[1929 - 31 articles] Jim Corbett: No fan of prime Max Schmeling's skills!

Kind of harsh but I found these excerpts interesting.

James J. Corbett, “Jim Corbett Says Schmeling Looks Like Dempsey, But Doesn’t Fight Like Him,” Morning Call, June 30, 1929

“Schmeling, basically, is a right-handed hitter and, from my size-up of him, I do not think that he ever will develop to a point where his left can be made much more effective than it has been up to this time.

I saw Schmeling in his fights with Joe Monte and Johnny Risko […] He looked crude and in need of plenty of experience when he fought Monte, and in that fight he used his left hand more as a gesture than as a weapon.

Against Risko he called that left into play a little oftener. But he was awkward with it: seemed to telegraph with it. Upon those occasions when it landed, it lacked crushing power.”

“I regard Schmeling as a handicapped youngster because he lacks a left.”


James J. Corbett, “Corbett Gives Schmeling Only Outside Chance,” Wisconsin State Journal, June 12, 1930

“It is difficult for me to concede more than a lucky punch chance to Max Schmeling in his battle against Jack Sharkey at New York City tonight.”

“It’s an experienced warrior going into battle with a youth who has gained but little knowledge of the technique of the game; it will be a two fisted veteran taking on a one handed youth; it will be a scientific fighter, who knows all the tricks of a diversified attack and a clever defense, against a boy who can throw only a right hand and who never was schooled in how to protect himself in troubling times.”

“If the right hand of the German lad was such a super-punch how is it that Sekyra, Monte, Risko and Paulino took great numbers of them without being knocked cold? True, Schmeling stopped Risko and Monte. But he had to beat them down. There wasn’t enough power in his right to knock anybody cold with one or two terrific smashes. Schmeling must hit a man often and hard before he can accomplish results.”

“Schmeling’s attack mainly is for the jaw. He has not fully learned the knock of body punching.”


D. Kelly Scruton, Double Triples Column, The Sedalia Democrat, July 2, 1931

“In referring to Max Schmeling, present title holder, Corbett said that the German champion was a big, strong young man, an aggressive fighter, has plenty of courage with a great right punch, but no left.

His knowledge of fistic art is limited, but his ‘ring spirit’ and his courage are what carry him through.”

 

And some people around here think that Corbett was a brilliant boxer with a sophisticated understanding of the sport. I guess I know which camp you're in!

That's probably true.

That's somewhat debatable. Even if you consider the rematch a robbery, Sharkey arguably won more total rounds against Schmeling in their two fights than Schmeling won against him...

 

Also stumbled upon a couple surprising quotes from two of the leading boxing writers of the day.

Damon Runyon: "Schmeling can't box a lick but he is a good puncher." (July 2, 1931)

Frank G. Menke: "Although this Max Scheling felllow is the most overrated hitter that ever was tagged 'slugger,, it should not be difficult for him to batter Mickey Walker groggy in a few rounds Monday night and finish him." (Sept. 24, 1932)

 

I tend to agree, but I think hundreds of guys would probably pummel Corbett.

 

Sounds a bit like what Corbett (and others) were saying about Schmeling, no?

 

I like Max Schmeling just fine. I think the main thrust of the accounts of the people who followed his career in real time was mostly right though. He was a patient workman with an excellent chin and a very good right counter. It helped that the guys he fought against on film regularly kept their lefts very low or dropped their jabs though. He picked his shots well and he was mostly very good at exploiting obvious openings. His reputation for being some kind of brainiac in the ring gets wildly overstated though (you’d think the Baer fight would have been enough to nip that one in the bud...). His left was mediocre and underdeveloped—he most certainly did not have “a damn good jab” or anything remotely like that. Footwork seemed adequate but fairly unimpressive. He was mostly fine defensively, at least in situations where he was dealing with one punch at a time. I don’t consider him some kind of defensive standout though, and I’m not convinced he’d deal well with the fighting styles and offensive repertoires used by many modern big men.

 

To be fair, plenty of people other than Corbett were saying similar things about Schmeling in that period.