Would Max Schmelling have been the first man to have regained the heavyweight title..

Jimmy said the first four rounds against Louis he fought as well as he ever did. Watching Max beat up Hamas and Louis, I can't see Braddock managing a win unless Schmeling defeats himself with undue caution, a real possibility with somebody as proactive as Jimmy could be. Max would need to be prepared to go the limit if need be.

Braddock was tough as nails. He was only stopped by the best right hand Louis ever delivered, and when a cut opened up against Lou Scozza which had been sustained in a loss to Tom Patrick just two weeks earlier. But he had been bettered 23 times over the distance. At the time of Jimmy's dormant reign, Schmeling had only sustained two noteworthy defeats over the limit. One was the controversial title losing SD to Sharkey where Max was widely criticized for lack of initiative, and the other in the first match with Hamas. (The ten round loss to veteran Jack Taylor in Cologne occurred when Schmeling was still just 19, and in any event he avenged it in Hamburg during 1927. It must have driven Hitler and the Nazi propagandists nuts that Max fought and lost to Taylor and Gains in Cologne, and Gipsy Daniels in Frankfurt.)

 

Neither Schmeling nor the nazis where a big number then in Germany. The nazis were just one of many right-wing partys and Schmeling was just one of many boxers.

 

I think so although I think a 100% Bradock is underrated so its a closeish call

 

One thing about Braddock though is that he was tough as nails. Schmeling might not win by a stoppage here and if he did it would take a great amount of right hands to put Braddock out. Again Louis should not be used as the barometer for a fighter's ability to perform, Braddock was hit with huge right hands and it took a while for Louis to find the perfect punch.

 

I agree with the consensus.

Schmeling was a prety consistand performer in his peak run. If he lost, it was usualy either a bad decision, or the fact that he was up against an exceptional talent. He never under estimated an opponent, or came in to the ring in less than imaculate condition.

The fact that Schmeling had won the title on a foul always grated on him, and I am certain that he would have given Braddock every bit as much preparation as he gave Louis. This is not a fight that he would have treated as a gimme.

The rest would have been history.

 

A super serious, ultra confident Schmeling would have dealt a cruel beating to Braddock, I have no doubt.

 

No, they weren't, but it still had to be awkward to try to pass off Max as proof of Aryan superiority when he'd sustained defeats like this to such opponents. (To say nothing of what happened when he took on a certain somebody wearing the Star of David on his trunks for the first time six months after Hitler came to power.)

 

Almost certainly and basically everyone in boxing knew it which is why Braddock was allowed to literally skip out on his mandated match with Schmeling to A. Cash in on a bonanza with Louis and B. Not to lose to a subject of Adolph Hitler and have the championship held hostage in Nazi Germany.

 

Actually Schmeling was fairly big news in Germany in 1927. These were the days of the Weimar Republic when boxing was basically in it infancy in Germany and the upper echelon of German boxers was a small clique of which Schmeling belonged. Its why a past his prime (and never really great) Paul Sampson Korner was able to return to his native germany and become a celebrity, extending his career by several years, feasting on weak competition. In 1927 Schmeling was already German and European LHW champ and was already being filmed and shown in newsreels across the country and indeed across Europe. In fact the earliest footage known to exist of Schmeling was from fairly early 1927.

 

Schmeling beats Braddock.

Possibly an awful scenario if the Nazis have enough weight to stop Schmeling from defending against Louis. It would be a shame if Louis went down in history as another Harry Wills, or even if he won the title years later when he was past his peak...

 

It would have been quite pathetic for the Nazis and Schmeling to avoid Louis. Not sure if they could have pulled it off, and perhaps the previous win would have encouraged them to risk Schmeling's title against Louis. In any case, Louis would have hung around until Schmeling would have eventually lost, and captured the title anyway.

 

I can see a scenario where the Nazis require Schmeling to fight easy, "suitable" marks until WWII starts. The boxing commissions might strip him, but he still would hold the "lineal" title.

After that, Louis could still claim a piece of the title (although he would be at war himself), but the entire title picture would be muddied. I have no doubt that Louis would get it eventually and go down in history as a pretty good heavyweight champion, but part of his title reign would have an asterisk because he didn't beat "the man who beat the man". And remember, he'd never have that rematch against Schmeling to use as proof of superiority, either.

 

Nah, just blame it on a Jewish-Bolshevik consiracy just like everything bad. That was their easy way out ot such things.

Ah, Germany was not quite in it´s infancy, not far off though. Boxing came to Germany in the early 20th century and made it´s name when a circus boxer beat Germany´s biggest Judo/JuJutsu martial artist by KO two times around 1910 - Judo and JuJutsu came to Germany in the 1880s with a Japanese delegation and a demonstration in fron of the German EMporor who was so in awe that he made it mandatory for the German police, many clubs emerged soon after. After WW2 German prisoners of war who were at the Isle of Wright and learned boxing from the English there lead to a big boxing scene in Germany. Boxing was very, very popular. The aforementioned Paul Samson Körner draw in one of his fights with arch-rival Hans Breitensträter a crowd of 80,000 people in 1925 in Berlin. Schmeling with his titles was a known man butonly one of a few, not the stand-out he would be later on.

 

You basically just reinforced everything I said.

 

Not really. I made the point that boxing in Germany was not really in its infancy, highlightd by the fact that it came to Germany 20 years earlier and was going through its first boom, initiated by the returning prisoners of war and evidenced by the big crowd attending for a national title fight - and the huge numbers of boxing shows all over the country. I also made the point that Schmeling, while clearly beeing on his way up, was only one of quite a few boxers who were popular. Not the standout yet.

It´s nitpicking though.