How Great Could/Would Max Baer Have Been??

I think he could have been great enough to have beaten Louis. No jokes, he was physically tremendous, extremely durable and very powerful. His technique is sloppy as hell yet he regularly knocked people senseless. If he'd had some footwork, a better defence and a good jab, he'd already have been on his way.

 

Lol. Unreal

 

Apart from his power and his chin I just don’t see anything there that could have been improved sufficiently to say he could have been great, and to say he could have beaten Louis is simply preposterous.

 

Of course it is.

 

He maximized his physical attributes and didn't care if internet fans 80 years later would turn up their nose at his technique.

 

I think there's a case to be made that says Baer could've been considered a great fighter. As he is now, he was number twenty one on my heavyweight list, which to me means he wasn't that far off it anyway. I don't think it's outlandish to say that with a bit more focus, committment and professionalism, that he doesn't pick up as many losses. Reversing losses to Uzcudun, Risko, Loughran and Shaaf (all fights he could've/should've won, IMO) makes for an excellent run before winning the title. His standing doesn't fall anywhere near as much if he never lost to Braddock, but lost the title to Louis instead. Then a win late in his career vs Lou Nova isn't out of the question if we're talking about what he could've done if he stayed focussed and didn't age as quick, as he did manage to beat Farr and Galento. I think the version from Carnera/Schmeling would absolutely pummel Sharkey, as well. So if that fight happens, that's another good win. I don't buy that he'd ever beat Louis, though. Too poor a defence.

I think the scenario which BSC8 operated under is where he has a much higher ceiling. If he's rebuilt from the ground up fundamentally, with better footwork, a good jab, some defensive work and fixing his balance, then he's a top fighter in any era. But I feel like that's stretching the question too far. In a similar way, Deontay Wilder could be a great fighter as well.

 

Uhhhhhh ... have you ever noticed that Baer is a pathetic boxer and that there's a

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of stuff that a good coach could have taught him?

 

Exactly this.

This thread is about this opinion: "Nat Fleischer said of Max, Greatness might have been his, had he learnt to box and set up a defence."

And I agree with that opinion, just as I agree that Wilder could have been fabulous had he ever bothered to actually listen to a trainer. Fighting is very much a mental thing and so is training to fight and listening to the advice of trainers. If somebody had presented Baer and Marciano to me without me knowing anything about them and asked who would have been the greater fighter, I'd have picked Baer without a doubt. And yet, history has proven the opposite. Marciano took his shortcomings and turned them into strengths. Baer was so strong he never bothered developing any further.

 

Tbh, imo he could've been an ATG, if his heart was in the game.

 

He had the tools and the toughness. And while some guys are never going to fight in a refined manner no matter how much schooling and training they receive, Max was so deficient in the ring that he surely would have seen improvement and more effectiveness.

 

He was always going to have a big problem called Joe Louis, but he could probably have set himself apart from the rest of the era.

For a brief moment he almost did.

 

This is all true.

Baer's true downfall beyond injuries was his out of the ring distractions, focus issues, and reported bouts with depression over the Frankie Campbell death. There were lots of fights he could have won as he was, if not for all that.