Poll: How good was Primo Carnera?

I love that term.

 

That is the opinion of somebody who knew that he might have to face Carnera one day.

 

This is the opinion of someone who actually did face him."he had nothing,they were looking at his size, not his talent . " Joe Louis.
Game, set, and decidedly match!

 

Schmeling was an awesome boxer but seems like a shitty pundit.

 

I would rather face the slow handed Primo than any heavyweight with even semi quick hands.

 

Almost any defense? He couldn`t penetrate Louis`s defense at all, he never faced Ali`s reflexes, Frazier`s bobbing and weaving or Walcott or Charles, all of those would have made Primo look like the ambling alp that he was.

 

Come now, Louis said as much about several good opponents. We are talking Joe Louis here, who was around who had that much more to offer him than Primo, Sharkey and Baer? Overall, Primo fared no worse than Max Baer or Sharkey against Joe Louis.

Here is what Louis had to say about Baer: “He couldn't hit as hard as I thought he could " "for a while I think he tried to throw the fight. He just wasn't right. I don't know what happened to him that night. I felt he wasn't the fighter I thought he should have been"

Joe Louis on jimmy Braddock - "I could have finished him anytime after the first round" .


It amuses me that in finding a negetive quote about Carnera from Joe Louis you must have read the part where Louis said Primo had a “pretty decent jab” and found it hard to get under his guard.

"he (Carnera) had a pretty decent Jab. He pushed with his right and he was awkward. Mostly he tried to scare me with his weight. It was hard to get under his guard at first, but chappie told me to pace myself and the openings would come" -Joe Louis.

In fact, beating Primo gave Joe the confidence that he could beat any heavyweight. Which must be rather complementary wouldn’t you think?

"(Because)he never hurt me once, I felt ready for any heavyweight in the world - jimmy Braddock, Max Baer, anybody.“ - Joe Louis.

 

I don’t think that would be true. Primo is difficult and awkward, fit, big, strong ....and world class. You would have to be world class just to compete. Even then you could be in a world of trouble. Walter Neusel certainly was and he was a very good contender. The only other stoppage on Neusels record was against Max Schmeling and it took Max 4 more rounds than it took Carnera to do it. Walter has already beat Laughran, Larry Gains and was coming off great wins against Jack Peterson. Walter also beat Schmeling in a rematch after losing to Carnera.

Here is a report of Carnera v Neusel.


“Early in the first round Neusel landed a barrage of combination punches to Carneras head and shook the massive Italian who pawed futilely and pawed ineffectively at his opponent. As the round wore on, however, Primo regained composure and began pummelling Neusel with left and rights to the head and body in what was to become a rout.

The second round was even for the first minute. Neusel started fast, but soon began missing as Primo ducked and weaved. An uneffected and smiling Carnera began landing unanswered blows. Two quick rights snapped Neusels head back, staggering the German to the ropes. He spent the rest of the round trying to avoid Carneras blows by going into the clinch.

Neusel again rushed Carnera as the third stanza began. He landed a quick left and right to Primos body, but this time Carnera countered with a hard left and right to Neusels face. For the rest of the round Carnera landed punishing combinations with minimal response from his opponent. By the end of the session Neusel, who was now clearly in trouble, staggered around the ring.

In the fourth round Neusel was near exhaustion. Still game, however, he mustered what energy he had left and put it all into a hard right cross that landed high on Carneras head. The shot rocked Primo, but he quickly steadied himself and continued stalking his worn down foe. Soon afterward Primo landed a hard left hook to the head that opened a deep gash above the Germans right eye and left him clearly stunned. Still lacking the killer instinct and disinclined to hit Neusel again, Primo looked at referee Arthur Donovan in the hope that the arbiter would stop the bout. To Primos dismay, Donovan waved to the two men to continue. With his eyesight impaired by the ugly gash and the streams of blood it exuded, Neusel raised his right hand as a sign of surrender and walked to his corner. The wounded, exhausted German was declared the loser by technical knockout after two minutes and twenty three seconds of the round.”

 

You embroidered your post and I corrected you that's the size of it! We've been over this ad nauseum Carnera was a hyped up hoax foisted on the gullible public as a crowd draw solely because of his size.
If he had been of normal size for a heavyweight, nobody would ever have heard of him!
Accompanied by tiny cornermen with an outsize mouth piece that made his snaggle teeth look even more grotesque, wearing a robe with a Boar's head on it,photographed from a low angle to make him look even more imposing .His career is a testament to the old adage you can fool most of the people most of the time.Several of his opponents had their purses confiscated and or, their licences revoked.His own manager admitted most of his early fights were fixed and we know several of his US ones were too as well as his double staged con with Stribling.
If you want to buy into the Da Preem bull**** be my guest .Just don't insult my intelligence expecting me to swallow it too!

 

Primo is in good company. That has been said of the Klitschko boys too.

I wonder why so many of his contemporaries took Primo seriously if this was the case?

 

Or to put it another way, Neusel quit!

 

I don't think they did ,Gene Tunney who saw him from ringside several times was openly dismissive of him saying,he panic's and falls apart when he is hit, and he is a sucker for a right hand.
Sharkey said," there was a lot of speculation about his fights,I won't say what I should say."He did everything but spell it out for us!
Gains said he didn't punch his weight so.
Q. how come he has all these ko's?
A. Because he was fed a long line of setups and tank artists who came into the ring either already having agreed to do a floparoo ,or possessing zero ambition they went down as soon as they took a halfway decent shot.

 

So Max Schmeling really bought into a hype job? Sharkey, Louis and Gains said nicer things about Carnera too. Carnera was legit. Just face it.

 

None of them said much nice about him ,all any of them gave him were back-handed compliments and you know it so stop with the crap its sooooooooo boring!