Great Fights: Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling, 1938

The Brown Bomber Joe Louis and Max Schmeling 1938, Robert Riggs.

The year was 1938, and the world was on the brink of war. In Germany, the Nazi Party had come to the fore under the guiding hand of Adolf Hitler. Across the sea, a smaller battle was about to be fought in the United States- one which the two nations watched with nervous anticipation. The field of battle was a ring in Yankee Stadium- the combatants; two single boxers.

They had fought in the same arena two years earlier, on June 19^th 1936. At that time, Joseph Louis Barrow, or “The Brown Bomber,” as he was known was the top contender for the heavyweight title. The challenger was the German Max Schmeling, known as “The Black Uhlan of the Rhine.” Considered over-the-hill after a defeat at the hands of Max Baer in 1933, Schmeling had been sent back to Germany without much hope of regaining the title. As the top contender in Germany, it wasn't long before Schmeling was noticed by Hitler, who saw Schmeling as a potentially powerful propagandist figure. After a revitalizing of his career under the watchful eye of the Fuhrer, Schmeling went overseas once more to face one of the most formidable heavyweight boxers in American history in a match that would spark one of the greatest rivalries in boxing history, and foreshadow a war that in no more than three years would tear the world apart.

Joseph Louis Barrow

An African-American athlete in the shadow of the infamous Jack Johnson, Louis' managers had devised a list of rules, rules which were intended to maintain the athlete's image, and avoid the public ire which Johnson's lifestyle had provoked. The first recognized African-American Heavyweight Champion, Johnson had been notoriously cocky- publicly mocking opponents and vaunting over them after they had fallen in the ring. Perhaps most damaging to his reputation in an early 20^th century America, he had engaged in public relationships with white women. Louis' rules disallowed this; he was not even permitted to be photographed with a white woman. As a result, Louis was eventually 'allowed' the spotlight by the white commission which had begrudged African-American champions since the bombastic Johnson.

Max Schmeling (right) with his Manager, Joe Jacobs.

When Schmeling first came to America in 1936, Louis was not ready for him, having neglected his training for golf, his underestimating of Schmeling reinforced by a nation who thought the German to be too old, and too clumsy. Schmeling however, hungry for the title which had escaped his grasp, had carefully studied Louis' style, analyzing footage for hours to discover a gap in the man's defenses. He found that Louis often lowered his left hand after jabbing, leaving room for a counter-punch. When they met at the Yankee Stadium for the first time in 1936, after 12 rounds Schmeling managed to do what no opponent had done; knock Joe Louis out.

The fight itself was politically charged before either combatant stepped into the ring. Schmeling was besieged by Nazi propaganda which boasted that his certain victory would prove the superiority of the German over an American- an African-American at that whose mind, to the Nazi, was unsuited for combat. Branded as the poster-boy for the Nazi party, Schmeling returned to Germany after a grueling yet victorious twelve rounds with Louis, where he was lauded by the nation, and personally feted by the Fuhrer. Louis meanwhile returned to training, beaten for the first time in his career, hungry for revenge.

Two years later, the men were preparing to face one another in Yankee stadium a second time, as if to rectify the shocking outcome of the first battle. After his loss to Schmeling, Louis was given a shot at the title against James J Braddock, although the terms of the fight should have dictated otherwise. Schmeling was the victor, after all. Louis knocked Braddock out, becoming the Heavyweight Champion, but he refused to see himself as such until he set the record straight and defeated the one man who had beaten him. Schmeling on the other hand had been hailed as the flower of Nazi Germany, a title which threatened his connections to members of the Jewish community, including his manager, Joe Jacobs.¹ Hitler even sent communications to Schmeling's team, urging him to win for the sake of The Reich, which discomfited the pugilist. Outside of his hotel in New York City, crowds had gathered to hound him. White Americans did not necessarily want a black champion, but they wanted a Nazi triumph even less. By the time Schmeling and Louis faced off in the ring a second time, all the eyes of the world it seemed, were upon them. In their gloved hands could have rested the fate of the world.

Schmeling's first victory had been a long and difficult one, and Louis, even without the edge better training may have afforded, had still managed to win several rounds. This time he was ready for the German, and as he faced Schmeling, his eagerness to fight permeated the ring. As Schmeling stood flat-footed in his corner with his hands hanging by his sides, Louis bobbed lightly on his feet, adjusting his shorts casually with his gloved hands. He burned to defeat the man, who just a month before had claimed he was afraid of him.²

Louis fires an uppercut into Schmeling's defense.

