Interesting questions: Who had the better right hand, Max Baer or Marciano?

[lightsout_finit]

Hard to say.........

Baers right hand was lethal.....

One thing too note Marciano was crude and you can see his shots coming. Guys like that seem less powerfull then they are when you watch footage....

[Obama]

This poll should not be close.

[young_robbed]

I pick Baer. Even if he wasn't as good as Marciano he was definitely a harder puncher with the right hand. He had more 1 punch knockout power. Rocky had to wear guys out first.

[Sugarj]

No I meant about Marciano, why is it so undisputed that his rigt is ore powerful than Marciano

A few reasons really.....in no particular order:

1) When I watch fight films of Baer I wince at the reaction of opponents to his right hand landing. It seems to be like being hit by a freight train. More so than Marciano, who lets face it was still a fearful right hand puncher.

2) The contribution of his punches to the deaths of Campbell and Schaff.

3) His sheer size and weight advantage over Marciano.

4) The opinions of common opponents comparing Baer's right with Louis's. It was common knowledge that Baer was the harder right hand puncher of those two.......and I'd shade Louis's right hand power over Marciano's by a whisker.

5) In all my years of following the sport I've never heard a well known boxing historian argue that Marciano hit harder than Baer with the right.

Marciano was a superb right hand puncher, I just rate Baer higher......although as a champion and legend Marciano wins this by a country mile.

[Jim Jeffries]

Bit of a misleading article title by ESPN

The hardest hitters in heavyweight history

that lists Marciano above Baer. But under Louis, who they have at #3 (behind Tyson and Liston,) the author says this

Louis was not a great one-punch banger -- his famous 13th-round knockout win over Billy Conn came from a series of blows, for instance -- but in his prime he was a machine of destruction. Once Louis had a man hurt, he did not let him get away. He was what old-timers would call a great finisher.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ory?id=3168817

As for my take: Marciano was the second shortest HW champ ever, but his greatest disadvantage was his reach IMO, at 67 inches, half a foot less than even 5'7" Tommy Burns'. Rocky's hand speed wasn't phenomenal, but what he had was toughness and ferocity. And he would wail on the guard and body of an opponent all night, (with the occasional glancing head shot here and there,) if that's what it took to finally get a solid shot on their jaw.

I've read accounts from people saying that it hurt everywhere he hit you, even on the guard and his overhand right, the infamous "Suzie Q," could put you to sleep with one shot if your concentration lapsed for one second. It's just that given his reach, lack of hand speed and tendency to telegraph it, he usually had to throw it a ton against better fighters before it found it's mark.