Similar to Dempsey (One of Baer's heroes) Max seemed to excel at chopping large heavies down as opposed to fighting the smaller, more skillful and elusive ones. Dempsey against Gibbons and Tunney, where as he slaughtered Willard, Morris, etc. Baer against Braddock and Uzcudan as opposed to Carner. Would you give any of these recent (mostly B Level) Super Heavies any kind of a chance against Baer, whether because of their sheer size advantage, the power some massive recent heavies carry, styles, etc Jameel McCline Shannon Briggs Nikolay Valuev Lance Whitaker Michael Grant
Baer vs Briggs would be very interesting.......Briggs is a guy who wasn´t only size and punch IMO, he had one thing or another in terms of skills...well, at least more than the others you mentioned...... Baer was tougher and that would a good advantage vs Briggs.....
I always thought McCline wsa the best of that lot (he did beat Grant/Whitaker/and Briggs), and despite being a skillful big man, he was really timid. Which would be bad news against Baer. None of them really have a shot. Briggs was the best puncher, but I don't like anyone who's best chance is to bomb Baer out.
Yeah, after a second thought....I tend to agree actually....that McCline is probably the more skilled and would be the most problematic against Baer perhaps......although his size was never a factor because he didn´t use it actually.......
I always thought McCline was underrated. Embarassed Shannon Briggs, knocked out the decent undefeated Cedric Boswell, decisioned Whitaker. Those wins separate him from the rest of the 90's big men in my opinion. Dude could really bang too. He fried Samuel Peters brain and bounced him all around the ring.
Forgot about Boswell, another good win, also performed well against Byrd. Good hand speed too. He certainly could bang, he turned Grant's legs into jelly with one left hook and Peters was looking pretty durable until McCline knocked him around. Shame he got so intimidated by Wlad, he could have been a real test for him.
Yeah, mentally he was a big fragile. Hot and cold there I suppose, came to fight at times. He seemed to have an iron chin sans that early career knockout when he was super green. See some of the shots he ate against Wlad?
He got up from a nasty knock down as I recall, before the corner stopped it. Yeah, his only stoppage losses was early in his career, late in his career, and Wlad. I remember Brock laying into him with some brutal combinations and not being able to drop him. Brock could hit pretty hard with his left hook.
All of the above..and I'm thinking that if Baer was around today...and if he had a savvy trainer, he could just maybe improve his technique a bit..he would have ktfo of the guys listed here.
Primo Carnera troubled Baer for a little while in the 1st before he starting get decked and manhandled...it would be the same way vs McCline..
Agreed Red.....and I think McCline would fight scared and would be stopped even earlier than Carnera (who had a foot problem in that fight).
I agree with everything in this post:good. He is one of the most physically gifted heavyweights ever.
