Joe Louis was born in a sharecropper's shack in Alabama and raised in a Detroit tenement. Max Schmeling grew up in poverty in Hamburg, Germany. For both boys, boxing was a way out and a way up. Little did they know someday they would face each other in a pair of battles that would capture the imagination of the world. In America, Joe was a symbol of hope to blacks yearning to participate in the American dream. In Germany, Max was made to symbolize the superiority of the Aryan race. The two men climbed through the ropes with the weight of their countries on their shoulders—and only one would leave victorious.

June 22, 1938 -- 1932: Joe's violin -- Cool as a frozen cucumber -- "Save me, Joe Louis" -- A date with Max Baer -- Fourteen years earlier, Hamburg -- Chasing Dempsey -- Max's rise -- New York City, 1928 -- Foul! -- "We was robbed!" -- "I saw something" -- Joe's training camp -- June 19, 1936 -- The helpless giant -- Meeting with Hitler -- "I won't let my people down" -- Public Enemy No. 1 -- "Snus" -- The big night -- The fight -- Max under siege -- "God's side" -- Crawling through rubble -- Hanging up the gloves -- Joe at the bottom -- Max at the top -- This is your life -- "Let's hear it for the champ" -- Forever linked.