BoxRec

Max Baer "The Livermore Larruper" was not a great champion but he was a good brawler.

Baer rarely held his hands up to protect himself and he always threw roundhouses, as evident in the title match against Canera.

He was great enough to be champion, while having no defense at all, as he never seemed to block himself and had his gloves at his sides rather than trying to block the punches.

It's to bad this fighter with a record of 70-11 is rarely mentioned in history today...evidentially his son got all the attention.

Max Baer is a classic "if only" fighter. If only he had trained, if only he had learned just the rudiments of boxing, if only his heart was really in it...etc...he could have been one of the greats. the rap he gets for being afraid of Louis in their fight is a little unfair. maxie's hands were shot then and he knew they wouldn't hold up and a punch was all he had...except a great chin. the knockdown by Louis was the first he ever suffered, and he waved at the crowd to acknowledge that. Plus, the Louis he fought that night was the perfect heavyweight...tremendous power and hand speed, an accuracy that hasn't been matched to this day, and much quicker on his feet than later fights show. Back to Max...he killed a fighter early in his career,and that had an affect on him, and he gave Ernie Schaaf the beating that was the real cause for Schaaf's getting killed in his fight with Carnera. Max liked people,was a friendly good natured man who liked to clown, and those deaths affected him. even without them he was happier on the dance floor than in the ring.

some thoughts on Max from the past....