Jimmy Young vs Max Baer (Poll added)

You can disagree without being disagreeable. And perhaps I should dig into Young again and see if I missed something. But I have been consistent here in saying I am not really a fan of Young … although I have given him credit for the Foreman win even though I still think the circumstances were special, including the knockdown (which I think actually was set up with a solid right a few seconds earlier) … or another 70’s favorite here, Lyle.

 

Ali "stunk" because he came into the fight woefully out of shape, and didn't train much if at all, which Dundee noted prior to the fight. As for the thread, it's clear as day Young would run circles around Baer.

 

Pretty sure if Young could avoid Foreman he could avoid Baer. Max is one of my favorite guys to watch but he was susceptible to being outboxed

 

Young, easily ... Baer made to order ...

 

Young shows Max a trick or two.

 

Like George Foreman

 

As much as I've said about Young not having a championship mentality, and as much as I think well of Schmeling's skills and mentality when Baer curb-stomped him, I admit my kneejerk reaction to this is that it would be a complete and utter nightmare for Baer where clowning and fouling are about all he'd be doing. He's not slow and it's not that he doesn't have a certain breed of skill, but if you watch him fight Schmeling, it's just out-strengthing and out-power-punching a smaller guy who is clearly more offensively skilled with a technique far more concise and sharp when they're both firing. Young would not be bowled over anywhere near his own best but he'd have the same advantage in technical precision or even more so. He might lose on the cards from not firing enough but I don't see it being like a fair loss on the cards in this instance. I think he'd be sharpshooting and that after a little while, taking so little flush that it'd be a rout later in the fight, if not at the beginning. Gotta go Young by decision. I've never seen any of them fight but I'm reading Wikipedia and that's my guess.

 

Yeah, not a credit to him in its own right but prior to the fight, Ali boasted that he didn’t take Young seriously and therefore didn’t train properly - even patting his ample belly to make the point.

 

As you’ve detailed him, some might be surprised by Young’s size. Not a hard muscled guy but naturally trim enough at 210 lbs, even pushed out to 215 lbs. Side by side, he was barely shorter than Ali.