In the ring
Student Liaison Officer, Russell O'Malley tells iPulse about one of the boxing greats. Interested? Join the Boxing Academy at the Ellesmere Port Campus.
WE begin with the most politically charged fight in boxing history. Max Schmeling was the German National Champion who had beaten Joe Louis two years earlier in a non-title bout in 1936, knocking out The Brown Bomber in the twelfth round, handing Joe his first ever defeat.
In that time, the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, had been building up his army to invade Europe, and had just held the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, using them as a tool to promote his 'Arian Race' views. Jesse Owens, the black American sprinter, put a dent in those views by winning four Gold medals in the Track and Field events.
During that time, Schmeling was being used somewhat against his will by Hitler as the poster boy for white supremacy and Joe Louis, ironically who couldn't even buy a meal in a white man's restaurant in America due to strict race laws, was being held up as the saviour of democracy!!! What strange times to live in!!!
From the opening bell in the first round Louis went straight after Schmeling, attacking him to the head and body, all the time avoiding Schmeling’s much vaunted right hand, the same right hand that had left Louis struggling on the canvas looking for his mouthpiece in their first fight. Don Dunphy, the famous fight commentator, was to have said at ringside that when Louis cornered Schmeling on the near side of the ring to him and caught him with a right to the jaw followed by a left hook to the ribs, he could hear Schmeling scream in pain and at this point the referee Arthur Donovan interceded by sending Louis to an neutral corner and giving Schmeling a brief respite. Louis then immediately felled Schmeling with a right hook to the head and he rose after a count of three. Louis ripped in punches to the head and body and at this point Max Machon, Schmeling,s cornerman jumped in the ring to save his fighter. These proved to be the final power punches in what can only be described as a one-round demolition. When examined by a doctor afterwards, it was revealed that Louis had broken three of Schmeling’s