Max Baer - How good could he have been?

If you gave him the mental strength and dedication of, say, Rocky Marciano, he would have been ...scary.

 

I agree with everything that is said here. Although I don't particularly care for Max Baer and feel that his style is horribly crude, I can't deny that his stamina, power and durabilty rated up there with the best. If he had been brought up to have better skills, he could have been one of the greats.

 

Dude how can you not like Max Baer?

The guy was a legend whether he was a good fighter or not.

 

Maxie was great. A name forever,if he hadnt killed Frankie Campbell,who knows!!!!!

 

Very well

 

Watching him against Schmeling and Carnera is nuts. At some points he's almost sleep walking through the fight then it's like a switch spontaneously goes off in his head and he'll go into a frenzy of wind-milling and back-hands. He was literally laughing off flush shots to the chin from both of those guys, like he enjoyed being punched. The guy was ****ing crazy, in a very entertaining way.

 

Maxie had all the tools, power, reach and a good chin. I watched the Schmelling fight and that was the only fight where he set up and caught his opponent off-guard with the right hands. He had a very powerfull right hand which still ranks as one of the most powerfull. The thing is he started getting crazy with the right hand and winging it in subsequent fights starting with the Carnera fight. Carnera didn't respect the right hand for some reason, probably lack of proper trainers advice. However, Braddock and later fighters knew to avoid the right at all costs. If he developed his Jab and Left Hook more I think he would have been much better fighter. As mentioned he couldn't lay a finger on clever fighters like Loughran. Overall, he probably Clowned too much in his prime which is unfortunate - but not unfortunate for Braddock ....lol.