Was Schmeling really robbed in his second fight with Sharkey?

Jack Sharkey was an excellent boxer-puncher and I like to watch him. But from what I have read, Max Schmeling would have deserved a close decision or at least a draw. It was a tactical and technical fight without real highlights.

 

Schmeling's "loss" to Sharkey in 1932 is maybe the biggest Robbery in a heavyweight title fight history. Almost everyone in the audience thought Schmeling was the clear winner including the current mayor of New York at the time and huge boxing fan James J. Walker and Gene Tunney the previous champion. As far as the press row I've read two diffrent reports on the fight one stated 22 of 25 newspaper men gave the fight to Schmeling and another said out of 15 ringside reporters 10 had Schmeling 3 had Sharkey and two had it even. You must also take into account that while Nazi Germany didn't come to power until 1933 and that while initially Schmeling was liked in America the way he had gained the championship on a foul left some with a bitter taste in their mouth and the fact that Sharkey was American-I must believe most of these ringsiders and fans "wanted" Sharkey to prevail. The fact so many had people were disgusted by the outcome lends me to believe that Sharkey clearly lost the fight by a wide margin. I read one ringside report that felt through 10 rounds Schmeling was up 6-4 and then swept the last five rounds. Making the fight an 11-4 outcome.

 

I think I saw a 30 minutes highlight of Schmeling-Sharkey II and I gotta say it was an insane robbery. Schmeling won this fight big.

 

Schmeling's legacy is unjustly marred. He got hosed twice. First here in a fight he clearly won and then even with this "loss" when he defeated Joe Louis he was denied right to fight Braddock for title. A fight he likely would've won. So A) he would've had a longer title reign had the robbery not occurred or B) likely would've become the first 2x Heavyweight champion, not Patterson. Either way his legacy would greatly be enhanced. However I don't hold this "loss" against him...yes parts of the fight are availabe as well on youtube. From what little is available you can see how much sharper he is in this fight than Sharkey.

 

I saw I still have the fight - a 30 minute Highlight in good quality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK0sCzGOcrQ

 

Wow I don't recall ever seeing this much actual footage of the fight. Thanks for finding and sharing. Going to watch it now. On a side note the referee was Gunboat Smith the very good "white hope" fighter who was a fellow navy man, like Sharkey and cast the deciding vote. Hmmmmmm. Maybe old serviceman camardarie pride played role?

 

wow Thanks again the quality was incredible. What a travesty. The british commentator had it 15-0 for Schmeling. From what I saw it was hard to score any round for Sharkey he back pedaled whole fight was easy to hit and almost all his punches fell short and were thrown with 0 authority. The "fix" was in on this one. Probably to get Carnera his shot at crown.

 

Here is a short clip of Schmeling and Sharkey signing for the 2nd fight and afterwards a rare postfight interview of Sharkey and his wife:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZacH4_cbQk

and here again a few seconds of Sharkey after the fight and a Schmeling postfight interview in which he says he got robbed against Sharkey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_2p_g2xmRc

 

Wow that's great thanks for the rare footage.

 

Yep. Schmling won that fight. Boxing had a problem with judging in the 1930's and wasn't going to do favors to foreign born fighters such as Farr, Schmeling, and Godoy. The scoring was way off in some filmed matches.

 

I think we can agree that Max should have got the win but a few did tab Sharkey-most likely his mates! I'm probably in a minority here but I think Sharkey was the better of the two by a shade.

 

When Sharkey was good he was very good but he was more inconsistant than Schmeling. If this fight had been ruled correctley Schmeling has a prime run where he goes 32-1-1 his only loss being a first round KO to Gipsy Daniels up until the Max Baer match. That is pretty impressive including dominant wins over Young Stribling, Mickey Walker and a host of solid contenders like Uzcudun, Risko etc.

Yeah guys like Farr and Godoy got the shaft alot although I do believe Louis beat them in both title shots. Of course he stopped Godoy in second match. Funny Carnera had no problems with judges Lol

 

Schmeling won.

 

you all make it sound like it was a one sided beating, i saw a long reach sharkey keeping Max At bay with the long reach of the jab and doubling up. no robbery just a bias commentating by a european commentator . if you watch it in mute you'll have a different opinion.