How to get the max of two values in MySQL?

You can use GREATEST function with not nullable fields.
If one of this values (or both) can be NULL, don't use it (result can be NULL).

select 
    if(
        fieldA is NULL, 
        if(fieldB is NULL, NULL, fieldB), /* second NULL is default value */
        if(fieldB is NULL, field A, GREATEST(fieldA, fieldB))
    ) as maxValue

You can change NULL to your preferred default value (if both values is NULL).