MB-Portrait

Max Baer. 1 of 5 Portfolio of 5 Portraits @ $1,200. 8 3/4” x 11 3/4”. Archival Pigment Print on Hahnemuhle Etching Paper. Edition size of 20 + 3 A/P




Max Baer

Mad Cap Maxie

Listen to Max Baer’s story

Nicknamed “Mad Cap Maxie”, “The Man WithThe Million Dollar Body”
and “The Magnificent Screwball” Max Baer has been called the most colorful character in boxing. Never without a smile, always kidding around and mugging for the cameras, he was also a devastating puncher and would soon become The Heavyweight Champion of the World. As tough as he was Baer sobbed uncontrollably after boxer Frankie Campbell died as a result of a beating he took in their fight. Baer visited Campbell’s widow and told her he was sorry and was considering giving up boxing. Responding to him she said “It could have been you, Max.” With her encouragement Baer continued fighting and gave her either all or part of his next several purses. Tough man, soft heart.NEWPAPER-Marco's-Edit-copy-2---Version-2-(1)-copy-LR

Max Baer & Myrna Loy. Some newspaper articles have been written and inserted by Gary Michaels. 54 1/2” x 36 3/4”. Pigment Print on canvas.  Edition size of  6 + 1 A/P @ $2,700.




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Max Baer and Wonder Man. 48 1/4” x 38”. Pigment Print on canvas. Edition size of  6 + 1 A/P @ $2,700.




Significant in Baer’s career was his June 1933 fight with Hitler’s favorite fighter and former Heavyweight Champion, Max Schmelling. The fight took place in front of 60,000 people in Yankee Stadium and Baer, wearing The Star of David on his trunks, soundly defeated Schmelling with a one sided 10th round TKO victory. Writer Westbrook Pegler wrote “That wasn’t a defeat, that was a disaster.” Glamorous film star Greta Garbo considered Baer’s defeat of Schmelling to be “a mini victory” over German fascism and invited him to visit her while she filmed “Queen Christina” in Hollywood. The visit led to a romance that lasted until Baer had to return to New York to train for his next fight against the giant, Heavyweight World Champion, Primo Carnera. At the weigh in for the title fight a smiling Baer nonchalantly picked hairs off the champions chest while chanting “She loves me, she loves me not.” Baer battered Carnera from ring post to ring post dropping him 11 times. On one of the knockdowns Carnera grabbed Baer taking him to the canvas with him to which Baer replied “ last one up is a sissy.” In the 11th round outclassed, humiliated and knowing that he was in for a worse beating Carnera asked the referee to stop the fight. Max Baer was now the Heavyweight Champion of the World, the toughest man on the planet.

Baer was a generous man often taking part of his purses and giving out silver dollars, without fanfare or publicity, to the homeless on skid row. He went on to act in movies, appear on television and lead a storied life until his untimely death at 50. His last words were “Oh God, here I go.”