1938 was a tricky time in America and in the world.
African Americans were still in the early stages of their long struggle to achieve equal rights, and the specter of Nazi Germany’s menace began to cast a long shadow over Europe.
This isn’t meant to be a history lesson, but it’s impossible to extract Joe Louis’ defense of the World Heavyweight Championship against former champion Max Schmeling on June 22, 1938, from the world that surrounded the fight.
Prior to the fight, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with Louis to express his support and give him a pep talk given the current state of relations between the United States and Germany.
Louis later stated in his 1976 biography, Joe Louis: My Life, that he knew the "whole damned country was depending on me" going into the match.
Louis and Schmeling had met once before in 1936.
The German champion boxed beautifully, hurting Louis and becoming the first man to stop him in his professional career with a 12th-round knockout.
With the two men on a collision course for a rematch, the world’s political climate become a front-and-center story in the hype and promotion for the fight.
Schmeling was treated as a hero by the Nazi regime, even though he refused to join the party and rejected Adolf Hitler’s claims to German racial and ethnic supremacy.
In Patrick Myler’s 2005 book, Ring of Hate: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling: The Fight of the Century, he describes the extreme measures the Nazi government took to ensure Schmeling’s compliance.
Schmeling's wife and mother weren't allowed to travel to the United States for the fight to ensure he wouldn't defect. He was accompanied by a Nazi publicist to correct any statements contrary to the government's official message.
The publicist also stated no black man could beat the German champion.
On fight night, Louis took care of business, knocking Schmeling out in the opening round
A bit anticlimactic?
Yes, but a hugely important fight for sure.
