Could it be that Braddock simply outboxed Baer instead of the clowning excuses?

Holy sheet, I didn't know there was a biography on Ray !! I've been talking with Bill Gallo, who knew Arcel, and the bio never came up. I gotta have that book, thanks !

From what I've read about the weigh-in at Baer-Braddock, Max came bounding up like a puppy to shake the hands of Jimmy and Joe Gould and both of them cut him down dead. There is a photo of that weigh-in where Max looks rather crestfallen. I've always attributed that look on his face to his surprise at how nasty Jimm and Joe were to him just before the photo was snapped.

 

Its not been out long, its called 'The champ in the corner' it's not great to be honest, this is what I had to say about it in another thread

''Well I'm 2/3's of the way through the Arcel book and its a bit disappointing to be honest, every chapter past the first 2 seem to be about a different fighter with a link to Arcel, very little about the man himself, basically a potted bio of each fighter per chapter with a comment made by Arcel in his lifetime tacked on the end.

So far we've had Baer Braddock Louis Carnera Ross Galento, nothing in here I haven't head a dozen time before''

 

Sheesh, no kidding its new, I can only pre-order it at Amazon, which is the cheapest at $35.00.

That's dissapointing, but I appreciate your honesty. $35.00 is a bit steep to me unless its a well done book. Is that all he says about Max Baer ? If so, I'll pass.

I'm reading "Master of the Ring" about Jem Mace. Its by Graham Gordon. I actually won it in a contest on another forum. I can't recommend it highly enough and I'm only on page 92. The details are so precise, yet its written in a way that even a non-boxing fan would enjoy it and learn alot, as Jem Mace had his fingers in alot of pies, not just boxing. Excellent work !

Thanks !!!
Cat

 

Theres one chapter on Baer, try and get it at the library perhaps?

 

Does anyone know/remember "Maxie's Gal" aka "Cat"? Is she related to Max Baer?

 

Watching this fight more than once, I think that Baer didn't want to win it. He didn't try hard and I'm not even talking about clowning - he did the same against Carnera or Foord. I've never seen Baer so disinterested in any other available fight - even against Farr and Nova when he lost, he looked much better.

 

@janitor

She seems to have taken most of her stuff down, so probably best to assume she doesn't want her info out there any more.

No idea why

 

That's ridiculous. Who doesn't want to keep the most valuable title in boxing. And Baer was definitely going for it as the fight progressed

What happened was Braddock simply looked to outmove Baer and beat him to the punch time and again. Baer needed to set his feet to punch. The clowning, was to mock Braddock's power, in order to try and lure him into a brawl. You can see he's mocking Braddock's jab at times. And it's not like Baer didn't clown against Schmelling too, it was part of his act. The reality is that Braddock was allot better than his losses suggests and had the skillset to exploit Baer's weaknesses

I think the fight also shows that if Schmelling had rematched Baer with the same tactics he used against Louis, that he wins.

 

I think that Klompton posted here an interesting story about Baer's contract that could explain his strange behaviour. Not to mention that Baer had injured hands in that fight.

It was the least agressive Baer ever been in all films of him we have. He didn't look like he wanted to knock Braddock out at all.

As I said, I'm not talking about clowning. Baer always clowned, so I don't understand why you bring it up here.

Tommy Farr also had skillset and style to exploit Baer's weaknesses and he beat him, but Baer still looked far more motivated and agressive in this fight. Again, I don't say that Braddock wasn't good enough to beat Baer. I'm saying that Baer looked terrible in this fight and it's not because of Braddock work. He didn't try at all, have you seen other Baer fights filmed?

Schmeling would have beaten this version of Baer however he wished. I doubt Braddock would look so good against Baer from Schmeling fight.

 

The thing is people always look for excuses when a hyped big exciting puncher loses to a boxer mover. See Tyson-Douglas

 

But I'm not saying that Braddock wasn't good enough to beat Baer. I'm saying that Baer looked terrible in that fight and it's not because of how Braddock fought. He looked better against Farr, who also had right style to beat him (and he did beat him).