How good was Max Baer at his best?

The best in the world.

He beat Schmeling and Carnera back to back, even as he was.

 

A tough guy with a Rick solid chin and big right hand.
That’s about it really.

 

A true wild card. He had a great chin, savage power, unorthodox technique throwing bombs from odd angles, heavy body puncher, and was more than happy to get dirty with some back hands or wrestling to keep an opponent honest. On the negative side of things, he was fairly easy to hit with leaky defense, didn't jab or use his reach enough, didn't string combinations together as well as he could have, and could be shockingly inaccurate and sloppy for a trained pro.

All in all, Baer was a bit of an underachiever and didn't make the most of his raw talent and athleticism, but could be very entertaining with his sledgehammer right hand and ability to turn a fight around out of nowhere. In a way he was the prototype to Deontay Wilder. Resume wise, there isn't much to write about he'd be lucky to make top 30. H2H he's a significant threat to mid level boxers, but most skilled elite boxers from the 70's onwards would pick him apart.

 

You'd have to ask Mae West. And if you did, she'd be like "Pretty decent." and you'd be like "That's not as witty as I would've liked, from you, Mae." and she'd be like "Still pretty tired." and you'd be like "I should've waited a while before asking you about this." and she'd be all "Zzzzzzz."

 

If Baer trained hard like Marciano and learned boxing from Louis trainer, he would be unbeatable.

 

He basically made it past his biggest obstacles, in Schmeling and Carnera.

After that he really should have been invincible, until Joe Louis came along.

The ball was well and truly in his court.

He is very frustrating, because he should have been much more!

 

Baer was incredible and deadly. A natural athlete that had tremendous man killing power in his fists.

Had the killing of 2 men in the ring not have mattered to him, he would have gone on to be one of the greatest of all time.

 

Compared to all time greats Max was a D level fighter lucky to have fought in the era he was in. I can't see him beating any decent heavyweight from the 1960's on. I can't even see Max beating any half way decent cruiser weights.

 

We will never know. According to his son, he hated boxing and had nightmares about killing Campbell. He never really came anywhere near his best potential.

 

Good enough to beat Schmeling.

 

If he had the ability to fire combinations with deadly accuracy,but he didn't.
If he had a great jab that created the openings for those combinations,but he didn't
A trainer can refine and polish a boxer, but he can't give him what isnt there. Max had a great right hand sloppily delivered,which sometimes left him exposed and off balance,his defence was leaky and cushioned by a top chin.

Overall his technique was terrible
Baer had 79 fights and imo, looked no more polished in the last 30 than he did in his early bouts.

 

No matter how bad any fighters is, good trainer could polish him.
And if Marciano could, more Talented Baer could too.
If Baer worked with Angelo Dundee since his very young age, he would develop jab,defense and footwork.
Just if he worked since very young age and trained very young, he would be 200 percent more skillful and dedicated, he would be unbeatable.

 

This is what I think. He was a physical phenomenon but his boxing ability was in general woeful. His best fight was IMHO against Schmeling, who really could box, and Baer won that mostly because Schmeling tried to play Baer's game. I agree that if he had been truly dedicated and had tried to master the technical aspects of boxing he might have been an ATG.

 

A big strong puncher who was a good but not great champion. Not forgetting that he was quite a character which was not put over in his crap portrayal in Cinderella Man.