No but it's hard to give Maxim any credit for his boxing abilities when his opponent is easily outpointing him for 12 rounds until passing out from exhaustion which had little to do with Maxim's pressure since he wasn't doing much. You can give him credit for his toughness, endurance and perhaps his ability to adapt to unlikely circumstances, but that's about it. I remember reading something about Robinson refusing to drink any liquids before the fight and thus being completely dehydrated by the end of it. Definitely a dumb move by him if true.
Bollox, he was 2 divisions bigger and won against an opponent who had to stick and move/run to survive and couldnt do it in the heat. Klitschko wouldnt get much credit for beating Calzaghe if Calzaghe won every round before collapsing through exhaustion in boiling heat
I'd like to add Duran-Benitez. Arcel said that Duran was mentally and physically as good as he been for 4 years. Since he fought De Jesus for the third time. And by all accounts, Duran never problems with the weight for this fight. He had been on weight for a few weeks prior to the fight.
It's rightfully listed as one of Benitez's greatest wins and performances. Some people might make excuses about how the fight turned out but I wouldn't say that Benitez is given no credit for the win.
And Maxim didn't have to survive the offensive onslaught that Robinson laid into him as well, right? I'd rather be trying to avoid someone in that heat then being that hot and having to survive the offense of one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Then again you never hear anyone say that Maxim was not smart or did not have a great chin. He is given credit for that performance to some extent but not as much as he would be given had he beaten Robinson down for 13 rounds and finished him off. It was instead he who was taking the beating and won as his opponent ran out of stamina.
Oh, yes you do. Maxim is given little to no credit up until recent years. Read write ups involving him in boxing books from the 70's, he was said to be a fighter who always shyed away from "real" fighting, who refused to fight and bore no marks from his time in the ring, that he was nothing but lucky against Robinson.
I guess I've never read any of this, luckily. Most boxing "experts" I know give him credit for being a solid professional, a champion, who fought the best of his time. If what you say is true though, then Maxim is severely underestimated by the people who wrote that about him.
Well of course the experts do, they're educated. Look around on these boards where I've said that Maxim had a LaMotta level chin or thereabouts. People dismise it right off the bat. As if going 45 rounds with Archie Moore, one of the greatest punchers of all time doesn't put him in contention.
i can say i never underrate Maxim the guy is a decent fighter with a granite chin and deserves praise for the SRR win
Not only did he have a granite chin but he had a lot of heart too. Moore was seemingly on his way to KO'ing him in their third meeting but Maxim withstood the beating and went the distance yet again. He had obviously slipped by then but he kept on fighting against the likes of Floyd Patterson, Eddie Machen, Bobo Olson, Willie Pastrano... The man was amazingly durable. Maxim was a great defensive fighter as well, thought to be perhaps the best defensive fighter in his time. Now that I think of it, I remember once arguing against someone who believed that Henry Armstrong would have knocked out Joey Maxim...
Well , it was as hot for both men,but Kearns claims that Maxim's plan was to come on late was bull****. Ray went round Maxim like copper round a barrel, he was outboxing a fine boxer ,and show boated a bit ,he must have covered three times the ring canvas that Joey did. Ray's ego beat him , he should have coasted a couple of rounds. Maxim did land some good shots to the body which undoubtedly did not help Ray's cause ,but ,manouvering the bigger man around ultimately did for Ray imo.