Max Baer vs David Tua - who would have won?

After watching Byrd hurting Tua in his belly,I would imaginge Baer could fold him up.

 

Well lets start with what you have listed.

Baer beat Schmeling and Carnera back to back and the y were probably the two best heavyweights around at the time. On the basis of that he was prety unambiguously the best heavyweight on the planet when he took up the title in 1934. In his three previous fights he had wins over Schaff and Levinsky who were both elite level contenders at the time. This is the kind of winning streak that Tua never put together.

If we are going to criticise him because most of these guys were smal/medium heavies then we also have to acknowledge that he won the title from the biggest lineal champion in history in Primo Carnera. We would also have to criticise Tua because he never defeated an elite level heavyweight the size of Carnera.

To give things a little perspective here are the rankings over the two year period when Baer won the title. People he beat over that period are highlighted in

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. People he lost to or beat in a diferent period are highlighted in

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1931

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, Champion

1. Jack Sharkey
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5. Mickey Walker
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7. Young Stribling
8. Stanley Poreda
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1932 Jack Sharkey, Champion

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3. Stanley Poreda
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8. Walter Neusel
9. Larry Gains
10. Unknown Winston

1933

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, Champion

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5. Don McCorkindale
6. Patsy Perroni
7. Walter Neusel
8. Charley Massare
9. Steve Hamas
10. Lee Ramage

1934

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, Champion

1. Steve Hamas
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3. Art Lasky
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6. Patsy Perroni
7. Jack Petersen
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10. Lee Ramage

After loosing the title and loosing to Louis, Baer went on a second winning streak. He regained the status of #1 contender by avenging his loss to Tommy Farr. He then lost it due to his defeat at the hands of Lou Nova but regained the #1 spot by beating Tony Gallento and Pat Comiskey. Nova then put him out of business for good.

 

After loosing the title and loosing to Louis, Baer went on a second winning streak. He regained the status of #1 contender by avenging his loss to Tommy Farr. He then lost it due to his defeat at the hands of Lou Nova but regained the #1 spot by beating Tony Gallento and Pat Comiskey. Nova then put him out of business for good.





1937

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, Champion

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3. Nathan Mann
4. Alberto Santiago Lovell
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6. Jimmy Adamick
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8. Bob Pastor
9. Roscoe Toles
10. Andre Lenglet

1938

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, Champion

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3. Bob Pastor
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5. Maxie Rosenbloom
6. Len Harvey
7. Clarence (Red) Burman
8. Roscoe Toles
9. Gus Dorazio
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1939

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, Champion

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2. Bob Pastor
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6. Johnny Paychek
7. Red Burman
8. Gunnar Barlund
9. Roscoe Toles
10. Lee Savold

1940

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, Champion

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2. Arturo Godoy
3. Red Burman
4. Abe Simon
5. Buddy Walker
6. Buddy Baer
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8. Lee Savold
9. Otis Thomas
10. Lem Franklin

In summary, Max Baer might be a disapointment but he still has an impresive body of work.

 

I'll pick Tua.. tua's two hand power and chin vs max baer's right hand, basically.

 

Tua would destroy Baer, Max doesnt have the smarts to keep away from The Tuaman

 

Tua dosn't have the smarts to stay away from Baer either.

At least Baer has a height and reach advantage, and can back up if it suits him.

 

The more I look into Max Baer's career, the more impressed I am. Over a several year period he was a force, Max Schmeling and Primo Carnera are two lineal champions and Baer beat both of them.

Tough matchup here though. Tua at his best was something special with a great chin, left hook, and stamina. I don't see Baer stopping him. At the same time, very few heavyweights in history would have a good chance of stopping Baer and I'm not too confident that Tua is one of them. After seeing what Louis had to do to him to end the fight, I don't see Tuaman finishing him off. So it'll go to the scorecards, and I see Baer being able to pull off the close decision as Tua could go into lapses of inactivity even at his best.

An interesting aspect here though that has already been mentioned is body punching. Tua was weak to the body as Byrd showed, and would Baer perhaps take advantage of that?

 

Tua by (way of) brutal KO.

 

That's why tua has the smarts to not stay away from Baer.
And Baer won't really be able to keep him off for long if at all.
Baer is no Ibeabuchi and even Ibeabuchi boxed Tua for periods and did not win the fight really.

 

Despite his ranking thruout his career... he did run hot and cold... he lost fights to men who weren't top fighters, sometimes by stoppage. Sure, he avenged some of the losses... that doesn't erase the loss. He never avenged the loss to Larry Gaines (LKOby2) btw. Yes, he did have wins over Sharkey, Hamas, and Uzcudun though... he also fought them and didn't win.

I like Schmeling as a fighter and a person, I just don't think he was durable enough to deal with a two fist attack from Tua. I see Tua winning by brutal KO.

 

You hold the Larry Gains loss against him? Wow ... that´s reaching. You must be very desperate. He took Louis, p4p one of the best punchers and finishers, for 12 rounds and Baer´s for 11 but he isn´t the most durable .. yeah right.

This chin talk is so exagerated all the time.

Schmeling would dismantle Tua methodically, stay away from his left hook, work the body and win a clear decision. To beat Schmeling you need more than power and a chin.