gene tunney vs max schmeling

It was close because Baer was fighting an insufferably dirty fight. Schmeling won the rounds Baer gave away, when Max was mostly lazing around. I don't think the German enjoyed the ferocious pace. He'd pick Baer off when the Californian was static-- he was, afterall, the better boxer-- but when Baer flailed, Schmeling went into a shell.

I think this fight would be altogether similar except that Gene wouldn't be nearly as hittable with the right counter; he would be able to adjust. He'd overwhelm Max with combinations while inside, then quickly dash out of range again.

 

SuzieQ, if Patterson was so perfect technically, hands up high, blabla, then why did he suffer all those off-balance knockdowns? Shouldn't such a technically perfect fighter not be off balance all the time?

 

Godfrey was very impressive to look at ,but his record isnt quite so awe inspiring,Sharkey outpointed him,,and this is the Sharkey that lost to Record in 1924,was kod by Rojas in9 and decisioned by Maloney.In 25 Sharkey dropped decisions to Weinert and Gorman .!926 Sharkeys banner year he beat Wills on a foul but Wills was 37,and at the end of his career he would only have about another 5 ,losing 3 of them.A good win over Godfrey by dec ,which incidentally makes Godfreys chances of beating Tunney look rather slim imo.1927 Sharkey is matched with the comebacking Dempsey the winner to meet Tunney for the title,Dempsey kos Sharkey in 7 ,2 months later Tunney beats Dempsey.Sharkey has eliminated himself ,and just to make sure , in 28 he meets Heeney and can only manage a draw,Tunney toyed with Heeney in a title defence,Sharkey follows up this result by losing a decision to Johnny Risko,so he is out of the picture.If Sharkey had beaten Dempsey he would have met Tunney for the title ,he didnt and he didnt!
Sharkey was never the top ranked challenger in27 he was no3 Heeney was no4 Godfrey was no 9.In 26 Sharkey was no 3 ,Godfrey wasnt ranked.

 

I dont need to go back and look at it. Baer was in command whenever he wanted to be and Schmeling couldnt do anything about it when Maxie roughed him up. Baer let it go to the tenth before deciding to put him away. That's about all there is to it.

PS: That first Louis-Schmeling fight was a fix. Anytime the superior athlete starts in a conspicuously slow manner you know the outcome has been pre- arranged (WWE style)

 

good question, just because someone was taught the perfect fundamentals of boxing doesn't mean they have natural balance/athletiscm. At times, patterson went for the home run. When I mean home run, I mean his leaping left hook, a deadly punch. This punch isnt in basic book of textbook punches, its partly his own creation. At times he would throw it and miss completley and by leaping he left himself off balance on the way down leaving himself open to a counter punch. I would like you to take notice how patterson in the 60s-70s was hardly dropped randomly by low level rated fighters as he was in the 60s. He grew more mature in that regard. He stopped taking the chances he could in his youth, and boxed more calculated and more mechanically.

 

As Patterson employed the peekaboo strategy,he stood square on to his opponent kness bent face half covered by his gloves,he relied on his gloves to catch and deflect a lot of punches,Jose Torres and Mike Tyson ,the two other most famous practitioners of this style both employed much better head movement than Floyd,and hit the floor a lot less often.The peeka boo stance can be effective but it also has its limitations when the guard is as high as Pattersons was ,because though it deflects shots ,it also can blind you to shots coming your way.Cus DaMato was a radical trainer ,very few men adopted this style,the basics of boxing are taught so that your stance is side on leading foot towards the opponent ,trailing foot at an angle chin tucked into your shoulder and behind your leading arm,if you are square on you are a bigger target ,and your reach is considerably shortened ,especially with the jab,hence peeka boo fighters arent usually great jabbers,when you are square on your weight is evenly distributed on both feet ,making it easier to be caught and knocked down since you cannot change stance as easily as you can from the classical position,it becomes harder to avoid the punches that do get through your high glove guard,and harder to ride them

 

Schmeling was coming off a long period of inactivity going into the Baer fight. The press at the time thought that it hurt his performence.