Joshua and Fury were much much much better punchers than Baer and have more than an ounce of skill, yet neither came close to flooring Usyk, but Baer floors him multiple times? I'll have some of what you're smoking.
Very matched fight, but in this brains vs muscle battle, the brain wins, and Usyk has the higher IQ. Max has always a puncher's chance, but I go with Usyk by decission.
Judging by the comments here you'd think Baer never won a fight in his life. How did he even get through Ernie Schaaf, Levinsky, Farr and Schmeling, all of whom were more skilled than he was? Barring Louis and Loughran, none of the guys who beat Max had an easy time doing it. Nova was getting pummeled, Schaaf, Farr and Braddock were staggered too. What Baer had going for him was incredible power, decent hand speed despite his looping punches, very good stamina (carried power into late rounds), good body punching during infighting, practically impossible to knock out. From the Carnera fight it seems that Baer's method was to let his opponent come to him and catch them off guard as they were moving towards him. He'd back away and throw a big punch hoping to catch his opponent walking into it as they were jabbing at him. If he got them close to the ropes he'd try to unload body punches or attack the head. The way I see this fight playing out: Scenario A Usyk jabs and combos Baer who can't time his opponent and despite trying to take him out near the end he is unsuccessful and Usyk wins a decision. Scenario B Baer's body punching slows Usyk down (if not outright takes him out, he really doesn't cope well with body punching) and he manages to land a big swing to the head, flooring Usyk and finishes him. Scenario A is the most probable outcome, with some moments where Usyk has to struggle through Baer's sudden attacks. Skill and work rate was what it took to beat Baer so Usyk is naturally heavily favored but it isn't going to be a walk in the park, as it wasn't for the other fighters who beat Max. I don't think Usyk has any chance of stopping Baer and neither do I think him being close to Baer's size is an advantage. The less mass Baer has to punch at, the better off the opponent will be. It's not like Usyk's 220 lbs make his torso more durable. As I previously said, even in losing performances Baer was able to land hard punches like he does on Farr with a left hook during a flurry and snaps his head back (2:32). This content is protected The right hands he hits Nova with at 1:38, you can see the sweat flying off Lou's hair. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detai...x-baer-vs-lou-nova-at-news-footage/1155893619 His best moment, taking out Schmeling This content is protected Imagine Baer throwing those shots to the body against Usyk (with a sneaky low blow in there too) [22:22] And at 23:38 Baer's sudden right hand finds Carnera coming forward. This is the 10th round by the way. This content is protected
With both in top form it could go either way. Usyk has excellent counters and mobility that would give Baer problems, but Usyk is weak to the body, doesn't like pressure, and can be timed with a good right hand, which are all things that Baer brings to the table.
People really need to stop repeating this myth that Usyk is weak to the body legit all of his heavyweight opponents have gone to the body (All of whom are harder punchers then Max Baer) and none have been able to hurt him with it besides a blatant low blow. He's not more weak to the body then any other heavyweight and no a one dimensional brawler who lost to a lightheavyweight isn't going to have more success going to the body then high level superheavyweights.