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By JAMES P. DAWSON
Special to The New York Times
CLEVELAND, July 3 - Max
Schmeling is still the world's heavy-
weight champion. He knocked out
W.L. (Young) Stribling, Georgia's
favorite fistic son and America's
challenger for the title, tonight in
the fifteenth and final round of a
battle that was just a shambles, one
long, steady march to victory by the
German lad after the first five
rounds.
The finish was recorded after the
fifteenth round had gone two minutes
46 seconds. Referee George Blake,
imported from Los Angeles especially
for the occasion, satisfied, as was
the crowd, that Stribling had been
beaten soundly, fairly and with a
thoroughness that could not be im-
proved upon, stepped between the
pair and stooped the battle to save
Stribling from further unnecessary
punishment.
As he separated the embattled war-
riors Referee Blake unhesitatingly
grasped the left hand of Schmeling
and raised it aloft in the time-hon-
ored custom of the ring denoting vic-
tory. Just fourteen more seconds
and Stribling would have averted
the knockout, the first ever charged
to his record in a career of ten years
and more than 300 battles.
Issue Settled After Fifth.
But fourteen seconds more of ac-
tion invited danger, exposed Strib-
ling to possible permanent injury
and was absolutely unnecessary in
an issue which was settled after the
fifth round, as had been expected
by those who know Stribling and his
ring characteristics.
The knockout came spectacularly
as the climax to a struggle which
found a champion fighting as a
champion should, and a challenger
fighting a battle from which he knew
no escape - a timid, hesitant, clutch-
ing, holding, retreating style, which
aims at protection exclusively to the
sacrifice of offensive initiative.
The finish was the big thrill for a
disappointing gathering of 35,000
fans attracted to the sixth city's
new $2,500,000 stadium, modernly
equipped, ideally appointed, which
was dedicated to professional sport
with a championship that might have
been better and more appropriately
suited to the occasion had the chal-
lenger discarded his characteristic
timidity.
This gathering, coming by air, land
and water from various parts of the
country, representative, if it was
comparatively small, and making up
in enthusiasm what it lacked in num-
bers paid gross receipts estimated
at $375,000. The attendance was a
disappointment, and the receipts are
expected to show a deficit for the
Madison Square Garden Corporation
of Ohio, a subsidiary of the New York
Corporation, under whose suspices
the struggle was conducted.
"This deficit was variously est-
mated here tonight at between $50,-
000 and $100,000 in the absence of offi-
cial figures. But the Madison Square
Garden Corporation protected an in-
vestment when it staged tonight's
title struggle, and it has this invest-
ment to look forward to in the future
as a means of recouping on tonight's
loss.
Schmeling is under contract to de-
fend his title again in September
against Primo Carnera, and is to-
night looking forward eagerly to this
battle or a clash against the best
challenger available.
Gene Tunney saw the struggle,
making the trip from New York for
the occasion. James J. Corbett was
another former heavyweight cham-
pion of the world watching the pres-
ent-day champion and the challenger
fight through fifteen systematic,
methodical rounds for a title which
made Tunney independently wealthy
in the days before boxing experienced
a lull, and brought to Corbett undy-
ing fame.
They both had picked Stribling to
win back for America the champion-
ship the country always had boasted
until June 12, 1930, when Jack Shar-
key laid Schmeling low with a low
left hook and lost his chance to win
Tunney's vacated throne.
And Tunney and Corbett must have
undergone moments of keen disap-
pointment, after early moments of
unquestioned satisfaction, as Strib-
ling floundered awkwardly and with-
out the spirit to make an effort to
win the ring's richest prize after
having boxed smartly about the sto-
lid, dogged, determined German lad
through the first five rounds.
Concentrates on the Body.
But there was weariness and pain
for Stribling to match the disappoint-
ment of Tunney and Corbett and
those others who had favored the
challenger's chances. Pounded and
battered in a merciless, pitiless, un-
swerving offensive, which had his
body as its central point and his
downfall as its objective, Stribling
gradually was wearied to the point
of exhaustion, each successive round
bringing nearer the defeat it was
patent, after the fifth round, the
challenger must suffer.
Several times the challenger stag-
gered and shook like a reed in the
wind under short punches to the
head and jaw which gave no indica-
tion of their power until the chal-
lenger's body lurched convulsively.
