I'm sick of the bashing of Max Baer

I’ve always respected Max Baer for both his power and durability. But I’ll also be blunt in saying that I don’t find his style pretty to watch. His constant tendency to swing widely and openly is a flaw that a lot of trainers both modern and classical would frown upon ( and probably have. ) his defense was somewhat pedestrian with many of his shots telegraphed leaving him open for counter attack. Still he DID go far with what tools he had and we can’t take that away from him. But he’s not a particular favorite of mine in fantasy fights. I did very recently however pick him to beat Gerry Cooney and Cleveland Williams. But those picks had nothing to do with the fact that Baer was a champion and they weren’t. Being a champion in one era does not guarantee victory over a non-champion from another. Hell, it doesn’t even ensure victory in one’s OWN era against a lesser fighter as Baer lost his crown to Jim Braddock

 

If it makes you feel better I was a big fan of Max Baer Jr.'s work

 

I'm sick of Max Bear bashing me.

 

Baer would have smashed Ali easily.

 

I'll scthem and scthem until I'm sthick

 

Maxie Sr raised a Double-Naught Spy.

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Baers biggest problem was himself. He only took the craft seriously for a short while but in that short while he became HW champ. He is often underrated around here. Great chin and great power. But he could have been more.

 

I mean he became HW champion, that’s enough, I can’t see why anybody could actually “bash” him he achieved something wildly uncommon during a very tough period of history - he is allegedly actually not a nice man though, I haven’t read the book yet however.

 

I think we’re in a transition period regarding how Max Baer is perceived as a human being.

A lot of people were livid at his portrayal in the Cinderella Man movie, but it may be as facts have come to light since then that the ‘lovable clown’ was a mask and he was more ogre than oaf. I haven’t read the book either (is it out yet?) that reconsiders who he was but have seen some of the allegations and they seemed iirc to be pretty well documented and sourced.

Some guys are teflon — people tend to ignore that Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta bullied and beat women, that Mike Tyson admits to beating his wife and was convicted of ****, yet others get labels that stick. We’ll see over time how that works with Max.

 

Tell me some of these allegations im curious

 

Baer woulda given Louis a thumping.

 

There’s a book called “Then the World Moved On: The Brutal Truth of the Max Baer-Frankie Campbell Fight.”

The discussion on the allegations put forth (with research to back them up) begin toward the bottom of the second page of the thread linked below. User Frankiesgal is the author so you can pay particular attention to her posts:

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/baers-portrayal-in-cinderalla-man.548662/page-3

 

As you suggest, he brought the so-called under-rating upon himself by his lacksadaisical training habits. It was a choice he made, and it didn't turn out too badly for him if you take the broader enjoy-yourself view of life rather than the more narrowly focused I-want-to-be-a-great-fighter-at-all-costs approach that we boxing fans seem to admire so much, only to later lament that our heroes have fallen victim to dementia in their post-fight careers. Caveat here: Max might possibly have lived longer if he had kept himself in better physical condition after his boxing retirement. Heart disease at age 49 seems like a pretty young age to check out.

 

Baer would have given Lewis all he could handle.