If Max Baer had trained for the bout against Braddock...

[APerno]

if Max Bear properly trained for a fight he wouldn't recognize himself in the mirror.

[Kalan]

Baer looked like he trained hard for Braddock... He was in good physical condition anyway... I attribute Baer's losses to his lack of all around boxing skills and defensive cleverness rather than his physical conditioning.

[APerno]

You know what Kalan, I agree; I didn't mean conditioning; the word 'train' can have several meanings. I was trying to express his lack of mental preparation/discipline/focus. Had he just spent more time learning to throw his punches correctly and developing a defense. i.e. learned how to box, as one of the earlier posts has Dempsey saying, 'he would have beaten us all.'

From what little footage I have seen of him, he was no combination puncher, sometimes looking as though he was lunging when he threw punches. IMO all the great boxers would have schooled him, e.g. Holmes. Ali, Tunney, maybe even Corbett, that's why a 'not so great Braddock was able to win a close UD.

[Kalan]

I don't agree that Baer would ever have been great -- even if he applied all his mental strength to Boxing... If you have a knack for a sport you love it... You possess natural instincts and cleverness other athletes in that sport lack.

Nobody has to make you train hard... You show up on your own like Tunney did... Like Mayweather did... Like Sanchez did... Like Pep did... Like Lomachenko does... Like Mikey Garcia does... Like Bivol does... Like Joshua does... Like Crawford does

[Jmangho]

You know what Kalan, I agree; I didn't mean conditioning; the word 'train' can have several meanings. I was trying to express his lack of mental preparation/discipline/focus. Had he just spent more time learning to throw his punches correctly and developing a defense. i.e. learned how to box, as one of the earlier posts has Dempsey saying, 'he would have beaten us all.'

From what little footage I have seen of him, he was no combination puncher, sometimes looking as though he was lunging when he threw punches. IMO all the great boxers would have schooled him, e.g. Holmes. Ali, Tunney, maybe even Corbett, that's why a 'not so great Braddock was able to win a close UD.

I disagree that Braddock was 'not so great, as you put it.

Clearly he was a very good boxer, and was able to take down the much more powerful Max Baer, and did very well in early rounds against Joe Louis, while having an injury (in BOTH fights) and not having boxed for 2 years against Louis.

I feel like people underrate him pretty badly and I DO believe he is one of the greats.

Maybe not in the top 10, but definitely in the top 25 for me, even early in his career, he had incredible skill, the only reason he hadn't done as well as people might have thought is due to constant injuries. You can see in some of his earlier fights that he possessed pretty decent speed and skill.

[Kalan]

You know what Kalan, I agree; I didn't mean conditioning; the word 'train' can have several meanings. I was trying to express his lack of mental preparation/discipline/focus. Had he just spent more time learning to throw his punches correctly and developing a defense. i.e. learned how to box, as one of the earlier posts has Dempsey saying, 'he would have beaten us all.'

From what little footage I have seen of him, he was no combination puncher, sometimes looking as though he was lunging when he threw punches. IMO all the great boxers would have schooled him, e.g. Holmes. Ali, Tunney, maybe even Corbett, that's why a 'not so great Braddock was able to win a close UD.

I disagree that Braddock was 'not so great, as you put it.

Clearly he was a very good boxer, and was able to take down the much more powerful Max Baer, and did very well in early rounds against Joe Louis, while having an injury (in BOTH fights) and not having boxed for 2 years against Louis.

I feel like people underrate him pretty badly and I DO believe he is one of the greats.

Maybe not in the top 10, but definitely in the top 25 for me, even early in his career, he had incredible skill, the only reason he hadn't done as well as people might have thought is due to constant injuries. You can see in some of his earlier fights that he possessed pretty decent speed and skill.

Braddock was a skilled fighter... Not one of the greats, but a true professional boxer who paid attention to the craft...

He wasn't like Baer who didn't give a damn about the sweet science... Baer as a pure brawler.... The video shows Braddock decking Louis with a beautiful, short right counter... But Braddock wasn't able to blunt Louis's offense and stop the punishment... He wasn't able to land consistently either... He wasn't as good as Billy Conn.

[Caractacus]

in Angelo Dundee's book he relates a story he had heard about the Baer Braddock fight.
"Dumb"Dan Morgan brought to ring-side with him a perxoide blonde( a code word for hooker back then)
and her job was to get the attention of Max Baer when he was fighting and in his corner,
by calling out to him spreading her legs and lifting her skirt up and stuff like that to distract him from what was going on in the ring.
sounds like Dumb Dan Morgan was working on behalf of the Braddock team to me.
( was that also shown in the movie ?)

[Caractacus]

Also one of Max Baer's trainers Mike Cantwell jumped ship and had joined the Braddock camp.
This surely must have mentally and emotionally affect someone like Max Baer especially.
check this article out.

http://boxing.com/no_fairy_tale_the_cin ... rince.html

[Kalan]

Those are real cool excuses.... However Baer didn't have any problems with his metacarpals and hands in the first 3 rounds.... And he was roundly out-boxed by Braddock -- as even Buddy Baer wrote in his book.

[Caractacus]

"The Magnificent Screwball"

they use to call him (Max Baer)

[APerno]

Those are real cool excuses.... However Baer didn't have any problems with his metacarpals and hands in the first 3 rounds.... And he was roundly out-boxed by Braddock -- as even Buddy Baer wrote in his book.

I read the Buddy Bear excerpt as well and then rewatched the fight - there might be something in the left hand thing, by the late rounds he just paws with it and seem uncertain about letting it go. (What do you think?) I never saw him look at his left hand in the fourth round. - On the other hand (literally) he continues throwing hard right hands right up to the end; with his right hand I couldn't see any change in behavior. - You are correct he does get out boxed in the first three; it looks like he is giving the rounds away, believing he could turn it around any time he liked. He couldn't.

[Caractacus]

Those are real cool excuses.... However Baer didn't have any problems with his metacarpals and hands in the first 3 rounds.... And he was roundly out-boxed by Braddock -- as even Buddy Baer wrote in his book.

Was that the book that was published in South Africa using a previusly unpublished manuscript of his life that he had written ?
It had an unuasual title if I re-call,something like
"Five-Foot-18 inches "