Max Schmeling vs James Braddock?

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.

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.

Max Schmeling

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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.

Jimmy Braddock

As has been pointed out already, these two were to meet for the title in 1937. Braddock's story is one of the most inspirational in boxing and human history as he once a contender mostly at light heavyweight with some good wins particularly over Jimmy Slattery until he started having problems with his hands and Champion Tommy Loughran who was of course a boxing wizard! After that, his career went into a real downward spiral winning only 11 of his next 33 bouts and was looked at as a washed up fighter.But in 1934 he got a fight with Corn Griffin who was a heavy favorite, and knocked him out. The he upset future HOF'er John Henry Lewis, and top ranked contender Art Lasky to earn a shot at Champion Max Baer and beat him in a huge upset. Max Schmeling is of course famous for his 1936 12th round kayo victory over the great Joe Louis another one of the great upsets in boxing history. He was also seen as still an excellent fighter though despised because he was German and Nazi Germany and Adolph Hitler were hated throughout the world though no fault of his own. He was the only Champion to win a title by foul vs Sharkey in 1930. He was a good boxer with a strong right hand. The reason that they didn't fight was because of course Braddock ws offered more money to fight Joe Louis. So if they would have fought, this is how I think it would have turned out: Braddock the fan favorite would have scored well especially in the early going vs Schmeling who would have fought his usual patient fight looking for openings. By the 7th round it would have been practically an even fight with Schmeling crashing over some hard right hands to the iron chin of Braddock. After that, both men would have taken turns taking the action to the other as I feel this is a very even matchup. Both men exchange hard shots in the Championship rounds. This fight is close and justly called a draw!

Schmeling wins a tougher-than-expected SD against a willing Braddock.

IMO, Braddock was the better all round boxer. Taller, longer reach and a great tactician. Schmeling was good, but I think Braddock was the better of the 2.