In the tenth round Stribling was on
the verge of a knockout when the
bell and Schmeling's lack of experi-
ence in coping with such situations
saved him.
Then through the succeeding rounds
Schmeling pounded home in his
stolid way with both hands to the
body, occasionally shifting his attack
to the face until every moment the
collapse of Stribling was expected.
in his own behalf Stribling did
nothing but run and hold, retreat and
clutch. It had been expected he
would do exactly this, unless his style
had been completely changed. In the
fatal fifteenth, Schmeling caught up
with his foe. The German lad, plod-
ding on steadily from the beginning
with one object in view, saw his
chance.
Backed in Stribling's corner as
he maneuvered the challenger into
position and a temporary opening.
Schmeling's right shot out like a bolt
and landed flush on Stribling's jaw.
The Georgian crumpled face forward
in his own corner, his head splashing
the sodden canvas on which he had
dripped the water his father-manager
and chief second had poured on him
in the previous intermissions to revive
him.
Rises Wearily to Feet
Stribling lay prone for a time as
the count proceeded, but pulled him-
self together as it progressed and at
"nine" came wearily to his feet to
stand and face his foe as the final
round moved closer to completion and
and his escape from the ignominy of a
knockout.
Schmeling, inexperienced, showed
his lack of training in finishing a foe
and showed a good nature which
is a characteristic of him, but alto-
gether out of place in such a situa-
tion. He permitted Stribling to
clinch, and then failed to attempt
fighting the challenger off. Instead
Schmeling looked at the referee, en-
treating Blake with his eyes to pull
them apart so that he could get the
chance at the square, long-range
knockout shot he sought.
Stribling clutched desperately, how-
ever and when he saw it was im-
possible to shake himself loose.
Schmeling started fighting flailing
away with both hands in a dizzying
fire to the body and head, which con-
tinued until Referee Blake stepped
between them, pushed them apart
and raised the German lad's hand
aloft in a token of knockout victory.
Pandemonium broke loose with the
finish. The crowd sentimentally
with Stribling at the beginning,
veered away from the challenger and
to the champion as the battle pro-
gressed, and Schmeling did all the
fighting, while Stribling did all the
running and holding. And when
Schmeling's face became suffused
in the broad grin of victory, he
heard ringing in his ears the tumultu-
ous din if an appreciative crowd, ac-
claiming him for a victory well won
and richly deserved.
To those who saw him beaten at
the hands of Stribling, Schmeling, in
the first defense of his title, gave
consternation: to those who said he
would establish himself as a real
champion he gave satisfaction by
beating Stribling as he had never
been beaten before in his long career.
And to those who recognized in
Schmeling a fighter whose ring quali-
ties have not yet reached the ulti-
mate of perfection but whose dogged
courage and stolid, untiring fighting
force have been recognized and ap-
praised for what they are worth.
Schmeling was a relief in the face of
early misgivings.
Fights Systematic Battle.
Schmeling went the fifteen rounds
at top speed in a systematic, charac-
teristic battle. He took Stribling's
best punches without seriously at-
tempting a return for five rounds,
as he was doing when he faced Shar-
key a year ago, and when his foe
had sworn himself of what little
fighting desire he possessed entering
the ring. Schmeling came through
fresh and fearless with the offensive
which was to bring victory.
Schmeling finished the battle with
a manifestation of reserve strength
that showed he was unaffected by
the wear and tear. He showed his
power when he lifted the 186 1/2-pound
Stribling off the floor and carried
the beaten fighter to his corner.
And topping the demonstration,
this likable German lad, fighting
his way through a swirling crowd of
hero worshipers going down the
aisle from the ring, raced like a
sprinter to the ramp leading to his
dressing room, leaving his manager
and trainer and handlers and news
paper men bent on after-the-battle in-
terviews far in his wake.
He is a good fighter, this Schmel-
ing. He was the first to knock out
Risko and now he was the first to
knock out Stribling. On the record
he must be good; he must be worthy
of the title, although in his best
battle to date he showed yet that
there is room for development that
will come.
