Braddock, Schmeling, Louis - what if ?

With the impending closure of the BBC 606 Hobo has asked that some of us browse through the contributions which we made over there and to transfer them here.

I thought I might share this one, in the hope that it might generate some discussion, and particularly among those who might not have been members at the BBC. It concerns the behind the scenes negotiations concerning Joe Louis, Max Schmeling and Jimmy Braddock in early 1937, and how history might so easily have been changed had it not been for the foresight of Louis' promoter, Mike Jacobs.

Louis turned pro in 1934, and proceeded to cut a swathe through the heavyweight division in a manner which wouldn't be rivalled until the arrival of Tyson fifty years later. By the end of his first year as a pro Louis was ranked among the top ten contenders, and in less than two years he had knocked out former champs Primo Carnera and Max Baer, as well as the tough journeyman and contender, Paolino Uzcudan. It seemed that nothing could stop his march to the title until, as we all know, an under prepared and complacent Louis had his bubble burst by crafty old Max Schmeling in 1936.

In beating Louis, Schmeling became top contender for Jimmy Braddock's title, and Madison Square Garden's Jimmy Johnstone had a contract for Braddock to defend against Schmeling for June, 1937. Promoter Mike Jacobs, perhaps sensitive to the political situation in Europe, feared that, in the almost inevitable event that Schmeling would depose Braddock, the Germans would shut up shop and forever push Louis out of the picture. He therefore set about trying to leapfrog Schmeling and have Braddock fight Louis instead. Within a couple of months of the Schmeling loss, Louis was put in with another ex champ in Jack Sharkey, in an effort to up his stock. Louis duly obliged by knocking out Sharkey in short order. Jacobs, meanwhile, set about testing the strength of Madison Square Garden's contractual rights on Braddock by setting him up with a couple of two rounders, in one night, at the Hippodrome. Braddock was scheduled to meet a fighter called Eddie Kotwisca, who was a former New Jersey amateur heavyweight champion, and another named Eddie Cook, a heavyweight from Havana. Jacobs was pushing the envelope on two fronts, since, in the first instance, Braddock was under contract to Johnstone , and in the second instance, under New York state law exhibitions were illegal at the time. Braddock's record suggests that these two bouts never took place but Jacobs, presumably, found out what he needed to know about the strength of Johnstone's hand since he did secure a Braddock v Louis fight by offering Braddock a hefty sum and a percentage of Louis' future earnings. The New York State Athletic Commision prohibited Braddock from defending against Louis, and Jimmy Johnstone applied for a court injunction to prevent the fight, but it was turned down.

The rest, as we know, is history.

It's reasonable to suppose that Schmeling would have beaten Braddock and would have gone on to defend against the same men, with the likely exception of Buddy Baer, against whom Louis defended. That being the case, Schmeling would have become the first fighter to regain the heavyweight title and Billy Conn might well have become the first lightheavy to step up and win the heavyweight crown. Had he faced Schmeling, rather than Louis, in 1941, Conn would have been challenging a 36 year old champion with a style which would have suited him right down to the ground. The intervention of WWII would have made a Conn defence against Louis unlikely, and so Louis would have needed to wait until the end of the war to get his shot. Louis, of course, did beat Conn after WWII, but he ( as was Conn, for that matter, ) was a mere shadow of his former self.

Under this scenario, Louis' glorious, almost twelve year, reign which we so revere would have been carved up to give Schmeling a likely four years, Conn a likely five years, and Louis, at 32 years old, slower and with diminished reflexes, just three years. Imagine, then, a heavyweight landscape in which Joe Louis, rather than being remembered by many as the greatest heavyweight who ever drew breath, is reduced by circumstance to a mere footnote, with a 0 - 1 record against two time champ Schmeling, while Billy Conn, who is champion from 1941 through 1946, becomes the first lightheavyweight champion to dethrone a heavweight king.

All ifs and buts, of course, but it could easily have happened.

Given that all too often a fighter is measured by his prowess in world title fights, how do we think it would have affected our perceptions of Louis, Schmeling and Conn if it had ?

Don't know enough of them to offer an informed opinion, sorry. Just thought I'd comment to bump it back up seeing as it's something different.

Appreciate it, mate. Thanks.

Louis is the obvious big loser in this. However whilst it could pan out as you say is worth remembering Jacobs and a lot of power brokers in the sport had invested heavily in Louis to get him to the point where white america would even consider the possibility of having a black heavyweight champion or even allowing a guy to contest the title.

These are not the sort of guys who would be likely to sit back and allow their investment to go up in smoke whilst the title stagnated in Germany. Would have been some interesting back room shenanigans had this panned out as you say.

What I find interesting in a similar field is if the Conn rematch which was proposed would have happened sooner as was mooted but fell foul of the law. I know Conn was gutted after the first and genuinely felt he had Louis number but for him getting sloppy in the first. Not sure I would totally agree with this view as I think Louis was getting his number late on in the first fight but an immediate rematch would have been fasincating as Conn would have certainly gone in beleiving he could turn the trick.

There is some controversy surrounding the second fight. Apparently those who saw them in camp reported Conn looked absolutely terrific whilst Louis looked flat and many an observer tipped a Conn victory only for him to turn in a performance almost ridiculously passive by his own standards.