Smaller fighters? He seemed to be a sub-200 pound heavyweight who had speed above most if not all actual heavyweights but power unusual for a man his size. Seemed to be a deadly combination to smaller fights like Walker who preyed on the larger, slower heavyweights. Schemling was the only fighter to ever KO Young in almost 200 fights, and I don't believe anyone ever treated Walker the way Schemling did.
Not so much smaller fighters necisarily. Small come forward fighters seem to have been his meat. He turned out to be death for Adolph Heuser in more ways than one.
He killed Heuser but they managed to revive him. His heart stopped beating and Schmelin had some anxious minutes.
Yes Rusesell, The answer to your question is Yes. ironically enough, Schmeling wasn't paired with many big fighters. Schmelings camp turned down offers from the ambling alp.
I don't know if he'd beat him head to head, but he was certainly a better fighter from just about every aspect other than just plain size. Schmeling is a historical fighter who over the years has gained my respect through an accumulation of reading, watching film, and hearing stories. In my opinion, Max's greatest attribute was his intelligence. He would study his opponents very closely before meeting them, in an effort to discover their weaknesses, and then form a plan for beating them. Such was the case when he fought Louis. I know it sounds like something that every fighter does. They try to watch as much footage as possible to figure out how to beat their opponents, but how many fighters really take the time to do this themselves, and are smart enough to piece the puzzle together without the help of a trainer? Schmeling was a brilliant human being who used his wits to accomplish more than any 5 people put together in a life time can usually do.
He defintley would have taken primo. Primo struggled against small fighters, losing wide decisions to larry gains and jack sharkey. Primo's biggest flaw was he was wide open for a right hand(which max baer exploited).....and schmeling the king of the sneaky right would take advantage of carnera.
Schmeling weighed 189 for Stribling,who scaled 186 1/2,so only a 2 1/2 pound difference in weight,and at 6 1 Max was 1 1/2 inches the taller man,not a big disparity in either area.
