Joey Maxim couldn't punch?

Joey Maxim was one of those guys that did not do anything great but did everything good, He also had a steel Jaw and some solid defence. Maxim was another tough Italian Jaw, not Lamotta but up with some of the best. He beat some excellent fighters and hung in there with some great ones.

 

If I'm not mistaken...Kearns said in an old Time magazine article that Maxim had teh best chin of any fighter he ever managed.

Addendum: Thanks for posting Great A!

 

two fights dont make a puncher.

 

Yeah, I remember placing him among the likes of LaMotta and several posters were in disbelief.

 

Yes Sir!...Maxim's chin was amazing. The roll call of great fighters (and punchers) he fought is really unbelievable.

 

That's because his chin isn't quite on par with LaMotta's. He was floored many more times in his career than LaMotta despite having a much superior defense and physical advantages for his weight.

 

He must have the greatest chin for someone with a first round KO loss on his record,even better than Tex Cobbs probably.

I know Sheppard could punch but blowing out a guy like Maxim in one when killers like Charles,Moore,Murphy,Robinson and Patterson couldn't is another of those strange boxing anomalies.

 

1. "physical advantages for his weight"

Perhaps at lightheavy, but Maxim fought a lot at heavy. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half his fights were at heavy. I glanced through boxrec and I counted something like 20 fights against men over 200 lbs.

2. "He was floored many more times in his career than LaMotta"

This is true, but I'm not certain it is the bottom line. Maxim was stopped only once, while LaMotta was stopped three times.

3. "having a much superior defense"

I agree.

4. Maxim just faced a ton more big punchers than LaMotta. The biggest hitters LaMotta faced--Robinson, Satterfield, Murphy, and Nardico--Maxim also faced. All but Satterfield stopped LaMotta. None stopped Maxim. Maxim also faced scads of big hitters or at least dangerous punchers--Walcott, Charles, Moore, Patterson, Machen, Foxworth, Lesnevich, Mills, Kahut, etc, and many big men on up to the 265 lb Big Boy Brown.

5. Maxim fought to an older age than LaMotta, who had only three fights past 31, but Maxim was never stopped as an older man.

6. The one man who stopped Maxim, Hatchetman Sheppard, was a big hitting heavyweight who put him out for 10 minutes with one left hook. Three weeks later Maxim won 9 of 10 rounds against Sheppard in taking a decision. I don't think LaMotta was ever in the ring with a puncher like Sheppard, and the closest, Nardico and Murphy, stopped him. There is Satterfield, but he was still in the 160's in weight when LaMotta faced him, and anyway Maxim also defeated Satterfield.

Bottom line--we are comparing a man who fought some at lightheavy, LaMotta, and was stopped twice there, while fighting mainly against welters and middles, with a man, Maxim, who fought exclusively at lightheavy and heavy, was never stopped at lightheavy, and only once at heavy. There is no doubt that absolutely Maxim had the better chin. What about p4p? More debatable, but I still like Maxim by a small margin.

 

I think Sheppard hit harder than all those guys.

 

No he couldn't ,if you mean that in the accepted sense of the word.

Maxim was not a puncher, he was a very accurate quick handed boxer ,who took a very good shot.

In the fights you kindly showed,Maxim was up against stylistic pic- nics,face first wade in sluggers.

Maxim timed them to perfection ,using their own impetus to increase the effect of his punches ,especially his bread and butter punch,his left jab.

Mills was ringworn, a diminished fighter he had taken bad beatings from Woodcock, Lesnevichx2 and Baksi, Maxim wore him down with swift pinpoint counters.

Murphy waded in firing left hooks ,no defence, Maxim closed Murphy's eye with his jab ,and continued pumping it into the Sailor's face, all night.

Many years ago there was a great article in the Boxing illustrated ,entitled Maxim and the Slugging Sailor.

Maxim replied to critics of his lack of power by saying,"no I'm not a hitter ,but a good boxer can use his tools,just as effectively as a puncher".
Any man of 175lbs can hit hard enough to get your attention,but Maxim was not a puncher, he was an unspectacular ,underestimated technician,who,imo, is criminally underated today.

 

This. Enough said.

 

Allways a pleasure and a privilege to read Bill Heinz . A" maestro of the mitt game."
Thanks for posting this.