German boxing legend Max Schmeling dies
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

BERLIN (Germany): 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.

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.●