BoxRec

Decagon wrote:He lost the title to a light heavyweight journeman before the Joe Louis fight.

thats cause he clowned and didnt try. had he tried he would have defintley won. but in the joe louis fight he tried!



braddock was not a light-h. he was 6'3 195lb

joe louis ruined max baer. baer was physically and mentally fit as ever going into the louis fight. baer knew how good louis was, he took it seriousely like the schmeling fight. but louis was too good and ruined the 25 year old baer. baer fought back hard in this fight, louis was just too much.

Well, Baer couldn't have been totally shot, he beat Farr, who gave Louis trouble, beat Galento who knocked down Louis---he was still capable in my mind to have given any top ten man a helluva time.

..i've written too much on both fighters to go into more details here. (charles wins)


re: the injury to schmeling by joe louis in their second fight was a fracture of the third lumbar vertabra. (this is how the word is spelled under the x-ray of max's spine that i am looking at now. serously) i don't know how high up this one is....maybe it is in his neck. the reports have always said it was to his back, which is where it is mentioned on the same page as the x-ray, under a picture of max lyin ginis hospital bed.

boxbuzz likes to show me up, though he seldom does. (the seldom is my being polite)..so maybe he can count "vertabras" and give us the facts.

Decagon wrote:

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:o come on! baer was 25 years old when he fought louis, of course he was in his prime!

baer was one year removed from the shellacking he gave to carnera. u expect me to believe baer suddenly aged dramtically in one year?? bullshit


baer was inconsistent in his whole career. even in the early 1930s he lost to levinskey, uzcuden, risko.

But by the time he reached Louis, that inconsistency was getting worse. Let's look at his career in terms of periods:

• Before the Campbell death, 1929-1930: Baer wins most of his fights, and most of his fights by knockout. He gets DQed twice, and gets outpointed against Les Kennedy. He already shows signs of the mental weakness that would plague his later career.
• In the year after the Campbell death, 1930-1931:[/b] Wins two out of five bouts. Yeah, you can see some trouble here.
• 1931-1934: Wins 14 straight, including wins over King Levinsky, Max Schmeling, Ernie Schaaf and Primo Carnera.
• 1935: Fought twice, lost twice. Mentally, he was breaking down. No, a fighter can't become physically shot in a year, but fighters can lose it upstairs any time. Look at Tyson, Golota, Bowe, McCall...
• 1936-1941: Uninterested in big-time fighting. Ran a circus side-show, engaged in professional wrestling, acted, sang, lost a bout to Art Oliver that might have been an exhibition, and might have been a pro contest. Went 1-1 with journeyman Tommy Farr, lost twice to Lou Nova.

It's obvious (to me, of course) that in 1935, Baer was experiencing a mental letdown that was pushing him towards the end of his career. Physically in his prime? Probably. In his prime as a competitor? I believe not.

Excellent post, Dec.

naw louis beat the same version of baer that destroyed carner and schmeling, fact is louis was just so much better than baer.


why didnt baer do well post joe louis????? cause joe louis ruined max baer, he was never the same again.