Max Schmeling overleden

[Octavius]

GERMAN boxing legend Max Schmeling, who won renown for his upset victory over the previously invincible Joe Louis and his defiance of Adolf Hitler, has died aged 99.

The former world heavyweight champion passed away on Wednesday and was buried in his home state of Lower Saxony on Friday, the Max-Schmeling foundation said. A memorial service in Hamburg is being planned.

Among the tributes that poured in at the news, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed his sadness of Schmeling's passing and said: "He was a star, and yet fame never went to his head.

"Schmeling distinguished himself through his sense of fair play, his modesty and his irreproachability," Schroeder said, but added that the sportsman was still able to stay "free from any airs and graces."

The president of the national Olympic Committee, Klaus Steinbach, described Schmeling as "one of the century's greatest sporting heroes."

"With him we have lost one of the biggest, if not the biggest, leadership figures in sport," he said.

Born on September 28, 1905 in Klein-Luckow, eastern Germany, Schmeling was the first German boxer to become a unified world champion.

He turned pro in 1924 at the age of 19, won the then European 175-pound title in 1927 and the German heavyweight crown before moving to the United States.

Once there, his victories over Johnny Risko and Paolino Uzcudun moved him up to number two in the world rankings and earned him a shot at the heavyweight title.

He grabbed the belt left vacant after Gene Tunney retired by beating the American Joe Sharkey on June 12, 1930.

But it was the first-ever beating inflicted on Louis, the Brown Bomber, at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1936 that won him world renown, although he lost the re-match in 1938.

The defeat did little to harm his popularity in Germany and Schmeling retired on October 31, 1948 with a record of 56 victories, 40 by knock out, four draws and 10 losses.

However the boxer was almost as much of a legend outside the ring as in it.

Hitler tried repeatedly to get him to join the Nazi party and use him as a propaganda tool, but Schmeling refused and was eventually forced to join the army.

The Nazis tried to exploit his victory over Louis, a black boxer considered the greatest man at his weight to have ever stepped into the ring, as proof of white physical superiority.

Schmeling's generosity and modesty earned him respect in Germany and abroad. During the war, he visited prisoner of war camps holding Allied troops and handed out photographs to inmates.

He never outwardly opposed Nazism but nor was he a slave to it.

During the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, when synagogues and Jewish interests were attacked, he hid the brother of his Jewish friend Henry Levin and helped him escape to the United States.

Schmeling also gave financial help to Louis, who later became destitute, and set up a five million-euro (6.5 million-dollar) foundation to help charity groups and retired boxers in need.

After contracting pneumonia in 1998, he spent most of his time on his property in Hollenstedt, northern Germany around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Hamburg.

"With the loss of Max Schmeling, Germany has lost an impressive human being," said President Horst Koehler. "We will not forget him."

"Hamburg mourns Max Schmeling," said Ole von Buest, the mayor of the northern port city.

"His success as a world heavyweight boxing champion, his international reputation as a sportsman, an idol, will not be forgotten. Up until his death he was loved world wide and is an irreplaceable sporting and human role model."

[Nickuraba]

age 99, hahah fuck al die fuckers die zeggen dat iemand die vechtsport doet niet zo oud kan worden en blablabla..

May he rest in peace!

[Sjaak]

Mooie leeftijd, schitterende bokser

[redjuh]

und?

[Octavius]

und?

Hij heeft Joe Louis KO gezet en is Wereld kampioen geweest.

[PigDog]

Helaas is hij door Hitler gebruikt als propaganda voor het "onoverwinnelijke" blanke ras.

Hij was een groot sportman

R.I.P.

[Emilio]

99, niks om te treuren dus!

respect!

[Bolder]

R.I.P.

[ashi76]

99, niks om te treuren dus!

respect!

Precies.

Waar kan ik tekenen ?

[Marc]

Iedereen gaat deze aarde uiteindelijk verlaten, maar deze man heeft binnen zijn mogelijkheden heel veel gedaan voor zijn medemens.

Alle respect.

[ashihara]

Na dat hij verloren had van joe in de rematch werd hij reclame bord voor het duitse leger.

[Paganstars]

R.I.P. Dat was echt een goede bokser.... 99 mooie leeftijd!!

[Sjaak]

Helaas is hij door Hitler gebruikt als propaganda voor het "onoverwinnelijke" blanke ras.

Zo onoverwinnelijk was dat Duitse uber-ras

[Paganstars]

Maar schmeling was niet eens ariër... hij had donker haar!!

[makavelli]

Er is ook een goeie film over de wedstrijd tussen Schmeling en Lewis gemaakt ik had hem een tijdje geleden gehuurd

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joe_and_max/

http://www.blackseek.com/articles/2002/02/joevsmax.htm

[jojo]

jah ik hoorde het op tv klote maja mooie leeftijd r.i.p.

[Marco]

mooi dat hij weigerde om lid van Hitler zijn partij te worden, karakterman.

[Anonymous]

Respect voor die man, als bokser en als sporter.

R.I.P.


PS: Het schijnt dat ie Joe Louis nog een tijd onderhouden heeft toen die aan de grond zat, want niet alleen Schmeling maar ook Lewis is door zn "eigen mensen" laten vallen