![]() It wasn’t a huge leap to see Louis-Schmeling II as a prelude to war: If Louis beat Schmeling, then America could certainly knock out the Führer himself. What mattered most to the 80,000 fight fans packed into Yankee Stadium was Schmeling’s nationality - he was German, and Hitler was hailing him as proof of Aryan racial superiority. Adolf Hitler’s army was starting to march through Europe, and the Nazis were herding Jews into concentration camps. ![]() Americans now cared as much about the fate of the world as hooks and crosses. A lot had changed since his opponent, Max Schmeling, had dealt him his only defeat two years earlier. This would be the Brown Bomber’s fourth title defense, and indisputably the most meaningful. Eighty years ago, on the night of June 22, 1938, Joe Louis walked across the infield grass at Yankee Stadium, a hooded robe draped over his broad shoulders, the weight of his country on his back. ![]()
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