Max Baer vs. Oscar Bonavena

Time to do what ? Get up and be knocked down again? Prime Ali murders Bonavena , Ali's sparring partner beat him, dropping him twice along the way.

 

Ali's sparring partner (Ellis) also beat Ali, in the amatures. Bonavena could have survived that final round. Another fighter would have been disqualified for doing what Ali did in that fight.

 

Seconds are critical,..what "mandatory 8 count" did Oscar get in the hubbub? It's possible that he could have shook the cobwebs enough to grab, hold, cover up, like he did so well vs Frazier....who knows? It's okay to ignore the going to the corner rule? Yeah, as long as it's Ali as the beneficiary.

 

In the amateursatsch

 

And what if he had?

"Going into the 15th round, Referee Mark Conn

had Ali ahead 12-2, Judge Joe Eppey had him in front 10-3-1, and Judge Jack Bloom had him leading 8-5-1. The Associated Press had Ali ahead 7-6-1.
Bonavena was knocked down three times in the 15th round, forcing an automatic stoppage under the three-knockdown rule. It was the only time Bonavena was stopped in his 68-fight pro career. "

 

Yeah he was lucky ,being out of the ring for 3 and a half years having less than three rounds ring competition under his belt , taking on the WBA's number one contender,then landing that "lucky left hook".

 

Correct...in reality, some people thought Ringo was ahead in that fight, probably Ali was unsure too, so when Ali hurt him with that left hook, hovered over Oscar to be sure he got a stoppage. Lots of money was riding on Ali winning, and going on next to fight Joe Frazier.

 

Some people probably think Frazier beat Foreman.

 

Ali was lucky? He stopped an opponent in the last round of a bout he was way ahead. It's a win either way. That's not luck.

 

The best Baer beats Oscar up ..

 

Well, excuuuuussssseeeee me!

 

Bonavena wasn't all that bad per se, but he definitely was incredibly inconsistent.
Wins over Peralta, Chuvalo, Mildenberger, post-Ali Folley, and Martin, but then also has double losses to Frazier, as well as single losses to Ali, Patterson, Ellis, Lyle, and Paez (By way of DQ).
From what we know of him, Oscar had no care for training and more often than not went out to eat rather than to train, and his performances against good competition were still pretty impressive for the time. He was competitive with Frazier (1st outing) and Patterson, scored somewhere around a couple to decent number of rounds against Ali (Scores are quite contentious there), and got multiple knockdowns against Mildenberger when they fought.