Schmeling 's boxing matches in the 1930s are then portrayed along with his marriage to the Czech actress Anny Ondra ( Susanne Wuest ) who dislikes boxing , against a backdrop of the Nazis taking control in Germany . Schmeling has no sympathy for the Nazi ideology and is seen to be protective of his Jewish manager Joe Jacobs ( Vladimir Weigl ) . In 1936 , a fight in New York City with the formidable Joe Louis ( Yoan Pablo Hernández ) is arranged despite the opposition of the Nazi head of sport who fears he might lose , because Adolf Hitler wants it to go ahead . Schmeling trains hard and studies film of Louis in preparation for the fight which he wins following a knockout in the 12th round . He returns home a hero but when he takes on Louis again in 1938 , he is knocked out after 124 seconds . He returns home and helps some victims of Kristallnacht and when war breaks out in 1939 , he obeys an instruction to enlist in the paratroops rather than fleeing abroad
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Max Schmeling (film)