Max Schmeling TKO 8 Mickey Walker

Schmeling truly is a lost gem of ATG heavyweights. Defeated Louis when he was absolutely feared by the heavyweights. Defeated Sharkey. Uzcudon 3x (the draw was a robbery in Spain) Walker, Neusal when he was hot, Hamas and others.
Great condition, booming right hand (40KOs against some extremely stout chins) and a brilliant strategist. His legacy is still being felt as he was both a mentor and idolized by both K brothers. They are the shadows of Schmeling.
He also utilized the shoulder roll defense to an extent. Great timing and accurate as you noted. For me the Baer loss is what keeps him out of the latter half of top ten. Had he won that his resume would truly be outstanding. As it is, he holds a win over a top two heavy in Louis, a top 30 heavy in Sharkey, a top 20 p4p in Walker and several tough contenders from his day as mentioned above.

 

Good post :good

 

Great fighter. The shadows of Schmeling would make mush pudding of him, though.

 

I have to watch the Baer vs Schmeling fight again but Schmeling was def competitive, so he lost to another good fighter of his era, many fighters have.
He knocked out the Iron chinned Risko, who lost a lot but also defeated many top fighters of the era. He is the only man to stop Hamas. Only guy to stop Louis in his prime as well. Also only man to Stop Stribling, which he accomplished in 15th round, he maintained his punch for entire duration of fights. That's great condition and perfect technique.

 

Well, I think a lot of people underrate him.
It's good to see you give him credit, and realize his greatness. :good

I've said before I'd probably rate him above Walcott and Charles, to be honest. I know you might not agree with that, because you rate those two high.

I think Baer gets massively underrated too.

 

I disagree here.
I don't think Baer was a lesser fighter at all. He just didn't last long.

 

I'm going to talk about Walker here...Two words. Fearless. Indomitable.
Mickey Walker was a beast.

 

Max was not only hwt champion but also a top contender for over 10 years. During that time his record was one of the best. He was no doubt a great fighter. Question is where can you place him all time? I would say top 15 in the 11-15 range.

 

You probably have, but I'll ask, did you see this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKVsMCUiiBA
This is one of the most remarkable breakdowns of the 1st Louis fight...it gave me a TON of respect for Schmeling. This video is AMAZING!

 

Yes indeed...fearles and indomitable...ironically, it's this LOSS of his that prompts me to rate Walker even higher as a fighter.

 

S, very good post on the vastly underrated Max Schmeling.
Nat Fleischer always contended that Der Mox as he was known had the greatest right cross in heavyweight history in power, speed and ACCURACY, and I agree. His legacy was hurt by Schmeling's reluctantly to throw his vaunted right hand on the open chinned Baer time and again. Still a mystery to me til this day. But what a beating Schmeling absorbed and still remained on his feet til the ref stopped the bout.We also must remember that in the second fight with Louis, Max was in his thirties by then while Louis was at his best age 24. I have always wondered that Schmeling was 24 for fight #2 and Louis was 33-4 years of age what would have been the outcome ?. To think that Schmeling after absorbing such beatings by Baer and Louis, and
thrown in the German Paratroopers in his later thirties by Hitler as punishment for his loss to Joe Louis, lived to be a few months short of 100 years is astounding. Today he is forgotten by today's fans who are wrongly obsessed with WEIGHT and more
WEIGHT of today's mastodons are wrong, wrong, wrong,
What nature gives in bulk, it takes away in speed and dexterity...:good