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Schmeling also happened to have one of the best right hand counters ever. If a boxer was a sucker to fall for a right hand then everybody was a sucker against Max because he always found a way to land it. The key was to be able to take it or land it harder than him. It is fitting that the punches that initially troubled Schmeling in the rematch were left hooks off a jab and a stunning lead right hand which left Schmeling frozen against the ropes.
Great article! Thanks for the post. Nat Fleischer once said that Louis probably would have won that first Schmeling fight if he had trained properly, but may not have gone on to the heights he did. While I agree that overconfidence was working against Joe, Schmeling in his autobiography said that Louis was in great shape for the fight. I believe it simply boiled down to Schmeling having noticed the flaw in Louis' style and they took full advantage of it. It was probably one of the most closely analyzed, best prepared, and brilliantly executed tactical fights ever. Schmeling said that he slept like a baby the night before the fight, knowing that he had left out nothing in getting fully prepared.
