And Schmeling has sent Louis down! Joe Louis is down!

Coming up on "The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame"...

When Louis was counted out, I couldn't believe it. It was so shocking to a lot of people.














That ball was on the line!



It gets by Buckner!



Michigan can't take a timeout!



Tunney is down!



No good, wide right!



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The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Joe Louis for Losing to Max Schmeling in 1936

Hello, I'm butterfly1964, and Welcome to The Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame. A show that takes a look at boxing personalities and establishments who have made questionable decisions, controversial comments, or unpopular stances, and take a deeper look into these matters. My job is not to further villify these individuals, but to challenge conventional wisdom, and reexamine what has been accepted as fact. In this episode I'm counting down the top 5 reasons why you can't blame Joe Louis for Losing to Max Schmeling in 1936. Many people thought that the rising star Louis would have made short work of the German as he did everyone else. However Schmeling pulled off one of the biggest upsets in boxing histry, and Louis' title hopes were almost smashed. Before I count down the reasons why you can't blame Joe Louis, Here's a look at the situation.



























This was something new, this was something no one had ever seen before. Something almost unreal! Joe Louis. Joe Louis was destroying everyone and everything in his path. He was given the title invincible!

Louis had walked through Primo Carnera and Max Baer in terrifying fashion! No one thought he could be beat.

Joe Louis was an undefeated fighter. No one could beat him! Up comes along this ex-champion from Germany. Joe Louis is making a living of knocking out ex-champions he had knocked out Primo Carnera an ex-champion. He had knocked out Max Baer and ex-champion. Now he's gonna knock out Max Schmeling!

However, on June 19, 1936, Schmeling took the fight to Louis, and the result was devastating. Louis looked slow, lethargic, and pretty much ordinary.

And Louis shot a very weak right hand that made Schmeling laugh!

Schmeling, a 10-1 underdog, knocked Louis out in the twelvth round!

And Louis is down, hanging throught the ropes! Hanging badly! He is a very tired fighter! He is blinking his eyes! That's it! The fight is over!

When Louis was counted out, I couldn't believe it. It was so shocking to a lot of people.

























Before I count down the top 5 reasons why you can't blame Joe Louis for losing to Max Schmeling, here's some reasons that didn't make the top five. I call them, "The Best of the Rest".














Best of the Rest

1. Louis was Green - Even though Louis seemed like he was on a road towards immortality, the 21 year old Louis was still quite young and inexperienced. So then considering this, it would be slightly possible for a skilled season veteran of the fight game, like Max Schmeling to pull of a victory.

Guys like Carnera, and guys like Baer were easy to outbox, but someone like Schmeling had more skill, so it would be logical to say that Schmeling would give Louis more trouble, which he did!














Another Best of the Rest...

2. Max Baer - On June 8, 1933, Max Baer took on Max Schmeling. Baer battered the foprmer champ into submission. Three years later, on September 24, 1935 Louis took on Baer. Louis easily knocked him out in the fourth round. Since louis handled Baer with ease, who before crushed Schmeling, he felt that he would have the fight in the bag.

In this case, the classic argument of fighter-A beats fighter-B, and fighter-B beats fighter-C, so then Fighter-A would beat fighter-C, which today would be flawed logic, but Louis didn't think so at the time.















Coming up next on The Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame, we'll talk about another popular sport that may have had an effect on Louis performance against Schmeling.

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Welcome back to "The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Joe Louis for Losing to Max Schmeling in 1936".

Now we are ready for the countdown, starting with Reason #5.

















5: Distractions - Joe Louis was the son of an Alabama sharecropper. His family was poor, as was a lot of boxers families. When he became well known as a fighter early in his career and started making a lot of money, he found some new ways of life.

Louis was at expensive parties, he was going dancing a lot. Many of these things was on the back of his mind, not the Schmeling fight.

There was even rumors that he was running around with other women... not his wife, thank you!

Louis was a huge star between 1935 and 1936 even before he won the title, and Louis was caught up in the whole idea of being someone in society, and he wasn't thinking twice about Schmeling.






