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

Okay .In your honest opinion did he have marvellous defence?
You don't need me to trot out all the negative stuff Louis,Gains ,See said about him do you?

 

Impelletiere was outboxing Carnera until he ran out of gas.Impelletiere was a novice.
Here is Primo with his dance partner for two fixes.Young Stribling.

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How has this thread even taken up this much space is beyond me!.
Carnera cant shine Bowes shoes. Come on now folks let's end this charade already and move on.

 

OK, I am not knocking Primo. Tremendous size, guts, good stamina, good jab and became a competent fighter for sure as time went on. What a heart. I just do feel his career was more managed than most and he was a big class below a prime Bowe as a fighter.

 

prime bowe is likely going to beat Cernera h2h, but in view of Bowe being unable to maintain that prime for long at all, I would take Carnera to win the rematch and best of 3.

better all round, bowe again when prime had a few more strings..

 

How do you explain Primo's incredible built?
He did have acromegaly possibly, and lifted weights somewhat. But still, unbelievable natural size and built.

Makes Ken Norton look average.

 

his size also held him back

 

Acromegaly. You can see it in his face and teeth. Also the lifting. Wasn't he a strongman?
He was a Freak of nature for sure because he wasn't one of those tall lanky types with gigantism he was also incredibly thick and muscular. He must have had testosterone levels rivaling his obvious growth hormone overproduction.
I'm sure he could have been a better grappler/wrestler than a boxer.


From what I read he wasn't really a vicious combative guy either which is to some extent a necessary personality trait to be a great fighter especially in the HW division.

 

I think that’s unlikely. If he had acromegaly, he would’ve put on weight throughout his career and probably not been able to go 15 rounds. There’s an off chance that he had a tumor as teenager that burned out in adulthood, but still slim.

 

You are more reserved in your description than I.
I would describe them as completely ****ing clueless.

 

Well he had something. Look at his teeth, definitely looks GH related. His physical problems also started pretty early, correct me if I'm wrong but didn't he need a cane in his 40s or early50s ?
He was not "just" unusually big and strong imo,he definitely had some degree of abnormality in his pituitary.
That gap tooth thing he had going on is a strong indicator.
But I'm not a doctor what do I know.

 

The teeth...he grew up in Italy. Kind of the norm for there, especially back then.

I’ve never heard him speak. If he had an unreasonably deep voice, that could mean he had a pituitary problem.

 

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Not acromegaly.