Was watching Baer v Galento recently and witnessed how sloppy it was then remembered Baer v Primo and how messy that got. Was this just Baer imposing his kind of fight on opponents or was it just luck that they sunk to his level? Can’t help but imagine if the man ever learned a proper jab and just a little head movement. But a very odd style w a lot of parrying and circling as opposed to head movement and footwork. Was there more method to his madness then Im missing?
Baer was really not that good a boxer. His natural athleticism and trained physicality tended to overwhelm his opponents. That's why I believe he'd be in trouble against bigger fighters with skills.
Baer was a pure slugger, and like many fighters with that style, he fell in love with his power. His style was crude, but that does not mean that there was not finesse to it. It worked against Carnera, because he countered him well, and it worked against Galento because he controlled distance.
Max does absolutely nothing for me, he was similar to Wilder now, although Wilder does produce his jab now and then Max just pawed out the left hand. Baer just relied on his power and of course he had a great chin. Unless you were Joe Louis he was going to be standing there in front of you all night.
It worked against Galento because Galento's plan was the same as his: get up close and slug. Maybe I'm misremembering that fight, but I recall Galento running head first into Baer over and over again, trying to bull him aside with sheer power and mass. Yeah ... good luck with that.
Baer was wild, but he knew what he did. He left himself open to get counter opportunities as he knew that he could take a lot. His footwork isn't that bad either when he fought on the backfoot.
I love Maxie, but there's nothing delicate about what he did. He went in there to throw haymakers and knock people out. It worked for him most of the time, so who are we to argue? Hardest puncher ever btw
There wasn't much to Baer. He had big power and good durability. He was aided by fighting in a quite shallow era and being bigger than the vast majority of guys he fought. His other problem was that his heart wasn't truly in boxing or certainly not all the time. He was a real entertainer at heart.
You're missing nothing. Bear could not spell jab if you spotted him the " j " and the " a " He had little defense, or head movement. What he had was a cannon of a right hand. Watch him vs Schmeling or Carnera, and you'll see a different guy.
Baer fought a lot of fighters who were bigger than him. Here is his record against fighters who outweighed him: 17-2 with 12 stoppages and 0 KO losses Here is his record against 200+lbs fighters: 29-4 with 21 stoppages and 2 stoppage losses
Baer did keep backing up just enough to force Galento to keep coming towards him. In that sense he fought a rational fight. As you say, very little finesse to the man, but he did give some thought to what he was doing.
