Does Schmeling stand a chance against Foreman?

Schmeling can beat Foreman because he hit harder than Ali is an interesting take.

 

I agree. Frazier would obviously wipe the floor with Foreman.

 

Foreman would poleaxe him.

 

Jimmy Young decks him....so too can Schmeling.

 

What doesn’t seem to have been mentioned here is the size issue.
Prime Max was 188 to 192 pound barely thirteen and a half stone.
He’d be giving away 2 stone, height and reach plus George was a monster strength wise.
Max has got the jab to get by plus that long leading right uppercut I just can’t see anyway Max gets past 5 rounds here.

 

I don't see it really, I think George would never really give a chance to settle.
IMO George stops him before the fifth.

 

This is actually a very good observation. Sometimes a guy with slower hands can throw off your rhythm and timing. Foreman would sometimes even purposefully pitch very slow pawing shots in order to invite counters, then return with a bomb. He would appear to be wide open, then simply swats away the opponent's shot with a parry and delivers a cracking blow to the ribs or jaw.

In addition to that, Foreman's looping arm punches were deceptively good at tracking where the opponent was and landing. He wasn't throwing big wind up haymakers, he made up for his lack of speed with good timing and accurate. As you said, Foreman's tendency to keep his arms extended was a high risk, high reward method. It made it harder for the opponent to follow up with their own punches because Foreman's other arm could get in the way. He would parry, frame, push, or pull the opponent into a shot. The more you fought at his pace, the worse it got as he was completely disrupting the pace of a more traditional fighter.

The main reason Ali and Young had success was because they didn't play his game. They threw sharp fast shots straight down the middle, retreated, threw, retreated, and went into a fight guard or clinches if Foreman pressed the issue. Schmeling had decent hand speed and good ring IQ, but he didn't really fight this way. Schmeling's feet and reflexes were not as good as his hand speed and this would be an issue as he is both shorter and smaller than Ali and Young who had the height and reach to get away with hit and run methods. Schmeling would be right within Foreman's range for much of the fight and would go through hell attempting what he did against Louis trying to time Foreman with one big right hand through his guard.

I honestly don't see Schmeling making it past the 5th. While he was cagey and skilled, he is significantly smaller and lacks the durability and power to mix it up with Foreman or really keep him off of him. Louis was getting tagged so much because he kept dropping his left after jabbing and had a very predictable and much more Orthodox stance and style. Despite Louis impressive speed, power, and technique, he fought fairly straightforward at that stage of his career and that's why Schmeling picked him apart. He had absolutely no answer or adjustments to make. As noted above, Foreman. Was anything but Orthodox or straightforward and his crude mummy style and looping shots would be a dangerous task for Schmeling to attempt to counter.

Lastly, Louis kind of froze and reset whenever getting nailed by Schmelings right hands. Foreman, being a slugger, would often just absorb a stray punch he couldn't block and would just keep hitting. Obviously that could work against him, but if Foreman keeps firing back whenever he gets hit/trades, I can't see the German remaining upright for long.