Two heavyweight boxing events in the 1930s represented a contest between the USA and Nazi Germany, as well as black vs. white fighters.

In 1936, former world heavyweight champion Max Schmeling defeated the previously unbeaten African-American rising star Joe Louis in the 12th round. In the second match in 1938, Louis won  with a first round knockout.

Although the bout was acclaimed as a victory over Nazism, Schmeling actually had a Jewish trainer and considered himself an athlete, not a politician. After surviving the war as an elite paratrooper, Schmeling worked for Coca Cola in Germany and became a lifelong friend of Joe Louis.