing Conn against the ropes and busting him on the head and body.
 This Bettina, whose manager is a hypnotist, is an odd sight in the ring. He boxes left handed and he comes waddling like crawflsh with Q sprained ankle. But he was boring in there for the first four rounds and he won all of them as Conn, with the bewildered expression of a five-year-old trying to work jig saw puzzle, searched for an open- ing. .
 Tn the fifth Billy got the answer He strengthened Bettlna up with @ left that landed three times before Mello could get his hands up. He danced and jabbed and jabbed and danced and kept feeding that left glove to Bettina's teeth. And Conn would have won the round had he not hit too soon coming out of a clinch. The refere took the round away from him for fouling. Great Exhibition
 But the Pittsburgh kid had the range now and in the next four rounds he gave as great an exhibi- tion of boxing as anyone would want to see. The good people of Beacon who were in the Garden turned their heads away as Conn speared their idol, crossed with a right now and then and danced out of harms way. There wasn't much steam in Conn's punches, but in the seventh round that Irish left jab landed seven times on Bettina's nose before the Beacon boy could get his gloves up.
 It wasn't until the 11th round that Bettina got back into the fight when they made a slugging match out of 1t. Tn the 18th Bettina opened a cut around Conn's left eye, but Billy came back at him with that stab- ping left and took the round. And in the next one Conn uncorked 0 left hook-his hardest punch of the fght-that rocked Bettina back on his heels.
 Going into the 18th round Bettina quit trying to box and waded in. He got results immediately for he is stronger than Conn and he pulled Billy into the ropes and let him have 1t around the body and head. When he landed the last punch of the fight, the Beacon delegation set up an ear-splitting cheer, thinking their man had won 1t in the stretch.
 But the referee and the judges ruled otherwise, and Conn, blood dripping from his left eye to his chest, stood in the middle of the ring and had his arm raised as the winner and new champion. We better have this one again AL