Dempsey’s twin! So they described the invader, Max Schmeling, Black Uhlan of the Rhine, as they groomed him for his big shot against Sharkey. ... He looked like anything else but Dempsey’s twin to Jimmy De Forest, as that canny old trainer of champs studied him from the ringside at the Yankee Stadium. Max Schmeling is heavyweight champion of the world. The title has been conferred upon him because he won on a foul from Jack Sharkey in the fourth round of their fight last June. It may be an unkind thing to say, but it is an unquestionably true one: The Black Uhlan of the Rhine is the poorest champion we have ever had. More than that, he is not even best among the poor crop of big men who are making fortunes in the prize-ring today. I think that certainly Jack Sharkey and possibly Primo Carnera should rate above him, so if my judgment of him is correct, Schmeling—despite his glory as successor to Corbett, Fitzsimmons and Dempsey—is only third best in his class, and a singularly unimpressive class it is, too.

Outside the ring, Max is a pleasant, unassuming, intelligent young man. I dislike saying anything that would hurt his feelings or cast a cloud on his prestige, but the only honest thing to do is to freely speak my mind no matter who may take offense. I believe that Sharkey would have beaten him decisively if he had not unfortunately fouled the black-haired German, and it is my conviction that, when these men meet again, Jack will establish his superiority beyond any question of doubt. Schmeling has had only half-a-dozen bouts in America. I have seen them all, and I have watched him day after day in training, studying not only his physical but his mental reactions. From this observation I know him as well as any outsider can, and it is on these observations that I base my judgment. We can throw out Max’s first two victories—those over Joe Monte and Pietro Corri. Neither are even second-raters. They know nothing of boxing and are not hard hitters. Their only claim to any sort of a place in the ring is ability to take punishment and willingness to endure it. Corri had been knocked out frequently before fighting Schmeling, and Monte has suffered such depressing defeats a number of times since.

Joe Sekyra was Max’s third opponent. Joe is fairly clever and has a fine pair of legs. He was in there to stay the limit, so he ran as fast as he could all the way. Schmeling chased him, and gave him a two-handed lacing from long range, but never could quite catch up with him, at least not well enough to knock him out. Then they booked the Black Uhlan with Johnny Risko, and this made his reputation, because he knocked John out—a feat no one else had been able to accomplish. Let’s study this fight a little. In the first place Risko is not a fast man, he is not a clever one, and he cannot hit. His success has been achieved because he keeps crowding an opponent, flailing away all the time, never letting the other fellow get set if he can help it. Fast, clever fellows like Tommy Loughran were able to make Risko look pretty bad, but he won a lot of smashing victories over slower and more rugged fighters.