Max Schmeling vs James Braddock?

If it wasn't for the war, these two would have met for the title. Who wins?
15 rounds in 1937.

Macehualli Moquexquitzahuiani2011-05-09T10:22:36Z

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This fight was supposed to happen in 1937. Schmeling had been the number one contender for a while and wanted nothing more but to regain the title he felt he had been cheated out of back in 1932 against Jack Sharkey. In fact, a contract for this bout had been signed, but Braddock's manager, Joe Gould, opted to break the contract to fight Joe Louis for over half a million dollars, plus 10 percent of the reciepts from Louis' TITLE fights. The NYSAC suspended Braddock and his management for a year and fined him on top of it. Thing is, Schmeling was not aware that Gould and Braddock had agreed to fight Louis until he showed up at the weigh in alone. One newspaper had joked that Schmeling was going up against "Kid Ghost" the day of the fight.

Schmeling was FURIOUS. After the weigh-in, he came across a picture of Braddock in a newspaper, grabbed it, crumpled it up, and kicked it out of his dressing room like a soccer ball. Schmeling remarked in his German-accented English "This is your champion! Bah! He is a coward!"

I felt the fight would have gone Schmeling's way. Schmeling, one of the greatest counterpunching heavyweights in history, would have done so all fight long. Braddock would have been stopped in a similar fashion to to Joe Louis, eating up too many right counter punches. The only hope for Braddock would be to keep his hands up and get inside, which would be tough to do against Schmeling's jab.

Schmeling KO8 Braddock.

hairydude2011-05-09T11:42:20Z

Max Schmeling and James J. Braddock were actually scheduled to meet in 1937 as Schmeling was the mandatory challenger but Braddock bypassed Schmeling and took on Joe Louis instead. Louis' management offered Braddock a percentage of Louis' future purses if Braddock agreed to the fight. That's why Braddock/Louis was held in Chicago, Braddock was suspended from fighting in New York following him pulling out of the Schmeling fight.
As for the fight, if it had come off I think Schmeling would have won. Braddock was tough and had bags of courage, his story is inspirational, but Schmeling was the better boxer all round. Schmeling UD15.

Anonymous2016-03-17T02:05:06Z

Max Schmeling

Angel2015-08-18T17:52:03Z

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RE:
Max Schmeling vs James Braddock?
If it wasn't for the war, these two would have met for the title. Who wins?
15 rounds in 1937.

?2016-12-12T12:07:57Z

Jimmy Braddock

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