In Summary: Max Baer

I found him to be a very entertaining boxer to watch. His sloppiness and clowning was always heaps of fun to see IMO. His crushing power was also beautiful to see. And let me add, it cannot be overrated. As far as skill goes though, it doesn't. Baer is one of the most unskillful boxers I have ever seen. The dude missed more often than Rocky Marciano for heaven's sake. He does have many good and great wins to his credit. I attribute those to his awesome power and tough jaw, solely. One of the most overrated fighters of all time as far as skills go.

His best win? Challenging to answer. You see, Schmeling is undoubtedly the better fight by my standards, but the win over Carnera is far more impressive to me. Actually, the Schmeling win as just as impressive display of power, but I don't believe Baer fought a good Schmeling that night. So I would say Carnera.

 

Good post and I generally agree with you. Schmeling's game plan against Baer was idiotic. On the other hand Carnera blowing his ankle out early undoubtedly coloured his match vs Baer. On paper I think Schmeling was the better win.

I just laugh when posters come up with Baer's sweet skills, killer jab and elite footwork Like WTF?

 

Baer may of been wild, but he hit like a mack truck and in most cases in regarded Max Baer, that is all it took mostly. Fun to watch. But those wild swings could ko any man when he landed.

 

Yes, that I agree with. His physicality (especially for his era) was second to none.

 

Even today he be consider to have a body of the gods.

 

Second only to Frank Bruno!

 

I wasn't aware that anybody rated his skills particularly highly, including his proponents.

 

I can't recall anyone saying that

 

I can. If you dig back through Baer threads there's praise for how he closed guys down and his great jab. Praise his power, his toughness, his chin, his great set of abs, sure. But those? Nah.

 

A good fighter could counter though and just about damn near kill Baer.

 

Well, a lot of people rank him quite highly the way they do Marciano. Only power and toughness made them successful fighters.

 

Agreed on all points.

 

Baer beat some good fighters in his time. I think Bear used his large size pretty well for what was there in the early 30's. No way am I going to say Ali or Holmes will lose to Baer.

 

I think that even their most enthusiastic supporters, agree that they would not have got far without their power.

 

Despite his terrible skills -- or perhaps because of them -- he always struck me as looking oddly comfortable in the ring. Like he'd wandered into the ring during a stroll, and his awful technique was just ad-libbing.

There's a 9 minute "How to Box" instructional film by Max Baer that was once online (I don't know anymore) that was recorded in the 1930s. It is weird. As in, uppercut to the arm as a standard defense to a jab. Worth seeing, though. He must have owed some of his success to his style simply being so unorthodox.