Tim Witherspoon vs Max Schmeling

With all due respect to Max, who was a helluva operator, he didn't have to go up against the sort of well-schooled modern MONSTERS that Spoon faced regularly. Bruno, Pinky, Bonecrusher, Page, Tubbs, Holmes... these are Olympian Gods Upon High, not sunken chest breadline rejects and pencil neck geeks.

Different Era. Different School. Better School.

 

Actually not true. None of the fighters Tim fought were as technically competent as Schmeling. None, aside from Holmes, ever attained the worlds hwt championship. They were all contenders at a time where there were many top ten contenders. The beginnings of the watered down world of boxing we have today.

 

Wrong again, dearest friend. Bruno, Tubbs, Smith, Page and Holmes all grabbed the brass ring. And mind you, in an era when black Americans actually were allowed to compete on something of a level playing field. And all fighters who would wipe the floor with Sharkey or for that matter Gypsy Daniels.

 

To be fair he is talking lineal.

 

Given politics in the 80's it was much harder to get that mythical "lineal" title. But then again, given politics in the 30's, it was damn hard to become a contender as a black man.

All in all, and being favorable to the 30's and mob control and the vestiges of the color line, I give the alphabet baubles of the 1980's more importance than the mythical contrivance of the "lineal" belt that existed in the 30's. Actually, far more importance.

 

An in shape ? Witherspoon beats Schmeling .
Ko 9

 

What, all eight of them?

 

The WBO Interim Continental Super Cruiserweight Belt holds more significance to me than the White Heavyweight Championship that masqueraded as being some sort of "World" title... even when the forces that be had to accept a black champion who got thru the cracks.

 

Ratings RING far more respected FAIR then nowadays. One champion not 5,pay offs to rating commissions just as bad as crime controlled enflowence/

 

I would be fairly comfortable saying that Max Schmeling was the best heavyweight in the world at some point.

The best black contender around was George Godfrey, and he had lost to Jack Sharkey and Johnny Risko.

 

Janitor you clean up some misinformed writers.

 

Would you say that Schmeling, and the talent pool that rose to the top during his era, had the same obstacles to face as certain talent pools in the US? Did we ever see a representative cross section of the available talent during that era? Or did we just see a few who overcame immense barriers?

 

Well we would be on fairly safe ground saying that there were a lot more talented black heavyweights in some earlier periods, when the barriers that they faced were even greater.

I would also point out that even when a black fighter could not contest the title, there were still enormous financial incentives in boxing.

Harry Wills was probably the richest fighter of his era, apart from Dempsey himself, and he ended up richer than Dempsey due to better investments!

Schmeling arguably rose to the top of the biggest talent pool in the history of the sport!

 

I'll say this,,at his best Max was a better fighter than Tim

 

I wonder what Michael Spinks being a heavyweight champion in the 30's would prove about the era.