Want some more food for thought? Here it is, Reason #4.




















4: Golf - Part of being a celebrity, is that you have to puck up certain celebrity activities. Golf was one of them.

As soon as Joe discovered golf, that's all he could think about, even more than prizefighting!

He discovered the game of golf, which is the wrong kind of game for a fighter to have, because you are holding your hands low.

During a few of Louis' fights, Louis would drop his left after jabbing, as a habit he picked up from holding a golf club low, and Schmeling, who witnessed the Joe Louis vs. Paolino Uzcudun fight, noticed Louis' low hands when jabbing and decided to capitalize off it by landing the counter right whenever he could in their fight, which led to Louis' downfall.

















Coming up on our countdown of the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Joe Louis, we'll discuss how the rematch between Louis and Schmeling relates to this whole issue.

Louis may have lost to schmelling the first time but the second time more then made up for it...and the second time was when it counted more...

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That yell Schmelling let out during the first exchange was gruesome...

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You're watching The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Joe Louis for Losing to Max Schmeling in 1936

Let's continue the countdown. Reason #3.



















3: Superiority Complex - Joe Louis looked to be a sure fire heavyweight champion and hall of fame great. However, this could work to a fighter's detriment, because now the ****iness kicks in, and a fighter, now will think that he can't be beaten. This also happened to Louis.

The writers of The New York Times had a list of over 140 writers picking either Louis or schmeling. They had nobody picking Schmeling!

Reporters are now asking Louis not if he will beat Schmeling, but what round he's going to beat him in!

He didn't care, he was Joe Louis. he was unstoppable. This was nothing to him.

Even when Schmeling went to America to fight Louis, Hitler didn't think Max had any business going to America, because in his mind's eye he was just going over to lose to a black man, which would diminish the idea of Aryan supremacy for the Nazi's.

The media had a hand in it, building up Louis like they did. It made Louis think that he actually was invincible!

























How did that grab you? If you are still unsure, then try this one on for size, Reason #2.
























2: Wrong Strategy - Louis' plan in the fight was to simply wait for Schmeling to try and crowd him, so he could eat him up on the way in. However, Schmeling fought a different fight than Louis expected. Louis was wrong in waiting for Schmeling to come to him, because that was what Schmeling did.

That did not look like Joe Louis in there, he wasn't going after him like he did Baer or Carnera.

In the rematch, Louis fought a different fight.

Jack Blackburn "seed" something, just like Max Schmeling "seed" something. Schmeling had an interesting, almost impossible stance. But he can't move backwards! He just move a little bit, but that's it. So they knew what to do from then, go right after him!

In the second fight he just attacks Schmeling from start to finish and straightened Max out the second time. Even the Louis who fought Schmeling the first time, if he just went after him, he still would have beaten him, no matter how unprepared he was.

You can't blameLouis for losing to him, because he was using a stategy that wasn't right anyway.










Coming up, our Number 1 reason why you can't blame Joe Louis for Losing to Max Schmeling.

He saw him for what he was, just another fighter!

why am I here????

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We're counting down The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Joe Louis for Losing to Max Schmeling in 1936. Before we get to the top reason, here's a recap.






Number 5: Distractions



Number 4: Golf



Number 3: Superiority Complex



and...



Number 2: Wrong Strategy



















In the first four reasons, we have disdussed things that may have affected Louis. But all things considered, you must give credit where credit is due. Reason # 1.
















1: Max Schmeling - After being battered by Baer, Schmeling went on a greuling comeback to establish himself at the top. Many people thought he was washed-up, but Schmeling thought otherwise.

Schmeling noticed that Louis would drop his left hand after a jab.

Schmeling would take any of Louis' early punishment, and then start counterng with the right. He used every trick in the book to use on the young Louis. he moved to the aside to avoid getting hit flush, and he would keep landing that right hand.

By the eighth round, Louis' seconds had to help him back to his corner!

