Editing Max Schmeling (section)

===Early years===
Max Schmeling Jr. was born in [[Klein Luckow]], in the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] [[Province of Brandenburg]], the son of Max Sr. and Amanda (''née'' Fuchs) Schmeling. He had an older brother, Rudolf, born in 1902 and a younger sister, Edith, born in 1913.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/hintergrund-die-lebensstationen-von-max-schmeling-1210595.html |title=Hintergrund Die Lebensstationen von Max Schmeling: Max Schmelings Leben und Wirken im Überblick|date=4 February 2005|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine |access-date=3 June 2020|language=de}}</ref> He first became acquainted with boxing as a teenager, when his father took him to watch film of [[Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier|the heavyweight championship match]] between [[Jack Dempsey]] and [[Georges Carpentier]]. Impressed with Dempsey's performance in that fight, young Schmeling became determined to imitate his new hero. He began boxing in amateur competitions and, by 1924, won Germany's national amateur title in the light heavyweight division. Shortly thereafter, he turned professional. Ironically, though he idolised the raging, brawling Dempsey, Schmeling developed a careful, scientific style of fighting that lent itself more to counterpunching. Using this style, he won seventeen of his first twenty-three bouts, thirteen by knockout. In 1925, he got into the ring with Dempsey, who was then still heavyweight champion of the world and was touring Europe. Dempsey boxed for two rounds with the then-unknown German and, according to a story later told by Schmeling, was greatly impressed. He proved Dempsey's praises correct on 24 August 1926, when picking up the German light heavyweight championship with a first-round knockout of rival Max Diekmann, who had previously beaten Schmeling.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Beyond glory : Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling and a world on the brink|last=Margolick, David.|date=2005|publisher=Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc|isbn=0375726195|location=New York|pages=19|oclc=74457060}}{{page needed|date=December 2022}}</ref> The next year, Schmeling won the European championship by stopping Fernand Delarge in the first boxing match broadcast live in Germany. After defending both titles against Hein Domgoergen the same year and, in 1928, the European Title with a first-round knockout of Michele Bonaglia, he secured the German heavyweight championship with a points victory against Franz Diener and decided to chase bigger fights and bigger purses in the United States.

[[File:Max Schmeling June 24, 1929 TIME Magazine.jpg|thumb|left|Max Schmeling on the cover of ''[[TIME Magazine]]''. June 24, 1929]]
Arriving in New York City for the first time in 1928, Schmeling was hardly noticed by the American fight circles. Considered a stiff European fighter who had padded his record against German and European unknowns, he was given few opportunities to prove himself until he hooked up with American manager Joe Jacobs. Schmeling's debut in America took place at [[Madison Square Garden (1925)|Madison Square Garden]] with an eighth-round knockout of Joe Monte, who was not a top-flight heavyweight but nonetheless had been in with some tough competition. Two more victories led to a fight with Johnny Risko, one of the biggest names in the division, though somewhat beyond his prime. On 1 February 1929, Schmeling floored Risko four times with his right hand before the referee halted the contest in the ninth round, handing Risko his only loss by TKO. The surprised crowd in attendance roared with appreciation and ''[[The Ring (magazine)|The Ring]]'' magazine subsequently recognized the win as its 'Fight of the Year.'