Saturday, January 1, 2000 Dempsey Was The Big Daddy By Max Schmeling HAMBURG -- This century has provided many dramatic boxing matches and yielded even more unique heroes. Trying to name them all would be asking a little too much. But my short list of those boxers who will never be forgotten includes -- in alphabetical order -- Mohammed Ali, Henry Armstrong, Georges Carpentier, Julio Cesar Chavez, George Foreman, Harry Greb, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Jack Johnson, Ray Leonard, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Carlos Monzon, Archie Moore, Willie Pep, Ray Robinson, and Mike Tyson. But now I want to add, all by itself, one more name: Jack Dempsey. Despite all the class shown by the others, Dempsey was not only my own idol, he remains for me to this day the greatest of them all. He embodied the complete perfection of a professional boxer. Jack, the ninth of 11 children of an impoverished family of Mormon itinerant workers in Colorado, welded brilliant technique and strategy with a stupendous punch like no other boxer. His punches came packed with the full power of his entire shoulder span. He was a nightmare of an opponent. He hated sharing the ring with anybody else. He appeared to be a fist-fighter from another planet. It was no coincidence that they called him the 'man killer'. Writer Joyce Carol Oates in her famous essay 'On Boxing' was right on target when she said that Dempsey's style of fighting -- fast, direct, and merciless -- has forever put its stamp on the sport of boxing in America, and not only there. She is also not wrong when she says that today's boxing matches, compared with those of Dempsey's, appear to be harmless minuets. We never faced each other in a prize fight. Jack's seven-year era as heavyweight world champion ended almost four years before mine began. Still, we did box twice against each other. The first time was in 1925, when he was on his honeymoon trip in Europe and made a stop in Cologne where he gave a sampling of his boxing know-how to a few thousand spectators in the city's Luna Park. I was one of three Cologne boxers who were chosen to go two rounds against him. The second time was certainly different, coming in May 1933 in New York, when he visited me in training camp four weeks before my fight against Max Baer and wanted to spar with me. In the first round I landed my right directly in the middle of his nose, which had been operated on, and he quit right there. By no means do I mean to overglorify him or above all the first half of this century of boxing. But the fact is that our fights back then were definitely much tougher, much more brutal. I was still boxing with only four- and five-ounce gloves, and after two rounds they were mostly already torn apart, with only a few patches of tough leather covering my knuckles. The punches were extremely painful. Back then, there were also only eight weight categories, in which there was, logically, only a single world champion. It was extremely difficult to box your way to the top. This is not meant in the slightest to dismiss later achievements, for example those by Mohammed Ali. It was especially thanks to him that boxing battles gained a new seal of quality. The heavyweight division will always exert a magical attraction, it is simply in the nature of things. Still, I must honestly say that for years now I have no longer attended a match and only rarely do I watch a fight on television. This is because usually everybody knows beforehand who is going to win. There was in my time, when already the purses were going into the millions, certainly some amount of behind-the-scenes deal-making going on -- and it was not always fair, as I found out for myself on June 8, 1937. I had already been weighed in, but title defender Jimmy Braddock, against whom I had wanted to become the first boxer to break through the 'they-never-come-back' law, did not appear. He was then suspended by the New York boxing authority and slapped with a ludicrous fine of a mere $1000. As it later became evident, this was all a fixed deal. For Braddock, who was supposedly ill, had already long earlier signed another contract for a title bout against Joe Louis. The fight took place a few weeks later. The clincher was a secret clause in which Braddock was guaranteed 10 percent of all his opponent's earnings for the next 10 years. For the benefit and for the credibility of boxing I would hope that the new century will see a harkening back to the past times -- when there was only one association and only one champion per weight category. It would additionally be nice if a German heavyweight would finally follow in my footsteps. Let the fight begin! MAX SCHMELING was born September 28, 1905 in Klein Luckow, Germany. He entered boxing history with his world championship victory in 1930 over Jack Sharkey and with his sensational knockout of Joe Louis in 1936. Schmeling ended his career in 1948 and remains an idol in Germany and a legend in the world of sports, a man who embodies the image of the 'honest guy'. Schmeling today lives in Hollenstedt, near Hamburg. -- Sapa-DP Max Schmeling September 28th, 1905 – February 2nd, 2005 56 Wins, 10 Losses, 4 Draws, 40 KO’s
It's always really sad when fighters like this pass away. They were a living link to the old bygone days. When fighters did seem that bit tougher , probably because life was harder back then. To think schmeling actually fought in same era as Carnera, sharkey, baer and Louis and yet was still around to see Lewis, tyson and holyfield fight. U can't buy the experience s men like this had. And reading that brings back those years to life. So excellent job rez
Odd but admirable that Schmeling would remember Dempsey with any admiration at all since Jack backed Baer so strenuously when the two Maxes fought.
When Schmeling came to New York in the late 20's he caused a sensation. His bouts turned away large crowds due to lack of capacity. His resemblance to Dempsey was observed at that time.
He was considered a Dempsey clone in style as well as appearance. Quite different to how he is thought of today.
Here's a great pic of Max with Axel. Still looks like he knows how to throw a right hand. http://images.summitpost.org/original/571101.jpg
