Max Baer vs Harry Wills

Wills was 36 years in that fight .. not really a way to gage a fighter.

 

The fighters are pretty equal in size. Wills fought and defeated better fighters. Wills maintained a greater degree of excellence over a far greater period of time. Based on footage of even an old Wills he seemed the much faster and sharper puncher when he opened up. Had much better defense and better overall game. My guess is Wills beats him pretty much like he did Firpo.

 

Thirty five, and he was 34 when he fouled out to Sharkey to save himself from a beating. Ive said he was past his prime ,but let's be honest ,a lot of his rep is based on him beating a past prime Langford. What's good for the goose etc?

 

I would disagree there.

Wills beat a lot of really good contenders, over a very long period.

If the Ring Magazine rankings had existed throughout his career, I don't think that many lineal champions would have beaten more ranked opponents!

 

This was discussed in another thread not that long ago. Wills had mutliple ages on official documents, and probably didn't know his age, and AFAIK no one has found anything to confirm any of the ages.

He had had a long career, and his best wins were getting to a decade before those fights. I'm not the biggest on Wills either, but credit where credit's due, he had a great career, a bit quantity of quality, but pretty good consistency, especially for someone without a world title (unless you count the colored title).

 

Did Wills beat anyone better than Max Schmeling?

 

He beat Langford time and again when next to no one else did. He beat a lot of other top guys .. not his fault Willard and Dempsey refused to fight him. As far as Sharkey goes he supposedly was getting a beating and then would out in 13 .. again, an older fighter fighting young guys in their prime .. Sharkey's prime was essentially Wills to Schmeling 1 ..

 

You really can't lump all the Wills Vs Langford fights together.

Towards the end Langford was basically a bloated shell, but before that Wills beat Langford when he was prime was only just coming to an end. More a passing of the torch type fights where the new talent displaced the old at the top, and a legit really good win. Likewise his first win over McVea is also a great one, he beat both when they were among the very best in the world. That we're talking fights in 1915 says more about the stage he was at against Uzcuden etc. than whatever his age was IMO

 

I usually agree with you, but you're using a fight where Max barely tried and grinned more than threw punches when Braddock "out mauled him". If you're saying Max may not try, so thus Wills will win, I've said that. However, I can't see how out muscling somebody who isn't trying proves much. Baer against Max was him actually trying and at least trying to impose his will on Schmeling.

 

It will take a lot more evidence before I entertain Baer throwing the Braddock fight, but lets play with the idea!

In that scenario, he never truly lost to Braddock, and indeed toyed with him.

That means that he was very clearly the best fighter in the world when Louis fought him.

In that scenario, we almost have Tokyo Baer!

Did he graciously permit the opponent to win or not?

Farr and Nova obviously go up a lot in that scenario!