The bell rang, and the two men came to the center, Schmeling carefully keeping his distance from Louis' fists. Tense and alert, Louis waited for an opening, while the German retreated before him, a hand out to fend away the relentless man. Suddenly, Louis tore into him with a barrage of jabs, moving fast and hard. Schmeling could only clinch briefly to stop the lightening quick-hands. As they broke, Schmeling moved backwards, leaning defensively away, feet leaden on the canvas. His posture was of a man scared for his life. Louis again exploded into him, driving a lead uppercut directly into his face. After a brief exchange they separated, and the two men stood before one another, hands twitching as they calculated their next move. Suddenly, Louis tossed the German back against the ropes. Schmeling's technique, effective in the first fight was useless now, as Louis had learned from his mistake, and left no opening for the man to attack. While Louis tore into his frozen opponent, the scream from the crowd grew louder and louder as they immediately rose to their feet. Right after right, left after left pounded into Schmeling's body, throwing him back against the ropes again and again as Louis pummeled harder and harder. Schmeling turned sideways, one arm clutching the topmost rope in a desperate attempt to remain standing, the other fumbling at his opponent's chest. Dropping his arm he tried to defend his exposed side against Louis's onslaught, but his opponent simply took advantage of his now lowered guard to punish his head instead. His vision blurring from the barrage, Schmeling's knees gave out and he sank.³ His chin hooked the rope and kept him from collapsing completely as the referee, Arthur Donovan jumped in and motioned Louis away. He gestured to see if the battered man was alright. Schmeling stepped away from the ropes, visibly dazed, staring confusedly into the ring. It wasn't a fight anymore. There was no way Louis would let the German leave the ring the champion. Seemingly regaining his composure, Schmeling brought his guard up, his right hand reaching out to block Louis' tentative jab unsuccessfully. Before the gloves made contact Louis was springing forward, his right hand crashing into Schmeling's jaw. Schmeling's head went limp and he dropped immediately to the canvas, even as Louis drove a second hook directly into the fallen man's face. Head over heels, Schmeling tumbled to the canvas, before staggering to his feet, where Louis bobbed, waiting calmly for him to get up. Too battered to fight anymore and holding his arms across his face, Schmeling tried to keep Louis from hitting him but Louis punched around the feeble arms into his temple, sending him sprawling forward onto his hands. Again the referee jumped into the fray, arms outstretched between the champion and the already beaten Schmeling. Two more fists flew into Schmeling's ribs as he teetered forward, arms low and slack. His head snapped back twice as Louis, with two rapid punches, sent him down one last time. Louis sprang away from the fallen man, as Schmeling tried to rise but sank to the canvas with an unmistakable finality.⁴ Schmeling's trainer, Max Machon threw in the towel and clambered into the ring with the other cornermen to drag the defeated German to his feet and back to his corner. Throughout the course of the fight, Schmeling had only thrown two punches. It had taken him 12 rounds to drop Louis in 1936. It had taken Louis only 124 seconds to do the same, and finally he knew he was the champion.⁵

Joe Louis stands over a fallen Max Shmeling, after a first round knockout.

After the fight, the hospitalized Schmeling claimed that Louis had struck him in the kidney with a foul blow, but it was of no use. The American press sneered at him- their superiority had been confirmed, and as reporter J P Dawson wrote, Louis. . . [was the] master for now and all time. The celebration was not only confined to the white boxing commission. Maya Angelou had written about Louis' 1936 loss to Schmeling, saying that “My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. . . if Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings.”⁶ Now, after his great victory

Louis and Schmeling in their later years.

over the white Schmeling, throngs of African-American men and women gathered and celebrated in the streets, and riots swept the nation. In Cleveland, a group of rioters were tear-gassed by the police, as they returned fire with bricks and pulled out knives. In Detroit on the other hand, a massive celebration was held by the African-Americans of Paradise Valley, who had reserved the right to do so before Louis and Schmeling had even gotten into the ring, so hopeful and sure they were of victory. Not only was the American ideal vindicated, but it had been achieved at the hands of one of their own. Conversely, Schmeling retreated to Germany with his tail between his legs. His maid had refused even to tell his wife at home in Berlin, so great was the defeat of the “Black Uhlan of the Rhine.” Only a year later, Germany invaded Poland, sparking the great war in which the two nations would once again

be tested with far greater consequences, on a battlefield much larger than a boxing ring. Schmeling would join the military, and Louis further aided the nation by holding boxing demonstrations for the troops to serve morale. After the war was over and Louis retired from the fight game, the IRS attacked Louis and crippled the hero financially. He returned to boxing to make ends meet, but was not the same man he had been, and suffered loss after loss. The man who become a household name and defended Americanism against the threat of fascism was finally down and out- a victim of the country he had served. Schmeling tracked him down, and the two struck up a close friendship, and when Louis died, Schmeling helped carry his coffin to his final resting place at Arlington cemetery.

Joseph Louis Barrow, 1914-81.

1During World War II Schmeling would hide Jewish fugitives in his hotel room.

2Dawson, James P. Louis Defeats Schmeling by a Knockout in First. New York Times; Jun 23, 1938; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2001) pg. 1

3Dawson, James P.

4Description of the fight taken from film footage and radio commentary by Clem McCarthy.

McCarthy, Clem. The Rematch. Ringside Radio, 1938. PBS.org. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/sfeature/sf_radio_pop_1938_01.html 2/15/14

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5Dawson, James P.

6Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, New York NY. 1969.