Who was really the better man, Schmeling or Sharkey?

Absolutely not.

He was a consummate professional, who fought the best, and had the best possible preparation.

I do however think that Sharkey's hectic schedule led to some of his losses.

 

I agree

 

Circus clown??? You can't talk that way about Carnera!

 

He knows that he can't!

Even so, why did Sharkey lose to Carnera?

He should have been able to do it, even given out favorable assessment of Primo.

It is is a bit of a Tyson Douglas scenario in my opinion, with the positions being reversed!

 

A very simplistic answer to a very intricate question. The second fight IMO was very, very close, I have only seen 8/9 rounds of it, very technical, first fight Jack boxed his ears off. Remember Jack was about 5 years ahead of Max, he did a damn sight better in his losing effort to Louis than Schmeling did. And BTW the pass that that Max gets for losing to Hamas and especially Daniels is so revisionist to be unreal, Sharkey was unpredictable? From the Bud Gorman loss in 1926 to the Carnera defeat in 1933, Sharkey-the inconsistent- lost only to Dempsey(?) Schmeling-the foul- and Risko(SD)..he beat Risko, Loughran, Godfrey, Wills, Gorman, McTigue, Maloney, Stribling..rarely in history has a better resume been put together, not knocking Max but coupling the respective points in their career and their actual contests, the current-and it is only current- consensus that Max is greater is flawed IMO. And Baer murdered Max, that is conveniently forgotten now, but draws with Heeney and Risko are raised against Jack.Two very good heavyweights IMO but Sharkey the better, peak H2H, or resumee.

 

“Losing effort to louis”

Odd you would bring up the “loss” to Louis without mentioning the knockout win, which may be the single greatest win in heavyweight history, over one of the top 2 best heavyweights of all time in his prime. This win over Louis trumps any win on sharkeys resume by a mile

“Sharkey Schmeling II close”

Not in my eyes and in most people’s eyes who have seen the fight , Schmeling counterpunched brilliantly and landed the harder punches by a landslide, a highway robbery.

“Hamas and Daniels”

Schmeling was still slightly green in 1928, but both losses were avenged, the Hamas loss avenged in brutal fashion. Hamas was a good fighter, top 10 ranked beat Loughran 2x. Hamas was certainly better than bud Gorman or kingfish levinskey.

If you want to count “bad losses”, sharkey has a lot more of them.

“From the Bud Gorman loss in 1926 to the Carnera defeat in 1933, Sharkey-the inconsistent- lost only to Dempsey(?) Schmeling-the foul- and Risko(SD)..he beat Risko, Loughran, Godfrey, Wills, Gorman, McTigue, Maloney, Stribling..rarely in history has a better resume been put together”

During that time period Sharkey had two huge opportunities in a heavyweight elimination tournament. He fought two eliminators for the right to fight Tunney. He drew with slow plodder Tom Heeney who was only 5’10 72” reach, and lost to 5’11 Johnny Risko. These were the big fights for sharkey and he blew it. Schmeling fought Risko the following year and destroyed him in 9 rounds.

During this time period, sharkey fought 5’7 middleweight Mickey Walker. He only drew with him. I can’t think of a time period from 1940-present where a 5’7 middleweight was able to fight on even terms with a heavyweight champion. An embarrassing result. A year later, Schmeling fought Walker and destroyed him in 8 rounds.

You look at some of these wins

Wills- 37 years old. Got knocked out by Uzcuden in his next fight in 4.

Gorman- A DQ won on a low blow

Godfrey- may have been on the cuffs

Risko- only 19-6 when sharkey beat him, of course Risko won the very important fight of their series.

Mctigue - a light heavyweight

Loughran- very good win his best . Also lost to him

Stribling, Maloney...ok also lost to Maloney


Schmeling’s resume was better than Sharkeys, with mostly knockout victories over prime opponents and the louis victory far exceeds anything sharkey did

Stribling - never stopped before
Hamas- never been stopped before
Neusal-never been stopped before
Risko- never stopped before
Louis- never stopped before
Walker- first knockout loss in 13 years

“And Baer murdered Max, that is conveniently forgotten now, but draws with Heeney and Risko are raised against Jack.Two very good heavyweights IMO but Sharkey the better, peak H2H, or resumee”

And Primo Carnera Murdererd sharkey with 1 punch. carnera is one of the worst champions in boxing history.

Sure, max baer knocked out Schmeling. But he also clobbered the man who knocked out sharkey to win his title.

I don’t see how we can criticize Schmeling for a knockout loss to baer, when sharkey never fought Baer, and lost his title to a man whom baer toyed with

“Sharkey the better peak”

Very odd statement to make considering Schmeling knocked out a top 2 heavyweight of all time at his peak in a mesmerizing performance, while sharkeys “peak” was outboxing a inactive, out of shape ex champion for 6 rounds before losing on a foul followed by a left hook to the head.