Although he was buried earlier today secretly by his family, there will be held a public memorial ceremony later this month with the Federal President Horst Köhler.
Posted on 02/04/2005 3:50:48 AM PST by Witch-king of Angmar
BERLIN - German boxing legend Max Schmeling, one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time, has died at age 99.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
RIP, but I'll be the first to say it: He was still alive???
Exactly my first thought.
Grudge matches supreme...between him and Joe Lewis.....I remember watching those greatest fights of the century some years back when they had them on cable.
the other great grudge match series was Zale v Grazziano.
Although he was buried earlier today secretly by his family, there will be held a public memorial ceremony later this month with the Federal President Horst Köhler.
My first thought as well.
He was 99. I urge you to read the article. It's quite a story.
Helluva guy and a helluva life. RIP, Mr. Schmeling.
Thanks. I knew next to nothing about Schmeling and would have guessed quite differently.
Wow....most pugilists never see 75, much less a rip old age like this. He was one of the greats of the game.
Let's not forget Ali-Frazier. Conn and Louis was another pretty good one. Not sure Dempsey-Tunney really qualifies as grudge. It always got me that Dempsey was almost universally considered a much greater fighter than Tunney, despite losing to him twice.
Great article. Like many here, I had no idea Schmeling was such a fine man. Thanks for posting it.
Good stuff. Now I want to read the full bio.
For those unfamiliar with the invasion of Crete (picking up on another post in the thread), it was a heckuva fight. Those German paratroops were tough cookies. The invasion was a success for the Germans, but it severely depleted the fallschirmjaegers, and made an airborne invasion of Malta operationally impossible. Malta became Britain's "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the central Med, and caused many problems for German supply convoys to North Africa, causing huge logistics problems for Rommel.
He was probably a smoker. Smokers die young.
Ali-Forman.....couple of winners there......Rumble in the Jungle being the best.
sad ping
Unbelievable!...had no idea he was still on earth....God Bless em...
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