Heavyweight FOTW #11: A Baer Bonanza

A red flag went up with the claim of four broken metacarpals. That is all the bones joining the fingers to the wrist. I don't think the hand could function at all with such an injury until it healed. I doubt if one could grip anything or make a fist. The swelling would be severe.

It struck me as just way over the top.

 

I could not find anything about a Dr. William Healy at Johns Hopkins in 1935, but not so Dr. William F Reinhoff, Jr

I found this info on him.

"Dr. William F. Reinhoff, Jr. entered Johns Hopkins as a medical student in 1910 and later became a well-known surgeon."

"Reinhoff was the last surgical resident of Dr. William Stewart Halsted, considered one of the greatest and most influential surgeons of all time."

There is an interview with Dr. Reinhoff on the internet from 1975, when he apparently was in his mid-eighties.

If curious, nothing about Max Baer in the interview. He talked about important developments in surgery over the decades.

 

Looks more and more like an overblown injury a fighter claims to write off a terrible performance. How many times have we heard fighters coming off a loss claim an injury. I’d be rich if I had a nickel for everytime a fighter said this or that was injured for his fight.
It’s funny, I heard more about Baer’s hand being broken as an excuse for to Braddock when I was your than I ever heard about Carnera’s ankle which was legit being a primary reason for his poor performance . Strange.

 

wait what? Why is it beyond belief somebody would lay down or lose a high level elimination bout? This has happened before in a variety of ways. So I'm not sure why you're dismissing that as outright hilarious, especially with the money that could be made here.

Next, why is losing a decision inherently unlikely? It's the most likely way to go about it. Your lack of seeing that here is perplexing. Max koing him is likely, but ruled out because it's not the desired outcome. Jim koing Max would cause the most scrutiny, so that's eliminated. We're left with the way to cause the least suspicion is a decision right?

Again, not saying it's so because there wasn't much talk, but his perfornance sure stinks, for whatever reason.

 

Well first, I dont think he was prime for Louis, so that doesn't really reflect on his condition in my eyes. I feel like only getting a ud and a d with an end of his career uzcudun isnt great. His mixed results against sharkey, who I'm not all that big on doesn't impress me much. I feel your right that he should be prime he just wasnt peak then. 1-3-1 in your last 5 isnt the best. You're right in that he showed be, but clearly not in good form at best

 

This is more realistic.
I'd say he's definitely more than 1 inch but not more than 3 inches taller, and probably not quite 3 inches at most. So, about 2 inches, give or take a fraction.

I think "3-4" inches would be a clear overestimate, "4-5" inches is WAY OFF, and Pat M's "5-6 inches" is so far off he's either severely vision impaired or he's just trolling (as he obviously often is).

 

On Max Baer's injured hands :
It was widely reported BEFORE the Braddock fight that at least one of his hands was injured. The initial injury occurred 23rd April 1935, when he sparred an exhibition with Eddie Simms, and was reported at that time.
Pre-fight reports from his training camp speculated whether his hands would be healed in time, and noted he was "favouring his right hand".

Whether his hands were actually broken in 1935 or not, I don't know. One doctor thought so apparently. But it seems that he certainly sustained a real hand injury just 7 weeks out from the Braddock fight, and reported it, well in advance of anyone believing he would ever need an alibi for losing to a 10-1 underdog.

 

There was plenty of talk at the time of the fight being fixed.
Post-fight newspaper reports even allude to the talk, but Braddock was a feel good story so the newspapers tended to take the side that he scored an honest victory.

 

Going over Baer’s record. Most opponents that possessed either a good chin, and or some basic movement defeated him.
Risko(chin), Loughran(movement), Uzcudon (chin), Schaff (both), Braddock (chin and some movement), Farr(both) Louis (both)
Baer did trade wins with Risko (who didn’t, Risko traded wins with everyone) and Schaff defeating him by a majority deciscion in their rematch. Also Farr lost his rematch to Baer.
I believe Baer’s power may be overrated, or more likely at least any sort of finishing skill.
For someone with such reputed fearsome punch he didn’t finish off too many iron chinned guys.
Even Carnera was still standing after breaking his ankle in the opening round with Baer after 11 rounds.
Baer had the chin, size and raw power to be an elite heavy but his technique was dreadful. Really low.

 

mrkookkevin found and posted this quote yesterday from July 11, 1935

"Dr. William F. Reinhoff, Jr.,the physician, said that no ligaments in Baer's hands had been torn. He explained the swelling in Baer's left hand is an inflammation similar to water on the knee or 'tennis elbow" and said that no operation would be necessary to correct the condition."

Reinhoff was an extremely prominent orthopedic surgeon, so well known that I was able to find information on his career on the internet despite his being dead for decades.

'He explained' indicates he talked to the press. It is far beyond belief that he would not have noticed broken bones, let alone the claim that Baer had four broken metacarpals, which would in effect be a totally smashed hand.

So this story of a broken hand is BS.

Did he have an injury. Yes, to the left hand apparently. How much this limited him I can't say. The bottom line is that Baer and especially his management apparently didn't feel the injury was severe enough to not risk fights with Braddock and Louis until the condition cleared up.

His hands were also x-ray'd and evaluated by Dr Fredrich Elliott for the NYSAC on August 22 when Baer was cleared to fight Louis..

I haven't seen any real evidence posted that any doctor thought Baer had a broken hand in 1935. The claim posted comes from the 21st century and is wildly unlikely and over the top.

 

There is a Disney cartoon released in 1934, the year before the Braddock fight, about the tortoise and the hare story. The hare is named Max Hare and is displayed as a grossly overconfident show-off and skirt-chaser (the skirts are on cute giggling female hares) and we know how the race ends.

What is interesting is that the next year this scenario was played out for real with Baer the hare and Braddock the tortoise.

 

Compare the guys Baer knocked out to Schmeling.
Schmeling dropped Risko 4x and stopped him. One of only 3 stoppages in Risko’s 120 fight career. Baer couldn’t stop him in 2 fights.
Schmeling dropped Young Stribling stopping him in final round only fighter to stop him in 240 pro fights.
Schmeling only man to stop Steve Hamas. And of course he stopped Joe Louis one of only 2 men to do so (Marciano against a greatly diminished Joe)
Yet time and again Baer pops up as the bigger puncher. Maybe for raw power. But certainly not technique. Certainly not more proven against quality opponents. Most of Baer’s ko’s come against second and 3rd tier opposition. Schmeling and an injured Carnera after that pretty big drop off.
Baer’s best asset was his chin. Not his power.