Pretty quite on this forum at the moment so I'll try and kindle interest in Walter Neusel, the criminally underrated, nay unconsidered, German Heavyweight contender of the 1930's. He probably has a right to be considered up there with Schaaf, Gains, Poreda, Hamas, Loughran, Stribling, Uuzcuden and a slew of other contenders but his name is rarely mentioned. He was the bane of British'ish heavyweights until he lost to Farr (after a twisted knee?). Petersen, Harvey, Strickland, McCorkindale(except on a foul) Gains and Foord all failed to best him. He started his career with 35 or so bouts unbeaten and when he stepped up beat the likes of Loughran, Gains, Poreda and Levinsky while losing few. Schmeling did beat him in the battle of the Germans and Carnera stopped him with an elbow(Primo was winning though) and Farr had that win. He continued boxing in Germany through the war giving as good as he got against good fighters like Lazek, Heuser and Tangberg, 'till Hein Ten Hoff took over. He even got revenge on an aging Max in 1948. As late as 1949-20 years after he was German amature champion-he drew with the undefeated Ten Hoff. Anybody else rate this guy?
Agree absolutely but this isn't really fair. We don't say Sharkey overshadowed Loughran or Louis overshadowed Baer. Just trying to get him a bit of recognition. Godoy too seems to have got lost in the mists of time-I think I'm correct in saying that he is one of only three fighters to get a nod from a judge at the end of a Joe Louis fight (Walcott and Charles are the others).
Louis was the only man to KO Godoy in over 120 fights, maybe the only man to floor him 'till his last fight in 1951? Mind you, he appears to have had a lot of dubious fights.
What perhaps truncated his legacy, is that he was seen in Germany as the heir to Schmelings situation as the top German prospect. In the end the alegedly declining Schmeling, was not ready to be put out to pasture yet. Then Schmeling goes on to beat Louis. That is why Schmeling overshadowed him.
How about this for a top 10 of non-USA heavyweights in the 1930's; Schmeling Carnera Gains Godoy Farr Neusel Uzcuden Lovell Charles VonPorat
Yeah, Farr could be as high as two on this list. He flamed so brightly for a while but ultimately I knock him for his slow career start, "losing" to an old Loughran, and then the Nova and Burman fights. The Braddock fight you can argue either way that it adds or subtracts from his legacy. This leaves the sterling Louis performance, the split series with a past-it Max Baer and the win over Neusel, good stuff but hardly good enough to get above Gains or even Godoy on longevity with comparable resumes?
Personaly I do rate him over Godoy, and perhaps over Gains. At his best he was a tough match for anybody. During his prime run only Nova realy beat him very convincingly. Everybody else won a close or controvertial decision.
We so own this thread! Yeah, I kinda agree actually, on his best night he is over Godoy for sure and maybe Gains too. I'd still stick by the Gains that handed Primo his ass though.
i remember my old coach telling me that that after neusel had beaten jack petersen for the third time petersen's fellow welshamn tommy farr got into the ring and told neusel he would batter him when they fought he was true to his word.farr forgot he was a boxer and gave neusel a good hiding