SLIDESHOW: 5 super-fights of the past

Greatest Sporting Event

Joe Louis-Max Schmeling, June 22, 1938: Louis, who had been knocked out by Schmeling in their prior meeting two years earlier, destroyed his opponent in two minutes and four seconds, defending his heavyweight world title in a bout that played out against the backdrop of the rise of Nazi Germany. The cultural, racial and political ramifications led boxing historian Bert Sugar to call it "The greatest sporting event of the 20th Century" and Louis emerged as a rare African-American national hero with the win over a fighter rightly or wrongly regarded as the representative of Nazi values.



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