Another thing that was important in this fight for Schmeling, was that he was fearless.

many of Louis' opponents were beaten before the fight began. Max Baer was hyperventilating before the fight started, and his trainer, Jack Dempsey had to force him into the ring. Also King Levinsky, the man Louis fought before Baer, had to be carried into the ring, because he didn't want to fight Louis! And when Louis was battering him, he was screaming to the referee, "Stop him, stop him! Don't let him hit me anymore, please!" Everyone was terrified of Louis. But Schmeling saw past that.

Schmeling saw past that aura of invincibility, and he just saw him for what he was, just another fighter! Not Superman, not a monster, not something out of this earth. He's a human being like everyone else, and he can be beaten, and there are ways of beating him. Schmeling was a brave man, and he knew what he was doing in the ring. Too bad he didn't get that shot against Braddock. He might have been the first to regain the title, not Patterson.

Schmeling had bad nights before this fight, like against Baer, and bad nights after, like against Louis in the rematch. But Max Schmeling, for this one night, was near perfect!





















That will do it for this edition of "The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame". Maybe I've changed your mind. Maybe not. But hopefully, you'll look at this issue in a different light. I'm butterfly1964, thanks for watching.














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In 2002, the T.V. movie Joe and Max starring Leonard Roberts and Til Schweiger came out, that focused on the rivalry between the two, and the polical setting of the times.


















Butterfly Productions Inc.
© 2006

Good observations butterfly.

You could also have for reason number 1 that Max Schmeling is a vastly underrated fighter who happened to be a fine counterpuncher and tremendous right hand puncher when properly prepared. He was rugged, intelligent, and had very good eyes for slipping in that counter right. He is a top 20 heavyweight of all time IMO. It's not like Louis lost to Buster Douglas or something, Schmeling was an exceptional heavyweight, though a bit past his best days when he upset Louis.

I'm doing a report on Max for school.

You could also have for reason number 1 that Max Schmeling is a vastly underrated fighter who happened to be a fine counterpuncher and tremendous right hand puncher when properly prepared. He was rugged, intelligent, and had very good eyes for slipping in that counter right. He is a top 20 heavyweight of all time IMO. It's not like Louis lost to Buster Douglas or something, Schmeling was an exceptional heavyweight, though a bit past his best days when he upset Louis.


nothing wrong with Buster, he just lacked the motivation to fight...physically, he was incredibly talented

Bowe was another boxer that was just to dam nice...if he had that killer drive, that would of been something

I'm glad everyone liked this thread.

most of these you can blame louis for. who else do you blame when a fighter gets overconfident and distracted?

Max was fighting against himself in this fight as much as he was fighting Louis

He had to fight against the knowledge that Louis had murdered guys who had beaten Max - also he was fighting against his instinct to say away from Joes
left hand , he knew he had to come into Joes range to land his counter right hand.

So for me reason number 1 is the only reason - Schmeling had re-invented himself,conquered his fears , formed a brilliant strategy and stuck with it.

compared to what we have in the heavyweight division today - Schmeling is a legend and rightly so - underated power, a shrewd boxing mind and for this fight all heart.

Did not Schmeling get help from JAck Johnson in this fight. I think I saw a documentery in whitch Bert Sugar sad thad Jack offring hs help to Loius but he did not want it so he got to Schmeling insted. DSo anyone know anything about this?

It should be bourn in mind that Louis was really still an inexperienced kid when he fought Schemling the first time. His incredible start encouraged his handlers to push too fast. Schmeling was a bad opponent for Louis at that point. Schemeling was a cagey boxer-puncher with a lot of skill and a lot of experience not to mention an underrated punch. Louis simple did not have the experience yet to deal with what Schmeling brought to the table. Like all young fighters he had some flaws that hadn't yet been ironed out; the biggest of which was his propensity for dropping his left after throwing his jab. This was the perfect opening for Schmeling's counter-right and Max made him pay. In later years Louis would comment that it was Schmeling that taught him to keep his left up. A hard lesson, but give Louis' inexperience at that point it shouldn't have been an unexpected one.

Poet