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

Boxing in Germany was in its infancy in the late 1920s. Prior to that there were few IF ANY internationally prominant or talented German fighters. Boxing had MADE AN APPEARANCE in Germany twenty years earlier (which was at least a quarter of a century, if not more, after it had boomed to prominance in England and America). But it had not developed as anything resembling a concern until after World War 1. Even then it was nearly ten years before Germany began producing legitimate world class talent. Which is why I make the point that a marginally talented, past his prime fighter, such as Paul Sampson Korner could return to German after his career was drawing to a close in the USA and feast upon the still fledgling local talent to become a national darling. The most recognizable names like Diener and Breitenstreiter were heros in Germany and probably two of the best fighters the nation had turned out at this point and neither were world class fighters. At this point Germany was still literally twenty years behind France in terms of the development of boxing talent and France was at least 20 to 30 years behind other countries where boxing was a nationally followed sport. So yes, I stand by my ascertion that Boxing was in absolutely in its infancy during the Weimar Republic. And, more to the point, I stand behind my ascertion that Schmeling, by 1927, was already a major player on the boxing scene in Germany. Not internationally, but absolutely in Germany. They didnt go through the expensive process of filming a fighter during the cash strapped days of the Weimer unless they thought the subject was newsworthy. Nor did they ship these newsreels across the continent to places like France, Britain, and Germany unless they thought the subject would be of interest throughout Europe. So yes, Germany was in its infancy. The pool of elite German fighters was extremely small, and Schmeling in 1927 was one of those elite. Within in year, maybe two at the most he would be most recognizable and famous fighter in Germany's short boxing history. And to put this in proper perspective, when World Champion Jack Dempsey travelled to Germany in 1924 he gave an exhibition. Who was selected to oppose him? Max Schmeling. Do you suppose they just pulled some nobody out of the crowd to face the World Champion in an exhibition? He was a big fish in a very small pond to be sure but he was a big fish none the less.

 

Compared to the US and UK any other nation at the time would have been in it´s infancy. As a German I see it out of a German perspective. The infancy was pre-WW1 and thanks to the English there was a huge influx of good-trained boxers, Breitensträter was one of them, after WW1 and you may say raised it to its puberty in the 20s - outside of cycling it was the biggest sport in Germany then as it was seen as a form of art, fencing with fists. Germany wasn´t preducing world class fighters but we never produced many of them - even now with boxing beeing at it´s highest in Germany since the 30s, how many actual world class fighters have we? IMO only two, Sturm and Huck, and both are children of immigrants.
Yes, Schmeling was one of the popular fighters. But only one of a few. Not the standout one. That was my original point. That Schmeling was not as popular and known as he was when the nazis were in power.
Dempsey faced many local fighters during his exhibition tour, not just Schmeling. But that Schmeling was selected for that exhibition shows that he was seen as an upcoming talent.

btw. Bertolt Brecht, nobel-prize winner, the biggest German writer ot the 20th century, a huge boxing fan and author for a few German boxing magazines at the time, thought Breitensträter would beat Dempsey.

 

He was also infatuated with Korner and even planned a full length biography of him (which was eventually paired down to a monograph). Ive always found the 1920s German fascination with Korner interesting.

 

Yeah, was a bigger fan of Körner than Breitensträter apparantly. The 1920s over here, especially Berlin, are indeed quite fascinating. Körner stands a bit out with the way his career unfolded - his rivalry with Breitensträter is so interesting because they are like the two poles of a magnet, not only boxing-wise. Not only boxing. So many stuff happened there.

 

One of these days I hope to find a Korner film or Schmeling-Diener film. Ive got footage of Diener training and maybe footage of a fight (I cant remember) as well as the early footage of Schmeling but no actual fight. Nothing on Korner although I understand he appeared some films including Schmelings famous comedy romance with his wife.

 

Max Schmeling couldn't have missed beating Braddock..believe me, he would have had so much pressure and responsibilty piled up on him, that I think he would have been tuned to concert pitch for that fight.

 

I´d love to see a Körner-Breitensträter film. Highly unlikely that some of either one coems up though. Körner was some kind of actor (more than a dozen movies I think) and a public person for a while after his boxing career. Outside of Schmeling all of the fighters of the time are forgotten over here though.
Never got much into Diener. Guess him joining the NSDAP even before they became big and supporting the nazis from the beginning put me somewhat of. However, he owned a restaurant in Berlin not far away from where I live which still exists and is named after him.