Could Schmeling repeat what Johannson did? Or could Machen out slick the German (like a BMW, Schmeling came from Germany)
Probably depends on which "more motivated" guy shows up. Schmeling "did" beat Louis, where Machen fell short in his effort against Liston. Max by decision.
I think that Machen, while determined and brave, doesn't have the innate toughness required to survive a hard punching general like Schmeling. If Max decided to out-box Machen, that'd be much more interesting, but Johnson showed it could be done.
Machen was exactly the kind of technically orthodox fighter, that Schmeling would have loved to pick apart.
I think Machen is getting a raw deal here. He has one blip on his record against Johannson and it almost seems like people think he's chinny. I think if Machen fought Ingo 5 more times he would have beaten the Swede 5 times. Ingo just happened to land perfectly on Eddie. It does happen or should I bring up Max getting KO'd by Gypsy Daniels? Eddie withstood everything that was thrown at him by Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Cleveland Williams, Zora Folley, Jerry Quarry, Nino Valdez and Bob Baker. Now that's a good set of whiskers. Also, Max was beaten by Steve Hamas - no world beater - so nothing is out of the realm of Eddie beating Max. Personally, when i saw the subject matter, I picked Eddie by decision.
Machen was anything but a "technically orthodox fighter"...you're thinking about Zora Folley. Eddie Machen was an "outside the box fighter" if there ever was one. Folley (ex.) Schmeling would pick apart,...Machen, ih he showed up with his head screwed on the way he fought Liston, could give Schmeling all kinds of trouble.
True, but I have eternal admiration for the way Eddie Machen fought Liston in 1960. I've read that he had an injury (pre-fight) ...and remember, this was almost four years prior to Clay-Liston. It was Eddie's blueprint. He may not have won, but he was fearless and inspiring. After it was over, he continued to taunt Liston...saying.."want some more big boy?"
