Max Schmeling
Max Schmeling was a prominent German heavyweight boxer born on September 28, 1905, in Klein Luckow, Germany. His early life was marked by hardship, particularly during and after World War I, which led him to seek work at a young age. Despite the challenges, Schmeling pursued his passion for boxing, training tirelessly and eventually moving to Berlin to further his career. He became Germany’s light-heavyweight champion in 1926 and claimed the heavyweight title in 1928.
Schmeling gained international fame in the 1930s, particularly after defeating legendary boxer Joe Louis in 1936, an event that drew significant attention and was politically charged due to the Nazi regime's attempts to exploit the victory. Their rematch in 1938 ended in a swift defeat for Schmeling, marking a turning point in his career. After serving in the German army during World War II, Schmeling faced significant personal and financial challenges post-war but remained a respected figure in both Germany and the United States. His legacy in boxing is characterized by a combination of intelligence, discipline, and a commitment to elevating the sport's reputation.
Max Schmeling
Boxer
- Born: September 28, 1905
- Birthplace: Klein Luckow, Uckermark, Germany
- Died: February 2, 2005
- Place of death: Hollenstedt, Germany
Sport: Boxing
Early Life
Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling was born September 28, 1905, in Klein Luckow, Uckermark, Germany, about seventy miles northwest of Berlin. His father was a pilot with a major steamship line and, soon after Max was born, moved his family to Hamburg, Germany’s largest port city. Max was nine when World War I broke out in 1914. His father lost his job; the family suffered greatly, often coming close to starving because of the blockade of the city. Thirteen years old when the war ended in 1918, Max had to find work because there was no money to continue his education.
As far back as he could remember, Max had wanted to be a boxer. At the time he was born, boxing was prohibited in Germany, but Max’s father often talked about it and told his son that the English were the pioneers in the sport, having invented the rules. Therefore, in 1922, Max decided to leave Hamburg. With no money and trusting luck, he managed to get to Düsseldorf in the German Rhineland, then under English occupation.
The Road to Excellence
According to Max, luck and hard work enabled him to become a champion. He had no training in boxing, but he had a strong body, a good mind, and great enthusiasm. Max persuaded a merchant who was also a boxing enthusiast to give him a room and money to train. Beginning in 1924, Max devoted his life to boxing. Jack Dempsey, the American champion, whom Max resembled, became Max’s model. Max managed to see several films of Dempsey and carefully studied his techniques. Dempsey visited Germany in 1924, and Max managed to spar with him, an experience he never forgot.
Max’s promoter went bankrupt in 1926, and Max lost all his savings. By chance, he met Max Machon, a boxing manager from Berlin, who told Max that only in the capital could he make a name for himself in boxing. When he arrived in Berlin, Max did not even have enough money for car fare. Luck came his way again when he met Arthur von Bülow, the editor of the magazine Boxsport, who agreed to pay for the young man’s continued training.
The Emerging Champion
Machon joined Max in Berlin, and together, Machon and von Bülow changed Max’s life. After training up to fourteen hours a day, Max knocked out Max Diechmann on August 24, 1926, to become Germany’s light-heavyweight champion. Max became the German heavyweight champion in 1928.
Because he had earned enough money, Max invited his widowed mother to live with him. Max also worked on improving his mind. Berlin was the cultural capital of Europe at the time, and Max managed to meet leading writers and artists who liked the attractive young boxer. Although Max learned from them, his boxing career always came first. He was in bed by ten o’clock every night; he never touched alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.
Although well known in Europe, Max knew that he would have to go to the United States to make money. He had studied American boxing techniques and knew them to be more brutal and dangerous than European methods, but he was prepared to take the risk.
Max, together with von Bülow and Machon, arrived in New York in 1930, but he could find no one to arrange the kind of match he wanted until he met Joe Jacobs, a fast-talking, streetwise native New Yorker who agreed to become his American manager. Jacobs arranged a match with Jack Sharkey, the American champion. Before any match, Max always tried to learn as much as possible about his opponent. He knew Sharkey had bad nerves and would do rash things. Max won the match on a disqualification to become the world champion, but it was a crown without real meaning. Max truly won the world championship when he knocked out Young Stribling in 1931, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Continuing the Story
In 1932, Max lost the heavyweight crown to Sharkey on points. Many, including Jacobs, disputed the decision, but Max accepted it.
Back in Germany in 1933, Max married the film actress Anny Ondra. Although nonpolitical, Max was disturbed by the Nazi takeover and the violent anti-Semitism of the regime. Unlike many of his artist friends, however, Max decided to stay in Germany.
In 1936, Max returned to the United States and reached the high point of his boxing career. On June 19, he defeated Joe Louis, who became world heavyweight champion the following year and is considered perhaps the greatest boxer at his weight in ring history. As with Sharkey, Max said his victory was the result of his having studied Louis’s boxing techniques.
Max was embarrassed when the Nazis attempted to turn his victory into proof of black inferiority. On June 22, 1938, the rematch between Max and Louis, held before seventy thousand spectators in Yankee Stadium in New York, was billed as the greatest event in boxing history. Grossing more than a million dollars, a huge sum during the Depression, it was both racially and politically motivated. The Nazis were so hated that Max had to be escorted to the ring under guard.
Determined to defend both the United States and his race, Louis attacked Max with unrelenting fury, knocking him out within 2 minutes and 4 seconds of the first round. Max was seriously injured from the bout and was never again the same fighter, although he won the European heavyweight boxing championship in 1939.
Max was drafted into the German army and served as a parachutist. After Germany’s defeat in 1945, Max’s home and property were confiscated. Although more than forty years old, he attempted a boxing comeback, without success, but managed to set himself up in business. Outgoing and friendly, the former heavyweight champion remained a popular and respected figure with both Germans and Americans.
Summary
Max Schmeling’s long and distinguished career in boxing was proof that intelligence and a sense of fair play are as essential as a strong body to becoming a success. Max helped to raise boxing from a brutal, often illegal pastime to a respected sport. Some boxing experts rank Max Schmeling among the top ten heavyweight fighters in modern ring history.
Bibliography
Erenberg, Lewis A. The Greatest Fight of Our Generation: Louis Versus Schmeling. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Margolick, David. Beyond Glory: Max Schmeling Versus Joe Louis and a World on the Brink. London: Bloomsbury, 2006.
Myler, Patrick. Ring of Hate: Joe Louis Versus Max Schmeling—The Fight of the Century. New York: Arcade, 2006.
Schmeling, Max, and George B. von der Lippe. Max Schmeling: An Autobiography. Chicago, Ill.: Bonus Books, 1998.