Dude killed two men basically. i watched the fight when he fought max schmeling his power looked deadly. p4p were would you guys rate his power.
Max Bear in action: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTJlr6xVxKc Yes, Bear killed both Treadwell and Arnie Huguenard, but Max Baer killed Frankie Campbell! Tony Galento also fought BOTH Max Bear AND Max Baer: www.examiner.com/article/boxing-s-funniest-quotes Two Ton left no doubt whatsoever that Max Baer was a much, MUCH harder puncher than Max Bear.
I love the story about how he killed Ernie Schaaf. They fought twice, Schaaf won the first fight by clear decision in 1930. They fought again in mid 1932 and Baer won a majority decision. At the end of the 10th round Baer knocked Schaaf flat on his face and Schaaf was saved by the bell... he was out of it for about 3 minutes. Schaaf fought Unknown Winston in his next two fights (LSD10 and KO6). He fought Stanley Poreda and stopped him in the 6th round. In his 4th fight after the Baer rematch he took on Primo Carnera (LKOby13) in early 1933. He died from injuries sustained in his fight with Carnera, 4 days after the fight... 5 1/2 months after his rematch with Baer. Did Baer have something to do with Schaafs death? Maybe, maybe not. Frankie Campbell died from injuries sustained in his fight with Baer, no doubt.
The autopsy was pretty conclusive that brain swelling from influenza [still a real killer in those days] meant he had no business entering the ring with Primo. Johnny Buckley and Navy buddy Sharkey weren't crazy about the idea of Ernie stepping in the ring with Carnera, even though their managerial contract with Schaaf would end that month. His mother Lucy wasn't too cool with the idea either, and Ernie does look like hell in the weigh-in photograph. Max also knew he bore no culpability for Schaaf's death. The personality changes evident in Benny Paret after Gene Fullmer just weren't present after Maxie-Schaaf II. Influenza and sickbed induced lack of training were the culprits here. Ernie needed more time to recover, then regain fighting trim.
You might want to check the footage of him laying out a provocateuring King Levinski in their exhibition. It was a far more dangerous left than Ingo's, and most of the shots he made Louis wince with were hooks.
Whenever I watch a film of Baer in the ring I want to kick his trainer for not making Max develop a good jab and hook to compliment his powerful right. Imagine baer with a good snapping jab that set up that right or a short powerful left hook instead of the "swing" that Houdini accurately called it. Max had all the physical qualities for greatness (though not the psychological ones). If only he fully developed them.
He was exchanging good ones with Schmeling late in Ring's 1933 FOTY. No, it was never going to be a bread and butter winner for him, as he simply didn't have the requisite speed to allow that. Nor is there footage of Max deploying his jab on the move like Shavers did against Henry Clark in Paris. It's not what people wanted or expected to see from sluggers like them, and they wouldn't have been lauded for it. [It did take a very long time for Shavers-Clark I to be uploaded on youtube, and it still has less than 350 views after nearly 15 months. But it's actually not a bad fight, with virtually no clinching, and little time spent on the ropes covering up by either, as Shavers purposely kept it in mid-ring. Earnie came into it with a bruised right hand, knowing he'd have to win with his long left, forcing him to stick and move to an early insurmountable lead behind his jab before tiring, but also hampering Clark with a swollen then bloody eye from round four on, the first time Henry had ever been marked in a bout. This one shows the ring smarts and generalship Shavers had, and understanding of his limitations as a front runner, but what fans wanted and expected is what Earnie did in their Yankee Stadium rematch on the Ali-Norton III under-card with his right hand now fully healed.] Tommy Loughran did provide him much valuable tutelage after taking Maxie to school in February 1931, and the Larruper produced six of the seven most noteworthy decision wins of his career over the following two years [Farr II coming in 1938], building up 20 round stamina in the process which sets him apart from later sluggers like Foreman and Shavers. His jab was certainly an element of some of those wins, as Loughran taught him not to telegraph, and finally make some use of his 81 inch reach against shorter armed opponents while moving up the ranks of contention. [I think he definitely would have used it to key a rematch decision win over Uzcudun, having learned he could not take the Basque Woodchopper down or out.] In the outdoor July heat of Reno, Max took 14 of the 20 rounds under the sun for the movie cameras from the Kingfish, showing Max's progress from Paulino in Reno the previous year and date.
Oh man, I can't BARE:silly the though of comparing the two just yet. [Cue more agonized groans. These are dark, silly days for me. Haven't the concentration of mental energy to get seriously analytical about anything right now.]
