Max Schmeling vs Ray Mercer

He lacked the strength to hold off 203 lbs of Baer but didn't lack the strength to hold off 198 lbs of Louis, that's nonsense. It was a good back and forth with both guys getting punches in but Baer managed to land the best one and ended the fight. There's no question that Schmeling was not performing at his best level.
Given the enormous variance between the two performances against Hamas it's clear that Schmeling had an off period where the two losses took place.

 

its not nonsense because you’re ignoring the fact that Baer and Mercer had great chins and Louis did not. Schmeling never hurt Baer despite by your own admittance fighting him and he certainly couldn’t hurt a prime Mercer who took the best bombs of Lennox Lewis. Look at the whole stylistic matchup. As great as Louis was his Achilles Heel was always his chin. It was decent but not close to great. Schmeling did not have the physical strength or the power in that match up.

 

Mercer also took a hell of a shellacking from Morrison,early on without going down,Tommy,whatever his faults could bang.Max isn't stopping Mercer.

 

Louis took a ton of punches before going out. For someone who did not have a great chin, he lasted longer against punchers than many people with proclaimed steel chins who ended up with more knockout losses despite facing a fraction of the contenders Louis did.
Did Risko and Stribling have weak chins? Schmeling's pretty much the only one to take those guys out.
He was having a very off performance against Baer and lost, that doesn't mean every guy above 200 lbs beats him.
Mercer, by the way, was shorter than both Louis and Baer, and even at 225 lbs he looked like he had a lot of weight to spare. Take him back to 15 round fights and check how well it translates. Baer couild easily make 220+ lbs as he showed later in his career yet at his best he hovered around 204 to manage the 15-20 rounders as did many other fighters such as Louis.
Schmeling doesn't need to score knockouts to win fights and his blend of stamina, speed, power and skill were unique.

 

I'm busy and would spend time, maybe, dissecting this but can't do it now ... here's the short version :

Louis did nit have a great chin. Period. No one I've ever read has tried to make an argument for him having one.

Schmeling was not a big time heavyweight puncher when scaled to the later generations ... Risko and Stribling were small cruiserweights. Not exactly a golden standard for all time chin status.

Max was a medium sized cruiserweight by todays standard and a pretty decent fighter in a weak era and let's leave it at that. You believe otherwise, good luck.

 

He fought more contenders than anyone other than Ali and in a 17 year career he was knocked out only twice and one of those in his last fight, that's not happening without a great chin. Think of it as comparable to Holme's. His propensity for early knockdowns doesn't mean he was easy to finish. Schmeling landed 90 loaded punches to his head before he finished him, who knows how many Marciano had to land to keep him down.

They don't need to be scaled, they were fighting as heavyweights against other heavyweights and their chins held up; except when they met Schmeling.

I don't even have to address the weak era assumption, he knocked out the greatest heavyweight of all time, a 6'2 superbly conditioned 200 lbs who would easily be making 220 lbs in the 12 round era.

 

He knocked out a twenty one year old kid with a decent but not great chin who absolutely became a great fighter but a great fighter with an Achilles Heel and a newbie when they first fought... Louis was knocked down by Jimmy Braddock ... how many great heavyweights did Braddock knock out exactly ? Louis was rocked badly twice by a horrifically limited Tony Galento .. Louis was stung multiple times pre-Schmeling on his way up ... Louis was knocked out of the ring by Buddy Baer. Louis was knocked across the ring and almost out in the first round by Tami Murello (a blown up light heavyweight) , Louis was seriously staggered by Billy Conn (a light heavyweight) , Louis was put on the deck three times by Joe Walcott .... I will pass on what Marciano did to him. You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts ... The single biggest reason why Louis is not still universally considered the all time best or second best heavyweight of all time is because the question of how his chin would hold top against much bigger , higher caliber big men that came later.

What are Max Schmeling's other great career knockouts against top tier fighters ? Stribling, reallly ? Mickey Walker ? Keeping building the castle of what a great heavyweight champion Max Schmeling was ... good luck.

 

That twenty one year old kid was the most dangerous twenty two year old you could pick a fight with in the history of the sport. Newbie Louis had pulverised two ex champs (both still in their twenties) along with multiple wins over guys who were either currently ranked, held a ranking or would hold one further down the line.
There's no way to diminish Schmeling's achievement just like Liston beating a twenty two year old Ali for the title would have been immense regardless of Ali's recent performances against Cooper and Jones.

Name them

You aren't proving anything other than the fact that Louis had a propensity for early knockdowns, that doesn't impact his overall durability to any meaningful extend as we saw how many more punches Schmeling had to land to keep him down. We saw it again when Marciano buckled him at the end of the first and then in the second, yet he still had to send over a **** ton more punches to end Louis six rounds later.

The Charles fight is a testament to Louis' durability. He was reduced to a punching bag for the majority of the fight, his face a bloody mess and he still went the distance despite being wildly out of shape and fresh off retirement. A shot fighter like Louis being able to endure so much proves that the prime fitter version was that much more difficult to stop. Conn momentarily buckling his knees after twelve rounds of nonstop action doesn't really do anything to help your case.

That's not the reason. Some of the key reasons are Ali's star appeal and personality, stance on the Vietnam war, being generally that much more filmed and recorded than Louis (and most previous champs) was, but chiefly on this forum, for his eye catching wins against Liston, Frazier and Foreman.
How either would measure up against super heavies doesn't weigh into it that much because it's a give and take, Ali with his superior durability would hold up better under punishment but he'd be in the fight three or four times longer than Louis who tended to quickly finish whatever his hands made contact with.

I guess knocking out top ranked contenders like Risko, Stribling and Hamas isn't impressive, even though those guys had a combined 471 bouts and four knockout losses, three of which were delivered by Schmeling when all those guys were at their best.

 

Just because you think you're so smart when your arguments are convoluted and incomplete:

Tyson was a more dangerous and accomplished 22 year old.

The two ex-champs he defeated are in the top ten all time worst in Carnera and Baer. Bear however had destroyed Schmeling and not with one shot like you wrote but by beating him down with superior strength, stamina and power ... the stoppage came as a result of a clubbing and not one shot.

Here's how you diminish Schmelings victory. You look at the rematch. If Louis was the most dangerous 22 year old that ever fought when Schmeling exposed his flaws, why was Max destroyed in 2:04 in the rematch only two years later when he was still a young fighter himself at 32 ?

He was rocked mutilple times on his way up ... do your own homework.

Conn had Louis staggering all over the ring in the 12th round. Schmeling knocked him out in the 12th round. Not sure round 12 is considered an early flash knockdown.

Charles weighted 184 when he fought Louis
Marciano weighted 184 when he fought Joe Louis
Tami Mauriello was 198
Joe Walcott was 194
Billy Conn was 174
Braddock was 197

These were small men. They all hurt Louis. Louis was possibly the most spectacular two handed puncher in heavyweight history .. he held the title almost 12 years ... he created history .. he also had a chin that was his weakest asset when gaged against the all time best of the best .

None of this means crap about the fact that I feel Max Schmeling lacked the physical strength and power to defeat Ray Mercer who was bigger (6' 2") , much stronger, much harder hitting and had a far better chin than he did .