Buddy Baer
 

Admittingly, I have always been a rather harsh critic of Joe louis for facing men who's size dimensions would render them as being little more than Cruiserweights in a modern era.

One fighter whom I grossly over looked was Buddy Baer. He was 6'61/2" and weighed anywhere from 235 to 250 Lbs, making him larger than Gerry Cooney. In 50 pro victories, he won 45 of them via knockout. According to wikapedia, Baer is ranked by the ring magazine as being one of the top 100 heavyweight punchers of all time. What's more, in 57 pro bouts, he was only stopped on two occassions, one of which, against Louis. In their first meeting, Baer managed to floor Louis before going on to lose by disqualification. In their second fight however, Louis destroyed baer in a single round. After the fight, Baer proclaimed " the only way I could have beaten Joe that night was with a baseball bat. "

I've never actually sat down and watched footage of Buddy Baer, and don't know what his ring skills were like, but his credentials certainly sound as though he'd be tough for anyone on paper.

Re: Buddy Baer
 

He also at one point had more first round KOs than anybody except Dempsey.

Re: Buddy Baer
 

Do you think that if B.Baer was fighting in say the 70's, that he'd have a good chance of beating such guys as Norton, Shavers and even Frazier, especially given that those men struggled with bigger punchers?

Re: Buddy Baer
 

I would give him a good chance of picking up a strap in the 80s or today. I also think that he could have beaten guys like Norton, and Shavers in the 70s.

Wouldn't go as far as to pick him over Frazier though. I dont fall into the trap of thinking that any big rangy puncher dose a Foreman on him.

Re: Buddy Baer
 

He was also good in the film quo vadis,when he breaks the bulls neck LOL

Re: Buddy Baer
 

Baer was a beast, and his chin was every bit as good as his brothers.

Re: Buddy Baer
 

Buddy Bear wasn’t much of a boxer. His best stuff was obviously his size, good power, and a fair amount of aggressiveness. If you ask me, Buddy was more aggressive than his brother.

The first Louis vs Buddy Baer fight is a ring classic. I own it. Buddy wins round one big, and hit Louis with a shot than sends Joe somersaulting over the ropes, and out of the ring! The thing is the ropes basically flipped Louis backwards and onto his feet. To say Louis landed well is an understatement. Joe then climbed back in-between the ropes to continue. Bear managed to win another round after the first, but the rest of the fight was mostly Louis. Toward the end it was all Louis. Buddy didn’t have much of a jab and wasn’t too swift on his feet either. He threw a lot of wild right hands, some of which Louis was able to duck under.