Better All-Around Fighter: Primo Carnera or Riddick Bowe?

The pro Carnera posters have been asked to clarify our positions, and we have done so, though net everybody took what we said on-board.

Perhaps it would be useful for the other side to outline exactly where you stand.

 

That would be refreshing.

 

Mayweather and Gatti were both world level boxers. Mayweather was faster and cleverer fighter with career timing on his side. Floyd was far too clever, he was a defensive fighter, a counter puncher and very advanced in each department. Gatti was a boxer puncher who liked to slug it out, but he could really box too. That is not to say the boxing fundamentals were not equally understood by both Gatti and Floyd. They did things differently and both of them had mastered the craft. I would say they both had all round ability and understood boxing equally well. One is better than the other, one is much better defensively. I would vote mayweather better because he always had more control over what he was doing.

 

I have addressed this in detail on my thread. Basically a fighter is world level or he isn't.

For a guy to win a title by knockout with only "undecided" ability or through being somewhere "in between oafish fraud" and "world level" it must still be a phoney champion otherwise he would be exposed at a level below this. Primo won at least 9 fights by mcveys reconing that were on the level against solid opposition. A fraud or halfway fraud can't do this.

But please, somebody, anybody else, feel free to put that poll up on their own thread.

 

This has been more of a "Is Carnera any good" thread.
Because nobody seems to be talking about Bowe.

 

Potentially, but legacy wise, not so.

 

Read the title of the thread. It has nothing to do with legacy

 

Very lopsided but it matches the real life facts. Probably understates them actually.

 

What this thread shows is that of the many that voted, among the few that actually bothered to debate the subject, there was a 50-50 split down the middle on who had the most credible argment.

It soon resorted into a debate on how credible a champion Primo actually was. If primo even qualified.

Without doubt secretly the Bowe camp must have been surprised how well Carneras career actually stands up among all champions.

many simply thought it was a poll about who would win head to head and voted Bowe the better fighter.

Most voting for Bowe even admitted to not watching or knowing much about Carnera whilst at the same time being adamant that Primo was an imposter champion. As they became educated during the debate there must have been quite some embarrassment among them. There was a lot of these kinds of people determined to believe Primo wasn't even a real boxer.

The response to this was my thread "legit champ or oaf" which put the whole thing into perspective.

A whopping 86% voted overwhelmingly for Primo being an actual real boxer who paid his dues at real level.

 

Given that you only offered two extremes you were pretty much guaranteed the result you desired.
If you had included. Was he a moderately skilled boxer who lacked real power and durability,one who had some assistance from outside influences in his rise to prominence?

I believe that would have won the poll.

This poll is much more honest and therefore much more representative of the forum's opinion.

 

Your scenario question would have won that poll for sure. Worst poll ever in esb and we've seen some bad ones.

 

It was democratic.

A fighter can either beat world level opposition or he cant. A fight is fixed or it isn't. There is no half ways in boxing.

 

It was an obviously loaded poll designed to vindicate and big up a modestly skilled fighter who had little power , real ability,fell apart under pressure, and possessed poor durability ,everyone knows it and all the spin you introduce won't change that. Be happy in your own little world with the couple of acolytes you managed to attract to your cause.