MADCAP MAXIE
MAX BAER had this routine where he stood sideways to the camera, stuck his left thumb in his mouth, and blew, his belly expanding as if he was a human balloon. Then he leaned back and assumed the swayback stance of a bareknuckle boxer of yore, all the while giving the camera cheeky side-eye.
Sure it was shtick, but possibly closer to how Baer felt about his profession than any of the savage knockouts that made him a major player in the heavyweight division during the 1930s—and for a brief period champion of the world.
In the ring “Madcap Maxie” was a dangerous goofball, a jester with a punch that could knock you into next week. From “Two Ton” Tony Galento and “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom to Ray “Windmill” White and Randall “Tex” Cobb boxing has always welcomed screwballs that could fight. Baer is foremost among them.
He was a handsome hunk of a man, 6-foot-2½-inches of swoon-worthy muscle and bone. As the story goes, the source of his impressive physique was swinging an axe next to his dad at a meatpacking plant or as Max described it, “Up to my knees in gore.”
Baer was a boisterous fun-loving charmer with a quick wit and self-deprecating sense of humour. He had a mop of curly back hair and a smile that could melt the
