Max Baer - How good could he have been?

A prime Ali and (the defensive skills of) Jimmy Young
would both have baffled Baer. Larry Holmes would have
jabbed Baer silly.

Baer might have done well against George Chuvalo, Mac Foster,
and Oscar Bonavena.


Grebfan9
www.firstroundboxing.com

 

Max Baer claimed that he broke both his hands going into the fourth round of the Braddock fight and that he was punching with broken hands from there on in and so couldnt finish Braddock.

While the exact truth is imposible to establish the post fight medical report showed that Baer broke his right and chipped his left at some point in the fight between rounds 1 and 15.

Those are the facts make what you will of them.

 

Once Baer had killed a man....and maybe responsible for another one's death, the ability to truly throw effective destructive punches was gone.

Baer probably could have been honed into a George Foreman type fighter carrying dynamite in both hands.

Instead, he remained kinda wild, clowning, and throwing punches that he hoped wouldn't never seriously injure anyone again.

 

If Max ever buckled down to his boxing lessons he could've been an ATG. Unfortunately he wasn't a boxer with a fighter's mentality. If he had the desire and better skills we're talking top 5 but he didn't. Just one of those things I guess.

 

If Max had been dedicated to his craft I think it a strong likelihood he'd be a top 15 ATHeavy, at least a half-chance top 10.

 

Baers raw physical tools are frightning.

He wasnt just durable enough to take the punches of other heavyweights he was su durable that he could laugh and clown while they slugged him on the chin. The kind of punches that would knock some heavyweights into next week and have most covering up.

His power wassuch that durable heavyweights that most guys couldnt put a dent in just malfunctioned when he hit them with a telegraphed shot.

 

14 k plus posts in three years, roughly 4500 per year or ~ 380 post a month...........if you would face real life instead of wasting it behind a comp screen those blinders you are wearing might wear off...or not.

 

The critcism has been made before and it is partly fair.

You see certain things as obvious and that is the problem. You dont look beyond the obvious.

Understanding historic boxers is a tall undertaking. It takes a lot of research, and as you learn more your views will always change in ways you dont expect.

Am I impressed with what I see of Baer on film?

No, but I have looked further and got a clearer idea of what is happening.

 

There's much good to be said of Max Baer, however, Joe Louis, especially on that night, would have always made him look tame.

 

As for Killer instinct, I know he killed one man in the ring, perhaps two...So maybe he was a tad shy of making it three.
Baer was Jewish, and took it out on Schmelling as a German...even though Schmelling never was a Nazi....Baer I guess didn't know Schmelling's manager was Jewish.

 

Baer wasn't Jewish. He wore the Star of David on his trunks to attract Jewish fans.

 

Janitor...

Its hard to POLISH an old, settled fighter. get over your self.

 

Part Lithuanian I believe.. The Larruper was a very clumby, typically 30's tragic style. Buddy Baer was not far behind.

 

Max was half Jewish from his paternal line. Max's grandfather was an Alsatian Jew from France. Grandmother Frances "Fanny" Fischl was a Jewess from Prague in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).

Cat
www.maxbaer.org

 

Baer was instructed by his trainers to rest through the middle rounds. 11 knockdowns is "hardly a slaughter" ?? Get outta here !

Cat
www.maxbaer.org