This content is protected 1. One of the single most beautiful rounds Joe Louis ever fought. His combinations, speed, power, and footwork-everything was superb, fluid. As the round was running down, Baer struck with a grazing right hand. It was grazing, like I said, but it backed Louis up on the ropes, and a savage slugfest ensued. Baer struck again and again with furious punches, and Louis countered back well. Baer pinned Louis in the corner briefly and struck home more shots, but Louis turned the situation around (literally), and was soon leaping in, pummeling Baer, who was covering up against Louis' blows. Now it was Baer in the corner taking a lathering. Terrific stuff. Louis. 2. Louis kept a useful jab in Baer's face, and easily parried downwards Baer's pawing jabs. At the end of the round Baer had the most success; he briefly had Louis on the ropes and landed a quick flurry. However, Louis was not badly hurt despite being hit with solid punches, and the round soon ended. Louis. 3. Louis continuing to keep a steady jab in Baer's face. The two had another good exchange, with Baer's back on the ropes. Louis connected with multiple uppercuts that were setting Baer up for his first knockdown (in the fight, that is). The moment Baer was off the ropes, Louis connected with a great right hand and Baer went down rather slowly. However, the second knockdown to come would leave Baer worse for wear. Louis moved in quickly and with great effectiveness. A left hook, then a right uppercut had Baer in trouble once again. Then, Louis scored with a rapid fire-left hook, throwing it four times, and scoring with the latter three, and Baer went down again. Beautiful Louis, just beautiful. Baer was saved by the bell. Louis. 4. Louis' attack began energetic, but less aggressive than the previous two rounds. Louis wisely kept the left jab in Baer's face, and picking his jabs very carefully at that. A good right hand rocked Baer backwards. I sensed it was close now. Shortly after, a long right hand, followed by a short left hook (I think) but Baer down for the third time, much like the first KD, very slowly. Baer was on one knee as the referee counted, but Baer shook his head that he was finished near the end of the count. Verdict: Terrific fight. It was a good slugfest, and undoubtedly one of Louis' greatest performances. I once read that Louis said that he thought this was his best performance, and it doesn't seem far off imo. I have watched this fight many times and will continue to do so.
I told you that you would enjoy it. Louis's tripe left hook is the best i have ever seen. His handspeed and combination punching were never better than in this fight.
Louis just looked like the perfect heavyweight in that fight. It was all there, speed, power, timing, accuracy, footwork, jab, the combinations, it was all there. Absolutely sensational.
This is the first 8mm fight I ever purchased as a kid in the '60s, and I was blown away by Joe's punching. When he landed those three left hooks, I was personally jolted by their power, having never seen Louis on film before. The power of Joe's jab had a similar effect on me. It is still my favorite Louis fight to watch. Now, though, more than 50 years later after have watched thousands of fights on TV, on film, on video, and live, I have more perspective about the fight. Louis looked particularly good because, except for the exchange in the first round after which Baer realized he had no chance, Max just stood there and took it. It's like watching Louis punch a heavy bag. Louis punching is beautiful, but Baer had no defense and no plan of battle. When he found he couldn't overpower Joe, he just caved and waited for the inevitable to happen. Joe looks so great because Max could offer no sustained resistance.
I was waiting for this one; one of my favourite Louis fights. Scoring is easy, three-nil. Louis dominated for the most part. But it was a good fight, for sure. Louis was just a phenom, man. Not only one of the most talented heavyweights ever in terms of speed, accuracy, power and such, but he was also one of the most skilled fighters ever. One of the best parrying games I've seen, with a reliable mummy guard. He had an awesome jab, which varied well. And obviously, great puncher's feet, and unbelievable combinations. He also had one of the greatest senses of rhythm and distance ever. I liked how Louis approached this one. He boxed more on his toes than I've seen him do before, and he moved laterally rather than primarily walking Baer down. I think this is how he'd approach Foreman. And yeah, the broken right hand and twisted left wrist did eliminate Baer's only chance in this one, but he was never gonna have a prayer anyway.
Louis looks great. Baer looks slow and wide open. Two things to note. Baer looks taller than his listed height not only against Louis but against others like Carnera. My guess he was more like 6' 3.5" than his listed height. And I noticed the British commentator pronounced Joe Louis as Joe "Louie" and I got a kick out of that. Honestly, I thought Carnera gave Louis more trouble than Baer did. Carnera at least held his own for a few rounds. Carnera had better boxing skills than Baer. The attendance, 88,150, was the largest ever for a sporting event at Yankee Stadium.
I think you're right. I have always seen Baer's height listed at 6' 2" but against Carnera and Louis, who was 6' 2", he looked closer in size to Carnera and a bit taller than Louis. Yeah, that was real funny to me as well. I think you're right, as there was no round that Baer possibly could have won whereas Carnera could have. However, Baer actually stood toe-to-toe with Louis on a few occasions, even visibly hurting Louis slightly at the end of round 1.
Joe Louis vs Max Baer is a beautiful demonstration of what you get when you match a “ skilled “ puncher with a “ crude “ one. There was so much more to Joe Louis’ game than raw power. He had fast hands, combination punching technique, timing, footwork and accuracy. A perfect machine
That might have something to do with the fact that Baer's greatest weapon, his right hand was rendered useless going into the fight, and his left hand was also injured as well. Let's at least TRY to be fair. Oh yeah and Baer was infinitely a much better fighter than Carnera. He proved it by dominating him when they met in the ring.
I think he's clearly a better fighter, not boxer. It's not like he was up on his toes, out-jabbing Carnera and looking like a primordial version of Larry Holmes. He just went in there and nailed him for 12 rounds, looking sloppy as hell while he did it. Also, I think it'd be pretty remiss to mention Baer's hand injuries vs Louis, but neglect Primo's ankle injury vs Baer. Although I tend to think both get blown out if proportion quite a bit. Baer could still throw full power punches, it'd have just hurt (a lot). Carnera didn't just crumble and lose function in one of his legs, it was an extra pain he had to deal with.
