Buddy Baer vs modern big heavyweights

He would do better than other lumbering giants like Mariusz Wach, Nikolai Valuev, Jack O'Halleran, etc. He had very good inside skills and decent coordination, thunderous power, and lots of heart. I think with the right matchmaking and tutelage he could manage to win a belt in some decades but wouldn't remain at the elite level for a very long time, he was ok but not very amazing.

 

Amazing how one can form an opinion after watching 2 mins of film...

 

If you watch the first fight against Louis you can tell he did possess some venom on his lead left hook - it’s the punch that takes Louis out of the ring and he does catch Louis again with a good shot of it later in same round.
He doesn’t look good in the clip you supplied and he doesn’t seem too athletic. He was handled very slowly. I think another guy that their sheer size covered up for their limited skill. He did take a lot punishment from Louis though in the first fight. Tough guy

 

You know what I’m gonna go against the grain here a little and say that every HW looks like Buddy Baer. Plodding and undeveloped in so many areas they could only use there styles to compete at HW. Even if you sped them up below 147lbs they’d be toyed with

 

True, there are two fights available, why watch the 2nd fight instead of the first, or instead of watching both fights - opting for the much shorter, second fight wasn't allowing oneself a great window to assess Buddy Baer - who had already been bitten by the power of Louis in their first fight.

How good did Mike Spinks look in the minute and half against Tyson? Or Patterson in his two fights vs Liston? Not to overrate Buddy, but in the rematch, Louis was hitting him hard and often from the outset, so the big fella was immediately buzzed.

Against some of the better SHWs of the mod. era, no, of course Louis wouldn't have it as easy, but then he was putting away the big guys of his day with relative ease.

Imo, there are still strong positives to be drawn from these fights in favor of Louis when calculating how Joe might fare against some of the bigger, better skilled fighters of today.

 

He'd do well at a certain level but he's never going the distance with such as the Klitschko s, Lennox, Fury etc.

 

Top 10-15 range today.

 

I noted that the author referred to Baer as being 6'7" several times, even though he has included an image of the tale of the tape for the Louis fight - which clearly lists Buddy as 6'6 1/2", his most commonly listed height. Even though a seemingly slight difference, I'm never too impressed when writers fudge the numbers to suit their argument.

 

The first of Buddy's first round KOs, secured in Buddy's first pro fight in fact, was against one Milton "Tiny" Abbott. All 6'8" of him. It figured to be Milt's last pro fight also.

And, some 4-5 years prior to that, Milt split two fights with old brother Max - winning the first one by DQ round 3 (Max hit Milt was he was receiving a count, lol) and losing the second fight by KO round 6. The bouts were a mere 14 days apart.

No point to the musing, but I don't believe Tyson Fury has engaged anyone taller than himself (and to repeat, we're talking a real 6'7" to 6'7 1/2" for the Lipsy King).

 

Buddy Baer was unfortunately a big slug. With all his height and who his brother was Joe Louis tore him to shreds twice. In 60s he would be a second rater. He d be O Halloran. Knock out fodder for Foreman and Mac Fosters records.

 

This happens a lot, where you hear all these great things about some fighter from yesteryear, then you watch the video and see something like this. The claim that Buddy Baer would beat Wilder or Klitschko is just outrageous. I'd love to see what a guy like Fred Fulton actually looked like in action.

 

There's not much more film on him, that I could find anyway. He did do better in the first fight. He managed a KD, though I don't think Louis was hurt at all. He was able to smother Louis some and extend the fight, but I don't see any reason to believe that he would have been much of a factor in the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc. Just my guess based on the little available footage of him.