It's round 15. Both fighters are dead tired. Their form start to show sloppiness. Regardless, they are somehow able to punch non stop for the entire last two minutes of the round. https://streamable.com/dl9va Interesting Facts: - The voice you can distinctly hear, often saying "Come On" is the referee in the ring. - At one point, the crowd voices displeasure at the sloppy trading of punches, despite the action. - Baer throws over 120 punches in this sequence alone. Bonus: Using the high quality video, can you count how many punches Braddock throws?
Don't think the crowd was displeased by the sloppiness per se, so much as by the fact that most of those punches were harmless arm punches thrown with no leverage or snap.
Baer rarely seemed remotely like he was seriously trying to win this fight. I think it's pretty well established that he had hand problems for a couple of months leading up to this though, so that might help explain his dreadful effort. Braddock was just a tough journeyman. The fight was terrible but Braddock's "Cinderella" story (from the dole queue to world champion) was well-received during those times.
Yeah we're describing the same thing. I wouldn't say Baer was lacking snap though. A power puncher like him can throw a slow, lazy punch, and still produce lots of shoulder snap. Which is why, if you notice, some of his lazy slow punches snap Braddocks head around. He just wasn't putting a lot of energy, speed, and explosiveness into them. The crowd starts booing when Max really widens up, and neglects a boxing form for a bout 2-3 seconds.
Oh my, what Max Baer would have been with a better trainer...teaching him more than just the fundamentals, and if he had the discipline and focus, of course.
