Prime Max Schmeling vs. Jersey Joe Walcott

Well since Joe Louis beat the stuffing out of a prime Joe Louis indisputably I thinkit's safe to say that his top win is a little better. It is nice to see you be objective though.

 

I think Walcott has become quite over rated .. I know he was talented and a sharp hitter but I'm always skeptical about fighters know more for their losses than their victories .. I also don't 100% buy his starving in the ring bit .. the others had it brutal as well .. that being said a very interesting match up .. a prime Schmeling was a very smart, focused fighter and should not be over looked in this match up ..

 

You're math is slightly off becuase Gomez wasn't rated when he beat him.

For the record Schmeling is 8-4.

 

So it's unfair to list the entirety of a man's career. Burley was a part time fighter and was successful. Bob Moha was as well. I know Walcott is your favorite but you're being obtuse. I listed a statistical fact and you jumped on me for being unobjective even though I didn't say what it indicated in regards to the mans quality.

 

My mistake, but that is the following year.

So that's 12-13 including his disastrous first career without management. So after the 4 year lay off, he was 12-9, which is still outstanding considering the competition he faced and the fact he avenged the Maxim, Charles, and Ray defeats.

 

I'm more impressed by the sheer number of top quality fighters he faced. 25 top 10 guys for a heavyweight is simply staggering. I think the only guys with more are Ali and Louis. When they say about a guy that he fought everyone they're talking about guys like Walcott.

 

Max Schmeling took Apart a prime Joe Louis, and mickey Walker two guys that are top 15 p4p in history. He beat both of them bad. Add in Jack Sharkey 2x who was the best heavyweight in the world at time they fought. He also added the scalp of hall of famer young stripling, stopped the durable Johnny risko and beat such notable contenders of the era like Paulino Uzcudun, Walter neusal, Steve Hamas.

And let's not forget that Max got the shaft not once but twice in his career. Had he rightfully gotten decision against sharkey who knows how much longer his reign goes. And more importantly after beating Louis, he had earned the right to face Braddock but was denied because everyone knew he would likely win (making him not Patterson the first two time heavyweight champ - a belt he should not have lost to begin with- ) and take back to nazi Germany.

 

Can't argue that, and I really can't think of any other HW who faced more either. No wander he became so crafty.

 

That's a strong case for Schmeling. Leads me to believe I've underrated him.

 

I'm being stupid. If we count Ezzard Charles total career then he is way out in front. So Charles, Ali, Louis, Walcott-Holmes, Lewis would be the top 5.

 

Good call if you count him as Charles fought alot of rated HWs as a LHW in the 40s. Ah, Holyfield. I think he's actually way ahead of Lewis.

Moore and Bivins are two others to consider. I know they mixed it up with rated HWs pretty frequently regardless of what weight class they were competiting in at the time.

But back to Walcott, even some of the guys that weren't rated top 10 at the time were tough. Gomez, Hoff, early Ray, Tandberg, and even Shkor was a tough gate keeper coming off an upset of Rusty Payne.