Joe Louis: The Second Max Schmeling Fight, June 22, 1938

Audio and Audio Transcript from the American Experience

Harry Ballow (ring announcer):
This is the feature attraction. Fifteen rounds for the world's heavyweight championship. Weighing 193, wearing purple trunks, outstanding contender for heavyweight honors, the former heavyweight title holder, Max Schmeling. Weighing 198 and three-quarters, wearing black trunks, the famous Detroit Brown Bomber, world heavyweight champion, Joe Louis.
Clem McCarthy:
Joe Louis in his corner, prancing and rubbing his feet in the rosin. Max Schmeling standing calmly getting a last word from Doc Casey. And they're ready with a bell just about to ring. And there we are. And they got to the ring right together with Arthur Donovan stepping around them. And Joe Louis is in the center of the ring, Max going around him. Joe Louis led quick with two straight lefts to the chin. Both of them light, but as the men clinch, Joe Louis tries to get over two hard lefts and
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Max ties him up in the breakaway clean. On the far side of the ring now, Max with his back to the rope. And Louis hooks a left to Max's head quickly and shoots over a hard right to Max's head. Louis, a left to Max's jaw, a right to his head. Max shoots a hard right to Louis. Louis with the old one two. First a left and then the right. He's landed more blows in this one round, then he landed in five rounds of the other fight. And there Max Schmeling caught him with his guard down and got that right hand to Louis' jaw but Louis was going away with a punch at the time. Now Max is backing away against the ropes and Louis is following him and watching for that chance. He is crowding, trailing. Schmeling is not stepping around very much but his face is already marked and they stepped into a fast clinch and at close range Louis fights desperately to bring up a left to the jaw and a right to the body. And coming out of that clinch he got over a hard right and then stabbed Max with a good straight left jab. And Max backed a way and missed a right. Louis then stopped him with two straight lefts to the face and brought over that hard right to the head, high on the temple. And Max [unintelligible] clinch and broke ground. He's back against the ropes now again, not to close to the ropes. And Louis missed with a left swing but in close quarters brought over a hard one to the jaw and again a right to the body, a left hook, a right to the head, a left to the head, a right. Schmeling is going down. But he held to his feet, held to the ropes, looked to his corner in helplessness. And Schmeling is down. Schmeling is down. The count is four. And he's up and Louis, right and left to the head, a left to the jaw, a right to the head, and Donovan is watching carefully. Louis measured him, right to the body, a left up to the jaw, and Schmeling is down. The count is five. Five, six, seven, eight. The men are in the ring. The fight is over -- on a technical knock out. Max Schmeling is beaten in one round. The first time that a world heavyweight championship ever changed hands in one round -- in less than a round.