Reznick (producer of some of the best vids on Youtube) has produced this video on Max Baer. He's obviously a wild puncher but I was struck by the small snippet of bag work at the beginning where he's clearly practicing or demonstrating the darker aspects of boxing. The elbows, headbutts and use of the shoulder the really savvy guys try to get away with when the ref is on the blind side of the action.
Brutal! Baer was such a vicious striker, the New York Times called him the "larruping thumper from Livermore". Sadly, the movie Cinderella Man painted Baer in a pretty negative light as a cold would-be thug, but in reality, he was an emotionally scarred fighter who was especially traumatized by the deaths associated with him. Fun fact about Max Baer? He's the dad of the actor who played "Jethro" on The Beverly Hillbillies, Max Baer Jr. File:Max Baer, Jr. 1962.JPG - Wikipedia
Some of the old candid reels of Baer are great. How could you not like this kind of boxer. If you've seen Cindarella Man it's really hard to believe this is the guy they made into a villain for Russell Crowe's James Braddock. Hollywood.. "Lets fill the bases, not the jails".
