It's a real shame in my view, that people constantly talk about Baer. There were some real boxing masters in the 1930s and 40s, particularly in the lower weights, the likes of Canzoneri, Chocolate, Ross, Midget Wolgast etc etc. Yet people for some reason go on about Baer, who was probably the worse skilled top fighter of the era.
Lewis was at the ending point of his career and yes I would as unlike yourself (70's fan lool) I am unbiased. However there is much more footage and fights where you can see the high level ability of both Lewis and Klitschko, where as little to none exists with Nova and Baer.
It is very odd I must say. Baer was a very poor boxer, perhaps he is more famous/well known as he was a heavyweight boxer?
Yeah there's that. Heavyweight title garuntees fame. There's also that he was an actor, and people are intrigued by him as he wasted his talent in boxing, and think what might if been at his best.
But you just said that Lewis looking bad in Vitali fight doesn't mean anything because he looks good in other footage. We don't have any other Nova fights, but it's possible that he'd look better in other fights. Baer always made fights very rough and Nova had to brawl with him and he did so with decent success. Who cares that he didn't always do things in perfect way? He outlanded and tired out past prime Baer in botb fights, that's all that matters.
It is possible Nova performed better in other fights but we have no footage, so we have to assess Nova as a fighter through what we have and can see of him. Such as this fight.
He "reveled" in giving the sacred Ali a beating?You mean like the ones Ali gave Patterson and Terrell???? So Larry was supposed to refrain from hitting him...and just stand there in awe like you and other Ali worshipers do routinely??? Complete, unadulterated bullshlt!!!
Good tough fights but seriously, not as a Baer hater as I like the guy .. Nova was no great shakes and he thrashed Baer twice when Baer was really not that old at all .. Max was a great character but simply put, never a great fighter. Big, strong, tough and hard punching for his era but limited at his best.
Some fighters aged worse than the others. Baer already fought 80 fights before Nova and he wasn't defensive master and he took a lot of hard punches in his career. He wasn't a grandpa but he was past his best for sure. Still strong and tough but lacked stamina and his timing and quickness wasn't there. Baer wasn't much more than you said, but he was very hard punching, very strong and very tough. Many times that's enough to be a force at HW. Foreman (a better fighter than Baer) was only slightly more than that (especially at the beginning of his career) and he was one of the toughest guys to beat ever.
I doubt Nova was ever really anything special: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/1939-article-on-galento-nova.623767/