Heavyweight FOTW #11: A Baer Bonanza

Well I can't see Baer having got very far without his power!

 

Neither could I, So maybe I should rephrase what I wrote, Baer’s chin was probably the strongest asset Baer possessed.
Without his power however, the way he boxed he would of been below a journeyman in terms of skill.

 

Baer wasn't a fighter in a high level elimination bout, he was the current undisputed champion.

He already held the richest prize in all sports.

I doubt that any lineal champion in history, has voluntarily thrown a fight with the title on the line.

It might just be plausible for somebody like Braddock, who was probably going to loose to the first top contender that he faced, but Baer was the favorite over any potential challenger.

Let's say that you are going to fight me and throw the fight.

You probably don't want to share that information with me firstly.

You also probably want to know exactly how you will lose the fight, because that makes it a lot more lucrative in betting terms.

That means that you cannot afford for either of us to go off script.

If you decide to lose the fight by decision, or a stoppage in one of the later rounds, you risk that one of us might get stopped before the allotted time, or that the third man in the fight might do something to part from the script.

Remember you have not told me what you are doing, and I think that I am in a real fight, and might do all kinds of things to part from the script.

The safest thing for you to do is just go down in the first round, and take the matter out of everybody else's hands.

 

In fairness most of those losses took place within two years of his professional debut.

 

4 were also within a year after he killed an opponent.

 

He seems to have been really mean before he killed Campbell, with a propensity to get a bit hot headed and pick up DQs.

Apparently after that incident he started having nightmares, took up smoking, and would sometimes freeze when he had an opponent hurt.

For all of his inconsistency you have a four year period prior to him losing the title to Braddock, where he fights fourteen times going unbeaten, beating the best fighters in the world.

You can see why some people thought that he could be champion for a long time.

 

Again, it's happened before and nothing to say it couldn't or wouldn't happen again. I know you disagree, but many feel like Sharkey "dropped the richest title in sports" to Primo. Throwing phrases like that me f all, when we're talking about money and people who value that more than the moniker you just used. So no, that is a possibility. Yes, he was part of an eliminator bout so to speak, in that he got a shot at Louis right after. So if the theory is true, drop the fight to Jim and we'll get you back in there with Louis to regain the title, he was part of such a bout and maybe why he was inclined to do so because he was promised a shot to get it back.

Ummm no, you couldn't be more wrong. The way it's USUALLY done is to go down by KO at some point. However, not when we're talking about the combatants we are here. The NO. 1, NUMERO UNO thing that would cause suspicion, was Baer getting KO'd. He had never even been knocked down, let alone KO'd, yet you think him going down in round 1 looks better? I can't tell if you're being serious, funny or disingenuous. Maybe a combo of all three. Point is, that would cause the most suspicion, especially in a bout with such long odd, where talk of a fix because more prevalent. So that's eliminated. Max KOing Jim is eliminated because it's not the right result. So what are we left with, Baer losing a decision. You might have a point about a script, if there was one needed in this bout, it's not. If Jim ACTUALLY had the power to KO Max, yet you'd prefer him to be in on it... here that isn't needed because he can't KO him, and Max would very well know that and even boast that this option doesn't need to be worried about. Now Max could KO Jim, but again, he's doing the fixing, so he's well aware not to do just that. So no, a script wasn't needed for this particular fight, not at all. I'm perplexed why you think him going down in round 1 looks better, when in fact, it looks worse.

 

The challengers who were seriously considered for him were Max Schmeling (rematch), Steve Hamas, and Art Lasky.

You can see why he would have been favorite over those men.

I don't think that Braddock was gifted a title shot particularly.

The other options fell through for one reason or another, and that was what he ended up with.

 

It has never happened.

Examination of the footage quickly disproves this.

Why would that look like a good deal to Baer, when he already held the title?

I mean he obviously isn't going to get any higher in the sport!

Your main concern when you throw a fight like that is not to make it seem plausible.

It is to keep it on script.

Sonny Liston had never been stopped before, but he still opted for the most fail safe method.

If you wanted to throw a fight, I would advise you to do the same.

As long as nobody can prove it, it doesn't matter.

 

Yes quite frankly!

You had Carnera as the champion, and some people thought that Schmeling was still the champion in all but name.

This exciting good looking young slugger blasts them both out, and some people dare to hope that a corner has been turned!

 

Same here but it makes no difference to the questions of his performances.
Bad hands are bad hands.
If he sustained a legitimate hand injury or two just 7 weeks out from a major fight, which was a talking point going ino the fight, the likelihood is he had bad hands in the fight and after.

Dr Leo Michel, according the newspapers of June 1935.