Buddy Baer vs modern big heavyweights

Actually Buddy could box…the problem was he fought like a small guy. Which is counter intuitive for a big man. Completely wrong style for him but believe it or not it may play out well for him today against the right opponents as most men today can’t fight well on the inside. He keeps his chin well protected and maintains good balance but he crouches down to his opponents level leaning forward. He’s a power puncher and wants to mix it up but he’s a more plod forward kind of guy. U can see the power in his hooks. Had he developed a good jab he would have been Cooney before Cooney

 

Baer looked Terrible with a capital T! Talk about an oaf, it was guys like this who had those old schooler trainers convinced a man over 6'3" couldn't fight! A big giant who has very very limited speed, power and ability, who crouches over and sits there right in punching distance. I can't conceive of a gameplan there.

 

Might have done better i.e. lasted longer had he tried to THROW A PUNCH ONCE IN WHILE.

 

Wach will never go down as a talented boxer but compared to Buddy he looks like Ray Leonard.

BB would not have troubled any of the modern super HWs such as Bowe, Wilder et al. In fact Jorge Luis Gonzalez, who is often derided on these forums, would most likely wallop Big Buddy in 2/3 rounds. Fringe contenders like Bernado Mercado, Animal Lopez, Adilson Rodriguez, Ross Purrity and Tony Fulilangi should, in my opinion, be favoured also.

I think if BB was active today with the skillset he shows on the footage available he would be at the Mark Wills, Mike White, Levi Billups, Terrence Lewis level........

 

Buddy would hold his own with the Breazeales,Wach's,etc but Wlad was a far superior boxer.
I've noticed that Mr Silver he doesn't give much,if any credit to modern fighters.

 

I think you are being much too harsh on Buddy here.

 

He had the punching power to hurt everybody. Not sure he had the defense, the chin or the mobility to go very far in an era where everyone is as big or bigger.

 

He is not a man to be taken lightly.

He held the record for the most first round KO's, of any heavyweight in history, until Shannon Briggs relived him of it.

If Joe Louis stops you in the first round in the rematch, then he is probably paying you a compliment!

You could easily make the case that he is a better technical boxer then Wilder.

However my gut tells me, that you would be comparing a man doing something technically correct awkwardly, to one doing something unorthodox intuitively.

Not a great trade off.

He was nowhere near as good as Wlad technically.

However the author of this article has a point, because the big men that Louis was beating, were clearly not bums.

If the modern big men are going to be too much for him, then they should have been doing at least as well as the smaller men he fought.

There is nothing to suggest that the key to defeating Louis, is to find a bigger man.