Best filmed max baer performance?

I’d pick the Schmeling fight

 

So do I. While far from the most stylish performance ever, he worked well w/in his limitations by making good use of his jab & cross-armed defense & wearing down Schmeling w/ his inside strength & body attack.

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Same. A couple of those right hands near the end were rather brutal.

 

Threw some decent jabs, left hooks and uppercuts at times too, I was rewatching it earlier today. Got surprised at how good Max looked especially compared to his other performances we have footage of. You think this was the closest Baer got to capitalizing on his talent? From what I know the Schmeling fight lit a fire under his ass.

 

It was the backdrop of Baer being of Jewish descent (though not necessarily a practicing Jew himself) & Schmeling being from a country that was reportedly not particularly fond of Jews @ that time.

 

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Good lord, the dude had talent but he would get eaten alive today by mid-tier guys. Constantly walking in open, leaving massive openings when punching, his head with a target on it... I respect his toughness and power but can't ignore what I'm seeing.

 

So basically ...

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Wilder is a far better boxer over the course of an entire fight. A different league. He doesn't consistently walk into range with zero defense. For all his supposed power, I'm surprised Schmeling didn't spark him. But then maybe Schmeling wasn't as great as some claim.

 

Honorable mention for the Comiskey fight.

 

I agree with you but for some reason men with great power get away with more than regular fighters. Look at Foreman and Wilder for example. Although Foreman was a little more technical then the other two his defense was poor.

 

I never understood how he beat Schmeling like this ...

 

Gotta go with The Prizefighter and the Lady, unless I'm missing something obvious.

 

A big punch & an iron chin can compensate for a lot of flaws.

admittedly, he also got away w/ an effload of fouling.

 

Baer is perhaps the most overrated of the old time heavyweights. He looks awful on most film. Even in the Schmeling fight he doesn’t look great. Just rewatch the opening round again closely, everytime they fight cleanly Schmeling gets the better of the action. Baer resorts to rough house tactics to gain the edge everytime. I noticed 5 fouls in the opening round, from twice grabbing Schmeling from the back of the neck and throwing him into the corner, (then trying to nail him with a haymaker as he turns around) too repeatedly holding Schmeling behind the head and punching him as he is held. To a low blow at the end of the round and even a sneaky head butt. Honestly many rounds are missing but looking at this, it’s clear Baer probably should have been disqualified in this bout. Watch the footage Schmeling catches Baer with a neat lead hook and Baer immediately goes roughhouse. In retrospect it shows Baer did have a ring IQ and realized if I can’t box with this guy I’ll brawl. But man in todays world he would have been thrown out of the ring by the 4th round.