Max Schmeling vs. Larry Holmes

Lets dig deeper on this one.

We know Joe Louis horsed around in training for probably the only time in his life. I mention it often. But upon reviewing the fight again the biggest reason Schmeling schooled him, and it was a schooling, is because Louis was a technical MESS at this point in time.

Most of us boxing nuts know the story of Louis bringing his jab back low and leaving openings for right hand counters. It's the story of the fight. Louis got hit with countless flush right hands.

But we can look deeper. There are other factors going on that are never highlighted.

When Louis wasn't bringing the jab back low he was leaving it hanging out there, any amount if times. This is ok at times but it sure wasn't doing anything for Joe this night. He was also never getting his head off the line. He was also pawing a lot with uncommitted half hearted jabs with no snap and he sure got countered plenty at such times.

Adding insult to injury - when he was throwing the jab he was oh so often thrusting his own right hand out with the jab almost as if expecting a jab in return and looking to parry. This was leaving his right hand extended out and not in any sort of position to throw. So Schmeling was getting a completely free invitation to counter the Louis jab with zero chance of being in danger from a right hand counter. He rode that pony all night. The few times Louis threw the right hand from such a position he pulled it back about 8" first then let rip.......Max wasn't getting hit with that sort of telegraphed right hand.

Another thing rarely if ever mentioned is how little Schmeling threw committed jabs. Louis loved countering jabs with booming right hands and Schmeling really starved him of this. On top of this Schmeling threw a TON of lead rights throughout the fight and these were probably more prominent than the right hand counters. They landed flush over Louis' low left hand time and time and time again all fight. Joe never looked like finding an answer. His chin was like a magnet for them, a home.

Have a look at this video at 16.35, 17.26 and 17.32 to get an idea of what i am talking about per the right hand position. It goes on all fight.

This content is protected

Now i need to give Max credit too, obviously. He came in with the perfect plan and took away quite a bit of Joe's offense while driving his own home with superb timing round after round after round. Brilliant. He was also totally on point defensively as Grey pointed out. To beat Louis you first had to survive him of course.

So now we head to Holmes. Holmes could be hit by right hand counters too, absolutely...........but not to Joe's extent above, not even close. When he does hang his jab a bit or drop it coming back his dimensions (a bit taller with substantially more reach than Louis) make it much harder for Max. He also won't be throwing heaps of half hearted pawing jabs out there. On top of this he won't thrust his right hand out into a poor position jabbing - it will be poised to strike straight down the pipe. Right leads will have to travel further and higher to find the mark on Holmes.

Max ain't beating Holmes. Very few of the intangibles that allowed Max to win will be in place with Holmes that were in place with Louis. Max might have some sporadic success but he ain't tagging Larry all night long and he ain't turning the fight on one punch.

 

Nice analysis.

A while back I looked at the positioning of Louis’ left pre and post the first Schmeling bout.

Pre, Joe held it and recoiled the same up to and including the 36 fight Schmeling fight.

Post, Joe held the left a bit higher and recoiled the same but to the higher positron.

However. for the Schmeling rematch Joe held the left that much higher again - obviously sensitive to not allowing Max to take the same advantages he took previously.

I think Max only got to throw something like 4 punches in the rematch before Joe was all over him.

One of those punches was a counter right over Joe’s thrown/returning jab.

Interesting that Max’s right hand got over okay but only missed for the fact that Joe had moved slightly out of range after jabbing, IIRC.

Whatever Max had in his kick in 1938, Joe gave him next no to no time to show it off.

 

I was almost going to add you can see in the rematch Joe's overall left hand position was much higher in anticipation of those lead rights. As you say he also returned his left a bit more efficiently and was on the lookout for a counter. The counter you mention Joe evaded with a swift move backward. His right hand was also staying a little closer the few times he jabbed from memory.

Blackburn had worked him hard. I am still a little surprised how Schmeling just dropped his hands on the ropes and never remotely attempted to cover up or evade anything. One can only take it on face value that he was that out of it.

Louis was keen in the rematch and very content to wage some inside warfare.

 

Yeah, Max was definitely already badly wounded and out of it, only knowing enough to hang on to the ropes for dear life. You can even see Max scream when one of Louis' body shots lands.

Check this - Louis vs Charley Retzlaff. Go to 2;45. Though more brief it's somewhat similar to how Louis belted Max on the ropes. Louis could look so damned perfect.

This content is protected

 

Eerily similar isn't it. Almost damn identical. The left hook that dropped him was so short it shouldn't be allowed. On top of that he was moving backwards and didn't get his feet planted. Crazy really.