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Max Schmeling

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Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling (September 28, 1905 – February 2, 2005) was a German boxer whose two fights with Joe Louis transcended boxing and became worldwide social events because of their racial and national associations. Despite his supposed associations with nazism, used by propaganda of both sides, Max was later shown to be a hero to the Jewish people [link]. He remains a sporting legend in Germany today, and also helped his friend Joe Louis later in life.

Contents

Biography

Early years and Jack Sharkey

Schmeling debuted as a professional boxer in 1924, and he built a record of 42 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws, before fighting Jack Sharkey for the vacant world Heavyweight championship, in 1930. In between his debut and the championship fight, he fought a two-round exhibition with world Heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey, in 1925, at Cologne.

In round 4, Sharkey hit Schmeling with a low blow so severe that Schmeling could not continue. Thus, Schmeling won the world title on a disqualification. He became the first Heavyweight world champion to win the title on a disqualification, and to this day remains the only one to have won it that way.

In 1931, he made a defense, knocking out Young Stribling in 15 rounds at Cleveland, and in 1932, he and Sharkey had a rematch. After 15 rounds, Sharkey was declared the winner on points (a very controversal split decision), and Schmeling lost his title. This decision led to Joe Jacobs, his manager (see below), shouting in protest a line that since has become famous: "We was robbed!"

Despite efforts to make a third fight happen, the rubber match between Schmeling and Sharkey never took place. In 1933, American boxer and later World Champion Max Baer boxed Schmeling at Yankee Stadium. Baer dominated Schmeling into the tenth round, when the referee stopped the match, with Baer being victorious.

Joe Louis

Schmeling was considered a "shot" fighter. In 1936, the situation in Germany had changed. Schmeling came over to New York to face the up-and-coming black American Joe Louis, who was undefeated and considered unbeatable. The fight had received little attention in Germany, as the Nazi authorities expected Schmeling to lose. Upon his arrival, Schmeling claimed that he had found a flaw in Louis' style, observing the way in which he dropped his guard after throwing a punch. He surprised the boxing world by handing Louis his first defeat, dropping him in round four and knocking him out in the 12th. Schmeling returned to Germany on the Hindenburg as a hero.

Louis and his mainly black supporters were devastated by the defeat. Schmeling himself was also affected; when Louis finally won the world Heavyweight crown in 1937, he said he would not consider himself a champion until he beat Schmeling in a rematch.

The rematch came, at Yankee Stadium, on June 22, 1938, with Louis defending his crown. By then, a second world war was clearly looming on the horizon, and the fight was viewed worldwide as symbolic battle for superiority between two likely adversaries. In American pre-fight publicity, Schmeling was cast as the Nazi warrior, while Louis was portrayed as a defender of American ideals. The fight was broadcast by radio all over the United States and Europe, and after Louis dropped Schmeling for the first time in the first round Joseph Goebbels ordered that the broadcast of the fight to Germany be cut off. Germans wouldn't find out what happened until later on. Louis retained the title by a technical knockout later in the first, and Hitler took this defeat as an embarrassment to his country.

Some speculators to this day accuse the Louis camp of foul play. At the time, Schmeling's manager Joe Jacobs had died, and he was left with a much inexperienced novice manager. This manager did not check the gloves of Joe Louis. Jacobs was often criticized for his rigourous glove inspections that he demanded. Some have accused Louis's manager of loading the gloves with something such as change, because during the fight, Louis broke two of Schmeling's ribs. Louis was not known for such powerful body shots and some suspect that he had something illegal. [[Citing sources citation needed]]

Schmeling was branded as a "Nazi" by many boxing fans, but this is debatable. In reality, Schmeling became quite unpopular among the Nazis after the embarrassing loss to the black man, and was not used anymore in Nazi propaganda, which was a relief to him. In 1928, he hired Joe Jacobs, a Jew, to be his manager. He would point to this fact for the rest of his life in defending himself against charges of Nazi sympathy.

In 1938, during the Kristallnacht, Schmeling hid two teenage sons of a Jewish friend in his Berlin hotel room, protecting them from the SS and Gestapo at great risk to himself. The two boys, Henry and Werner Lewin, were eventually smuggled out of Germany with Schmeling's help.

When World War II broke out in 1939, Schmeling was drafted into the German Army. Following its end he was interned briefly, still recovering from injuries sustained in the war. Afterwards, he frequently visited American troops, giving away signed photos and taking pictures with the American soldiers.

Business and retirement

The early postwar years were financially difficult for Schmeling. A former New York boxing commissioner who had become a Coca-Cola executive offered him the postwar soft drink franchise in Germany, and he became a successful businessman and one of Germany's most respected philanthropists. At his death, he was still one of the owners of Coca-Cola's German branch.

After 1948, Schmeling had retired from boxing. He and Louis became friends following a 1954 meeting on the U.S. television program This Is Your Life. Schmeling and Louis met 12 times afterward as friends, and he helped to pay the latterly impoverished Louis' medical bills. He was one of the pallbearers at Louis's funeral in 1981, which he paid for. Until shortly before his death, he made several trips a year around the world to attend activities related to his boxing career. He has been the object of several books, including a biography, and in 2001, STARZ! produced a movie about him and Louis named Joe and Max.

He is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, and he compiled a record of 56 wins, 10 losses and 4 draws with 40 wins by knockout. Among his other wins, he had a knockout in eight rounds over former world Welterweight champion, Middleweight champion and fellow Hall Of Famer Mickey Walker.

To the end of his life he defended himself against charges of sympathy to the Nazi party, invariably pointing - as in the beginning of his autobiography - to the fact that he had "a Jewish manager".

After celebrating his 99th birthday in 2004, Schmeling vowed to live on to celebrate his 100th birthday. However, that Christmas, he came down with a bad cold, and his health never recovered. He later slipped into a coma on January 31, 2005 and died two days later at 3:55 pm. He was buried next to his wife, the Czech-born film actress Anny Ondra, to whom he was married for 54 years. They had no children.

Record

Career

Culture

As Max lived in Szczecin, Germany, today a city in Poland but then called Stettin, a band from this city, The Analogs recorded a tribute song for him.

In the book "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," Joe Kavalier is beaten up by someone who may or may not have been Max Schmeling. The author hints that it probably wasn't, as Max should have been fighting in Poland at the time.

Honorary citizenships

See also

External links

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