Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling
(September 28, 1905–February 2, 2005) was a
Germany|German boxing|boxer whose two List of
Heavyweight Champions|Heavyweight championship
fights with Joe Louis transcended boxing and
became worldwide social events which will forever
be linked to the rivalry between United
States|Americans and Germans before World War II.

==Early years and Jack Sharkey==
Schmeling debuted as a professional boxer in 1924
in sports|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 sports|1930. In between his debut and the
championship fight, he fought a two round
exhibition with world Heavyweight champ Jack
Dempsey in 1925 in sports|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 win it that way. 

In 1931, he made a defense, knocking out Young
Stribling in 15 rounds at Cleveland,
Ohio|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. Despite
efforts to make a third fight happen, the rubber
match between Schmeling and Sharkey never took
place.

==Fighting Joe Louis==

Schmeling was thought to be a "shot" fighter and
in 1936, the situation in Germany had changed.
Schmeling came over to New York once again to face
the up-and-coming African American|black American,
Joe Louis, who was undefeated and considered
unbeatable at the time. However, Schmeling had
studied movies of his opponent and found a gap in
his coverage. 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 via the Hindenburg
disaster|Hindenburg to a hero's welcome, while
receiving hardly any support before the fight.
Schmeling was denied a challenge to the world
champion title, despite obviously deserving such a
fight before Louis did.

Louis and his mainly black supporters were
devastated by the defeat. He was so affected that
when he finally won the world Heavyweight crown in
1937 in sports|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 being pictured 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 Adolf Hitler 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.

==Incorrectly branded as a Nazi==

Schmeling was branded as a "Nazi" by many boxing
fans, but nothing was further from the truth. 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 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.  Because he had long
refused to join the Nazi party, a vengeful Hitler
sent him on suicidal missions in order to make him
a hero -a very dead hero - only to see him return
every time.  Schmeling remained anti-Nazi
throughout the war, and after it was over was
interned briefly, still recovering from his war
injuries.  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 in sports|1948, Schmeling had retired
from boxing. He and Louis became friends following
a 1954 meeting, 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 reputedly 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.

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 Republic|Czech-born
film actress Anny Ondra, to whom he was married
for 54 years. They had no children.

== Honorary Citizenships ==

* Honorary Citizen of the City of Los Angeles
* Honorary Citizen of Las Vegas
* Honorary Citizen of Klein-Luckow (his hometown)
* Honorary Member of the Austrian Boxing
Federation

== External Links ==
*
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/peopleevents/p_
schmeling.html PBS biography of Max Schmeling
* http://dikigoros.t35.com/bio/schmeling.htm
biography in German, (with more than 50 pictures)
*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/4235901.stm
BBC obituary for Max Schmeling 
*
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story
Id=4487726 NPR memorial (with audio)

start box
succession box |
  before= Jack Sharkey |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion |
  years= 1928–1930 |
  after= Jack Sharkey

end box