By Sean McDaniel: When you look at fighters from the distant past in boxing history there are very few that you can really look at and see them as being good enough to be a world champion today. One of those fighters that I believe could be a champion in this day and age is former heavyweight champion Max Baer (67-13, 52 KO’s).
Baer was one of the biggest punchers 1929 to 1941, wracking up a lot of knockout victories over guys like Max Schmeling and Primo Canero. Baer’s problem was that he didn’t have the killer instinct to really go after his opponents at times, and in the later part of his career he was said to not take his training as seriously as he perhaps should have. However, he was blessed with amazing power in both hands and ability to take enormous punishment if he had to in order to win.
At 6’2 1/2″ 220 lbs, Baer would be in the size of the medium sized heavyweights like Alexander Povetkin. However, Baer’s power was more like David Haye in that he hit so hard when he load up with his hand. His power was just amazing to look at, and it’s difficult to imagine many of the top heavyweights in this day and age being able to stand up under Baer’s big shots.
I’d favor Baer over this list of heavyweights:
Wladimir Klitschko
Alexander Povetkin
Alexander Dimitrenko
Kurbat Pulev
Derek Chisora
Tyson Fury
David Price
The two fighters that I believe Baer would have problems with are:
Vitali Klitschko
David Haye
Both of those guys are hard to hit and have very good power.
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