MAX SCHMELING

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 45, 23 February 1938, Page 8

MAX SCHMELING

READY FOR LOUIS SHOULD BE CHAMPION WHAT PAST CHAMPIONS THINK. "Max Schmeling may only be denied the heavy-weight championship of the world if he is frozen out. Nothing is more certain than that Joe Louis will not stand up under the right nand or any punch of which the German is capable.” That is the considered opinion of Gene Tunney. Jack Dempsey, together with many old timers and American critics with few exceptions, are also of that way of thinking "If the prophets do not lie,” says Tommy Farr, "it will be for me to ■'•'•'L Schmeling, and that I can do for sure. I am the better boxer, the .. v u. lo er by 10 years. Such differences must count in my favour.” Maybe the incorrigibly assertive Welshman is right. I refuse to estimate the capacity of Schmeling by accepted standards, whether in the; matter of age or boxing skill. At 32 he is not old. For the purposes cf fighting he matured late. In every regard he is an extraordinary man, silent, aloof, relentless. In the pursuit of his trade merciless, proud and unbending, a lone man. It is only when he takes the ring that we hear of him: he has yet to make a courtship of the limelight. King of the Ring. Last time we met was in a New York hotel. He was hidden behind a newspaper, amused at a post-mortem on the Louis-Farr fight and criticism of himself. He left me to guess his reactions. No word did he speak, but the daggers he looked told me that I guessed right: it was that he had every right to set up as king of the ring. For had he not knocked Louis at his mightiest, a Louis who had known no defeat, stone cold? But rather than a man nursing a grievance, Schmeling took himself back home to train and live the life of the Spartan he is. Much does he remind me of Tunney, for like the former champion, fighting with him was never more than a means to an end. Schmeling is, as was Tunney, self-manufactured. He is not a natural fighter as was Dempsey. If the ring were not prodigal in its prizes he would have had none of it. The romance, the drama, the glamour of it does not appeal to him. He approached and has exploited it merely as a profession, and to excel has paid the price to the full In selfdenial and unceasing endeavour. He has been prepared always to take whatever gruel he must, with the delights of boxing he has never troubled. He is no artist: he is Intolerant of the least embroidery. The German Creed. "Fighting is not a thing of arts and graces, but man against man, In which physical magnificence, the brute if you like, counts for most of all. I have no obsessions.” That is the gospel of Schmeling as it is the creed of Walter Neusel and every notable fighter from Germany. There is a non-pugilistic side to Schmeling; away from the fightingpit he is a homely fellow with interests pleasantly remote from the ring. Since he has built up a considerable fortune I inquired why he did not tuck his gloves away. "It is true that of material things I have perhaps more than enough,” he allows, "but I have pledged myself that given the opportunity I shall again prove that of the heavy-weights of the world 1 stand alone. For myself, for Germany I must win the most coveted title of all. I have no fear of failure.” His Legs as Good as Ever. Until his contest with Harry Thomas at Madison Square Garden, Schmeling had had no serious fight for more than a year, and I shared a common fear that his legs would play him false. They did not go back on him, and that is the secret of his crushing victory over Harry Thomas, a strong and lusty New Yorker. "But,” Farr insists, “although he may still be quick on his pins, he has a stronger defence to a good old-fash-ioned left than Neusel? I doubt it, and that is why I shall beat him if and when we meet. I consider Schmeling less difficult than Louis.”

I admire Farr for his unshakable confidence, but he is apt to race to conclusions. First, If present plans hold good, he must Account for James J. Braddock.

Schmeling has been promised by Mike Jacobs that Louis will be put against him next June, boycott or no boycott. Possibly the negro will go through a warming-up process before then. The difficulty Is to find a suitable opponent for the champion, one wTTo will not upset the Jacobs applecart. Nathan Mann has been suggested. The likelihood is that a less dangerous trial horse will be employed.