His own manager said he was chinny so they kept him away from punchers as much as possible. Source Paul Gallico Stribling and Sharkey both dropped him.
Max had the Braddock fight in the bag. I think he couldn't work up the rage to destroy him and put him away and Braddock made him pay for that. https://streamable.com/kb39i (Turn sound up)
I have watched the fight and while Baer was was striking him cleanly, it's not like he was noticeably hitting him or swinging any harder than when he was fighting other opponents. I mean, it's a great description, shockwave haymakers making his body fly in all directions but these are heavyweights here and if you look at modern day fight films (and before anyone jumps on me for being biased against old time fighters filmed in black and white, I'm talking about modern day technology here, rather than modern fighters) and watch the impact of punches in slow mo or even super slow mo, then you will see exactly the same thing you described and in greater detail. Faces been contorted out of shape, neck muscles twisting and whole bodies vibrating like they have been shot. Hard punches have just the same impact on the human body now as they had in Baer and Carnera's day. Anyway before we drift too far from the main point. I don't think it's a silly point to question Carnera's chin in the Baer fight (though your example comparing Carnera's chin and Mayweather footwork is a bit odd.) I haven't really studied Carnera's fighting career so you may well be right in saying he had a great chin but my point was I don't think a fight where he went down 11 times is a good demonstration of a good chin and I do think that is a valid query. Great resilience, conditioning and heart to keep getting up, yes ...... but great chin?
Also part of the reason why Carnera was down 11 times, was on the first knockdown he broke his ankle. Look at pics of Max visiting Primo in the hospital the next day and you will see one of Carnera's ankle in a cast. A lot of people tend to forget this.
There are certain punches that will put any human being down. And when someone repeatedly gets up from those punches and continues fighting, I attribute most of that to their heart and chin.
Baer is better than his record suggests, you look at him at his best vs Primo and Schmelling and he'd destroy Cooney. You take him when he trained poorly and lost focus like the Braddock fight then it's competitive.
I think it would have ended a few rounds earlier, but you're essentially right about the ultimate winner and how he would have won.
Cooney wasn't designed to fight guys who could punch and take him to war. Baer by brutal knockout by traditional Baer fashion. Probably gets a few back hands in there before he does it too.
Baer had a jovial nature outside the ring and Cooney outside the ring was quiet. However both will remember for their vicious nature inside the ring. Hard to gauge Cooney but if a old Foreman could ko Cooney ( i know wasn't prime ) then so could Baer. Baer hammers Cooney and referee stops a game but battered Cooney in 4 rds.
Cooney's problem was his training, we never saw the best of Cooney, he was on drugs, went down his very rapidly, became way too inactive, but at his best, he had huge potential................George Chaplin said that the hardest he had ever been hit was a right hand by Ali and a left hook by Cooney, he should know, he fought both.................
Braddock would take Cooney to school before stopping him late. Experience, chin, stamina and a right hand that knocked down a prime Louis would do it.