Wlad Klit vs Max Baer.

He certainly looked like a typical circus strongman against Joe Young.

 

Louis stated Baer had the best chin of his opponents.

 

Baers' reach at 81" equals Wlad's.

 

Great - Now all we need to do is find 4 inches in height; 30 pounds in weight and that's the size argument over (again).

In all seriousness, because I think it can be established that Baer could handle bigger opponents; that he was tough enough to take some heavy punishment; that he could really whack and was an offensive fighter - he has a good chance against Wlad.

It's really the idea that Baer had little to no skill, which builds the wall between him and the plausibility of a win.

 

Unless you buy the latest Classic Forum revisionism, in which Max Baer actually possessed deceptive, subtle, and criminally underrated skills and ring smarts.

 

He didn't become champion for no reason.

He must have had something.

 

I get the feeling that I go against the grain here in some of my views. I tend to think that today's heavies are the best because they are really superheavies with skill. I also think that Vitali is better than Wlad because he can take a punch far better. That being said, Baer could be a bad matchup for Wlad because of Baer's dangerous punching power, his granite chin and Wlad's less-than-iron jaw. Baer in an upset.

 

I would say Baer was closer to 6'4

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Dempsey was about 6' .5"-6'1" and Baer is easily 3 inches taller than him in that photo. Dempsey's wearing heeled shoes too.

 

Wlad by UD although Baer could surprise us with brutal knockout. Most people wouldn't pick Purrity, Sanders, or Brewster over Wlad had they not fought. However, I would pretty confidentially pick Wlad.

 

I'm not aware of any "Classic Forum revisionism" so wouldn't have known it was for sale.

Have many people, if any, expressed that view of Max Baer, in this thread?

 

Unfortunately, for some reason, I cannot open the link to the page you provided. However, I just did a quick search and found an image of Baer standing next to Max Schmeling.

Schmeling's recorded height is 6' 1" and Baer does look like he could be a few inches taller than him in that photo.

 

He had the ability to beaten by Jimmy Braddock... an ability that thousands of heavyweights over the years have possessed.

 

That's it?

Wlad had the ability to be beaten by Purrity. Is this being too harsh on both?

 

Was that prime Wlad? We can isolate his prime somewhere parenthetical to the two losses he had 11 years apart. Unless you believe primes should be defined as LONGER than a decade.