Stribling's bid for the title was a
comparatively pitiful effort. This is
said without an attempt to detract
from the Georgian's ability, but in
the full realization that the action
of the battle demonstrated that
Stribling really is not in a class with
Schmeling. His big chance for vic-
tory lay in his recovering entirely
from a timidity that was character-
istic of him in battles against Paul
Bericnbach, Tommy Loughran and
Jack Sharkey, when he had other
chances to scale the heights and
failed. This didn't materialize,
though many expected it would, and
Stribling failed again.
Punch Is Gentle Threat.
He had a chance for victory if his
own punch was stronger than it had
ever proved to be, or if the concrete
jaw of Schmeling was as weak as
Stribling's handlers anticipated, but
Stribling's punch was but a gentle
threat which caromed at times off a
jaw made of steel. Stribling's fight-
ing qualities first collapsed, to be
followed by the physical collapse
of the challenger under a steady
bombardment of strength-sapping
punches.
At the time the fighters entered
the ring betting on the outcome was
even. For the first five rounds there
was little to the battle but Stribling.
He fought cagily, reflecting coolness
which was surprising, outboxing, out-
cuffing and outmaneuvering the
champion though the first round
and the second, and the third, fourth
and fifth.
Through all these rounds, Schme-
ling fought his accustomed battle,
boring in fearlessly but alert, taking
his rival's jabs and hooks as he
watched and waited for an opportu-
nity to slip over a right of his own.
The chance never came, but
Schmeling never stooped pressing
forward on the attack. The German
connected in the first round with one
right cross, short to the jaw, and
Stribling's knees sagged as he
clinched. Later Schmeling grazed
the head with a hard right and
Stribling was cautious. But for those
two exceptions, Stribling outsmarted
the champion, and pecked and pawed
with his left in a jab which was
tantalizing and annoying and right
uppercuts which were well-timed and
powerfully propelled.
Tide of Battle Turns.
With the sixth the tide of battle
veered sharply and unmistakably to
Schmeling. The champion, evidently
deciding that he had tasted the best
punches Stribling had to offer with-
out being affected, waded recklessly
into his foe and started the applica-
tion of punishing punches which was
to wear Stribling gradually to the
point of collapse. A right to the jaw
hurt the challenger and he clinched.
Two more rights stung Stribling and
he looked alarmed.
A right to the head swished home
and rattled the challenger further
and he launched a desperate counter-
offensive which was wild because it
was too flighty. And all the time
Schmeling when he was not shoot-
ing darting lefts or rights at long
range, was belaboring the challenger
about the body with a fire of lefts
and rights.
Stribling was through fighting of-
fensively thereafter. He was even
through fighting with an organized
counter-attack, and became just a
desperate fighter, anxious to avoid
the man who charged at him with
the punishing blows.
Once in the seventh Stribling drove
a right to the body and clinched.
It was the first real manifestation
of the old Stribling weakness, the
first real indication that he was on
the downward path and that he rec-
ognized it himself.
Through the eighth and ninth
rounds Schmeling never gave his foe
a moment of respite. Instead of
that, he charged tirelessly, relent-
lessly at Stribling, driving both
hands to the body when the chal-
lenger was not holding desperately
and lashing out with lefts and rights
which missed as the challenger re-
treated at furious pace.
So punishing was the fire of
Schmeling in the tenth that Stribling
at times floundered hopelessly into
clinches, and several times would
have fallen had Schmeling the power
or technique to shake him off. As
it was, Stribling escaped to hear the
bell.
In the eleventh round Stribling was
desperate but helplessly ineffective
with an attack that was merely a
menacing gesture. There was no
stopping Schmeling now, although at
times he failed to press viciously ad-
vantages he might have pressed.
Through the succeeding rounds
Schmeling plunged in, indifferent to
the occasional punches Stribling un-
leashed. I the fifteenth Stribling
lurched forward blindly seeking a
clinch in his own corner, only to
meet the right to the jaw which sent
him down face first, a knockdown
from which he arose to absorb an
unnecessary volley of lefts and
rights before Referee Blake inter-
vened.
General John V. Clinnin, president
of the National Boxing Association,
climbed into the ring and on behalf
of the N.B.A. presented to Schmel-
ing the association's gold belt, em-
blematic of the world's heavyweight
championship.
Included among the notables pres-
ent were Bobby Jones, Mayor Frank
Hague of Jersey City, Mayor Anton
Cermak of Chicago, Frimo Carnera
and Bernard F. Gimbel.
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