Could Max Schmeling Defeat ANY Of The Modern Heavyweight?

Schmelling has arguably the greatest HW victory of all time but he also has a lot of losses to lesser fighters .. his prime weight was around 190lbs.. today hed be a very small CW... size isn't the be all & end all, look at Usyk .. but even Usyk dwarfs him... i don't think hed beat prime K2, Bowe, Lennox.. elite SHWs.. but he'd probably have the nouse to take out some of the top tier of the post 90s HWs.. Holyfield would be an excellent fight. I'd still favour evander.

 

I find Schmeling’s defense to be one of his best qualities, very slippery and hard to hit clean when on his A game like in Louis 1. Also think you’re overlooking how good his chin was given how many shots Baer as well as Louis in the first fight gave him. Had he not turned toward the ropes in the rematch maybe he could’ve lasted a few more rounds.

That said, his biggest problem against bigger guys would be his low workrate, I’ve also heard that his right loses a bit of pop when he’s aiming upward so that would play a factor too.

 

Recently some formers world champions like Oleg Maskaev, Charles Martin, Bermane Stiverne, Siarhei Liakhovich.

 

Top 20 he would be fighting good athletes who used weight training to greatly increase their mass and strength. Those guys would all start at 215 to 220 and be taller with longer reaches. I would say it would be tough. I think below top 50 a prime Max in spite of size disadvantage but because of his talent level is beating most everyone. Once you get into top 50 think there will be some guys that could beat him many he would beat. But top 20 I he’s not beating any of them.

 

With modern training he probably beats some of the fringe contenders of the past 36 years, yes. But I don’t think he had the makings of a very big man and wouldn’t be much larger than he actually was. Perhaps 6’1” and weighting around 210. His chin wouldn’t be any better either. And the past four decades have seen a lot of punchers

 

I would agree but never like the ‘if he had modern training ‘ routine as there’s too many variables. What kind of training?Some guys could end up having issues with intense weight training hamstring pulls flexibility issues. Steroids could cause health issues. Very hard to say.
Suffice to say Max at his best maybe second Sharkey fight would have a huge size and strength disadvantage fighting modern heavyweights. Due to his talent he would be able to beat many modern heavyweights that he would be much smaller then. I would say however hes not beating any of the top 30 heavyweights of today.
I d pick him vs Jake Paul though in spite of an almost 30 lbs advantage for Paul.

 

Getting blown out in a round by Louis and getting beat by Baer kinda diminishes my assessment of him overall. No skilled boxer should have any trouble with a lumbering brute like Baer and yet.........

 

I think the biggest factor in him getting blown out in a round by Louis was getting hit in the back when he turned toward the ropes before his first knockdown. Had that not happened he probably could’ve gone on for a few rounds, if his toughness in the Baer and first Louis fights are enough evidence.

I also think you’re overlooking how dangerous Baer could be the few moments he’s actually on form, here you have a guy with an elite chin, elite power, elite conditioning, when he stops clowning, pretending like he knows how to box and goes guns blazing he’s a hard guy to outmaneuver forever especially if you can’t hurt him or gain his respect. Baer, unless you’re also an elite puncher with a high workrate like Louis (which Schmeling wasn’t), will be in there throughout the entire fight.

Schmeling also never dealt with the physicality Baer brought, as well as being the biggest, strongest and most durable guy he fought by a country mile. Those can be hard qualities to adjust to if you’re the smaller man even a skilled one. Some guys just aren’t built to overcome such disadvantages even if they’re great against guys their own size.

 

Schmeling would have a tough time with Kabayel, Usyk and Hrgovic but I feel he'd still usually win.

 

If as you stated Max was able to train in modern ways I believe you could add around 20 pounds to his frame. He excelled against come forward fighters, some guys I could see him beating in the top 20 is Burt Cooper, Buster Mathis Jr, Eric Molina, frankie swindell, Botha, I’d have to take a closer look at it. But I’m looking for guys 6’2 and under that way less than 225. But he would def win some

 

This is not only wrong, it's applying ABC logic, circular sports debate circular logo /anime power scaling logic.

Joe Louis destroyed Baer, yet he got destroyed by Max Schmeling. Are you willing to die on the hill that Charles Martin>>>Max Schmeling>>>22-year old Joe Louis?

You do this all the time because you have to take hard-line pro modern biases even when it's silly. I have literally seen teenage golden gloves boxers with better fundamentals than Charles Martin. Martin is simply a guy blessed with decent power, height, and decent athleticism who never truly applied himself and snatched a vacant belt in an incredibly weak era. His credentials as a "world class" fighter are even more dubious than guys like James Smith or Bermane Stiverne. Martin fell up the proverbial stairs "defeating" Glazkov (whose knee blew out from a previous injury and couldn't continue) to become "champion". Martin enjoyed his 30 seconds of fame and then immediately lost his belt with zero defenses getting blasted out in 2 rounds by an inexperienced Anthony Joshua.

Max Schmeling would make Martin look dumber than he usually does. I can still remember Luis Ortiz hitting Martin so hard, Martin looked outside the ring and started arguing with someone in the crowd. Oh, and Martin lost that fight too, against a flabby 42 year old Ortiz with bad knees. I guess that was fate correcting the blip in the timeline as Martin ironically lost to a fighter with knee trouble after "beating" one with knee trouble.

 

??? You think he would beat Usyk? Prime to Prime he’s 3 inches shorter 40 pounds lighter not in the condition Usyk is in and not as skilled a boxer. How do you overcome not having any advantages?

 

Which is why I'm doubtful he would deal well with larger HWs especially ones that he wouldn't be able to get their respect. But perhaps I'm just being too critical

 

Oh no 3 inches. What an insurmountable deficit.

Usyks only got 2 inches in reach.

Keep in mind I'm the guy who wrote a thread about Schmeling being overrated because he didn't fight that many larger opponents. The reason size would be a problem for him is really that they could hurt him like Louis and Baer. Usyks unlikely to knock Schmeling out and hes not going to outbox him. So what is he really going to do? Usyk is bigger then Foord and I think Usyk will do better and win some rounds but thats more the kind of fight I see here.

 

I agree with you on that, in my first message I was mainly talking about his defense and chin in general which I find underrated