Would Max Baer be Undisputed Heavyweight Champ today?

That's it. That is what Wilder is competing against with Baer.

Again, you can leave exhibition fights off.

And Wilder's already destroyed guys better than freaking Primo Carnera and Tony Galento, for God's sake.

Schmeling is the bar.

We'll see. Wilder's career isn't over. Wilder has already come within one second of beating that in 2018.

Fury's a lot harder to beat than Max.

 

Oh please. Wilder has never quit in a fight. How much heart did Baer show against Jim Braddock? How much heart did Baer show against Joe Louis?

Laughing, joking, blowing kisses and pretending you don't care when you are losing ... fouling out on multiple occasions ... or simply taking a knee because you say you aren't being paid enough to get knocked out ... are all forms of quitting. And that's what Baer was actually a "master" at doing.

 

Really, when did that happen?

 

Whether we compare them based on opponents who were rated on fight night, or opponents who were rated at some point, Baer had a substantial lead.

If you want to talk about men who were rated at some point, Baer's list would be enormous!

I get it that Wilder is still active, but I have to rate him based on where he is today.

If he proves me wrong, I will be the first to congratulate him, but I don't think that time is on his side.

 

I think that we are in a strong era at the moment.

However it is strong based on consistent quality across the top five.

The best men around are still beatable.

 

As much as Wilder did when he got knocked out by not power punching Fury and then found 1000 excuses after the loss.

Baer kept going at Louis despite eating tons of power shots. Sure, he quit but not without trying. It's not as embarrasing as Wilder's loss to Fury. Baer also took a lot of damage in two Nova fights and in many others you can watch on YT.

We all know that Baer didn't try to win Braddock fight for whatever reason.

 

The second fight between Fury and Wilder, is one that I remember fondly, despite not having watched it live.

That weekend I ran a ninety mile ultramarathon in Snowdonia, so I couldn't watch the fight.

It took place the weekend after Storm Denis, and it turned into an absolute massacre.

There were rivers of water running along the footpaths, and a quarter of the field dropped at the first checkpoint, which was sixteen miles in, an the final attrition rate was over 50%.

I ended up running with two army officers, and when the sun was coming up in the morning, we were all suffering from early hypothermia symptoms.

We found a toilet block in a town, with a hand activated hand dryer, and managed to warm ourselves up.

It turned out that we were all boxing fans, and we decided to stop and get a signal, to find out how the fight ended.

When we found out that Fury had won, we agreed that there was no excuse for not finishing the race, and we all did.

 

By the way, I don't think Baer would become undisputed HW champion today. He was way too inconsistent and I think Fury has the right style to beat him. I'd back him up against Baer though.

 

Imagine the press conference though.

That would be worth the pay per view!

 

In terms of legacy, not entirely, but Wilder would have more credibility in these discussions if he was able to establish himself as the best HW for a period of time. I don't even care if he's lineal or unified. Wilder just doesn't have much going for him to be considered an all time great.

I made my case for the inclusion of the so called "exhibition" title bout. You have made no case for it's exclusion, especially concerning the topic at hand.

I would disagree. Wilder has more in common than Comiskey than any of these guys or Baer himself. Largely manufactured record against journeyman types, lots of knockouts, and utterly destroyed by an assumed to be washed up big name in a cherry pick gone wrong.

Ehhhh.... *thumbs up* Wilder is 35 years old, has not fought in going on a year, and knocking Fury down in a highly disputed draw in a round he otherwise lost is his legacy. Maybe he should have took that Povetkin fight after all...

 

Here's the thing, why I don't write Baer off.

The two greatest equalizers in the HW division is power and durability. Fury doesn't have those. Baer does.

 

True, I don't think he's out of depth here. I just think that Fury is good enough to beat him. Baer is unorthodox fighter though, which could help him in contrast to much better technician like Wladimir.

 

Someone like Baer that knows how to throw caution to the wind and not care about technique and just look to optimize and capitalize on his gifts in the power and durability would certainly have a better chance of beating fiery then a considerably aged technician.

 

I think Ortiz is better than Galento, but Galento isn't even Baer's 5th best win...