Max Schmeling Turns 80, Still Seems Full of Fight

The right hand that brought him fame went into retirement long ago, and is now only used for shaking other right hands.

But Max Schmeling is still in robust health, the only German boxer ever to win the World Heavyweight title, and who on September 28 turned 80.

He celebrated somewhere in Europe to avoid the ballyhoo that would stop him from quietly celebrating with his wife, Anny.

Get him talking about those days, and you’ll see his small, dark eyes light up and his still bulk stir, and you realize there’s a lot of life in him yet. You believe him when he says he wants to live to be 99.

In fact, there are three reasons for him to celebrate this year: his 80th birthday, the 55th anniversary of his meeting his wife--Czech-born film actress Anny Ondra--and also the 55th anniversary of his winning the world title.

That is something he still recalls with a wince. In those days fighters didn’t wear protective cups. Schmeling was caught with a low punch by Jack Sharkey in the fourth round. He crumpled to the canvas in New York’s Yankee Stadium. “I heard the referee, Jimmy Crowly, count up to three, and kept trying to get to my feet--but no good. I fell down again at five--then eight, nine, out.”

When he talks it’s something out of the past--almost stage German gutteral, a strong American accent, self-taught English that probably hasn’t changed at all since he first learned it in the late 1920s.

Sharkey was disqualified, and Schmeling won the title plus a million dollars. After that fight, wearing a cup became mandatory. Two years later, in June 1932, he lost the title to Sharkey on a decision.

But what everyone remembers him for is the night four years later--June 19, 1936--when he knocked out the sensational up-and-coming Brown Bomber, Joe Louis.

Two years after that, shortly before war was to break out in Europe, Louis took 124 seconds to send the big German crashing to the canvas in a rematch before which emotion ran high as the fans hurled abuse at Schmeling because of his nationality.

In his homeland, radio listeners heard the horrified voice of commentator Arfno Hellmis: “Max, Max, please get up again,” unable to believe it was all over before the first round had ended.