Max Schmeling had the big power in the right, and is well known for the studied counter-punching that earned him a legendary win against Joe Louis, as well as the controversial fights against Sharkey, and wins against Hamas, Uzuden, Neusal, Risko, Stribling and Walker. He was 6'1 and fought at 192 for this all-time win against the bomber. Finished 56 (39)-10, and of course we would be remiss if we did not mention that Baer beat him pretty badly and Louis almost killed him in the second fight. Sultan Ibragimov was an Olympic silver medalist who finished 22 (17)-1-1, with goods wins over Lance Whitiker, Shannon Briggs, Zuri Lawrence, Friday Ahunanya, Al Cole, and an aging Evander Holyfield. He had fast hands (much admired by Mike Tyson), a southpaw stance, power, and was an intelligent boxer. His weaknesses were that he was too small for his era (no problem here), and that he never really combined the later cerebral boxer persona with the earlier swarming puncher. Despite a good career, is widely regarded as having put on a stinker against Wlad Klitschko, and soon thereafter retired. He was billed at 6'2", and 221 for his WBO title win against Briggs, but had to build himself up from 205, so there would not necessarily be a big weight difference here. Two of my favorite second-tier guys. Schmeling's title reign was a bit of a disgrace, but he compensated by beating the Bomber, and should have gotten the shot against Braddock. Ibragimov easily could have lost twenty pounds and had a second career as a cruiser, or hung around a lousy division and picked up a few wins until he got a shot at Vitali. Who wins and how?! By the way, anyone know how Sultan is doing?
Both were smart technical fighters. Max hit harder shot for shot but Sultan's hand speed and tricky southpaw angles would be something that Max never saw in his era. Sultan had a very extensive amateur background and had years to perfect his craft against conventional fighters like Max. With that said, Max was certainly one of the best of his era and was the type of cerebral fighter that he would certainly game plan for Sultan. The problem is, his era didn't have guys like Sultan so that is aa big wild card and why these matchups are difficult to predict.
Hmm,if Schmeling could scheme the fight plan good like how he did against Louis,he could probably counter Sultan to a decision,that right hand lead counter looking pretty. But... Sultan's style will always provide problems to textbook guys like Max,it will be difficult to time that southpaw angle and speed.
