I temporarily lost my notes for this fight and another Louis fight, the one with Carnera, and so I got my chronology mixed up. Both of these fights should come before the Louis-Baer fight. Oh well. This content is protected This was an active fight all the way, although not terribly exciting. Louis packed his usual power, but showed the great jab and hand speed he is known for, but lacked against Lee Ramage. The two swapped a lot of jabs, and the fight was surprisingly competitive in the first three rounds. I really wasn't expecting it to be so close, although I gave Louis every round. Louis began to dominate in the 5th. Carnera's jab pretty much disappeared and it was all he could do to hang out to Louis (literally). A big left hook in the 6th caused Primo to hold, and I think that was the beginning of the end. They broke and soon after, Primo threw two left jabs. The first landed and the second missed, and Louis threw a perfect right hook over it right after, and down went Primo. A less accurate right hand soon landed that floored Primo again. It was not as clean of a KD, but Primo was hurt enough by now that anything Louis could throw would hurt him. Primo was very groggy by now, and Louis hard-pressed him, and a right hand, left hook combo put Primo down for the third and final KD. Destruction complete. Verdict: It is not the most pleasant Louis performance, given the film quality, and that Primo was down-hill at this point, and had been since losing to Max Baer, but it was a good performance, and it certainly must have put Louis on the heavyweight radar.
I think this was a good performance. Primo wasn't great, but he was ranked and a former champ. Louis delt with him ease and showed size wasn't gonna get it done vs him. Good showing. I'm looking forward to more of these, Wil.
Carnera's jab and reach seemed to bother Louis through those first three rounds. They were competitive. You gave all to Louis, but giving any or all of them of Carnera would have been fair also. I noticed Louis seemed to move more on Carnera rather than stalking and coming relentlessly forward. Jumping to the fifth, Louis was finding the range. The sixth was a strong knockout with Louis getting home overhand rights. As usual, though, I don't think Carnera showed a glass jaw at all. It took big punches to put him down and he always got up. He lasted longer than Levinsky, Baer, or Uzcudun the same year, and Baer and Uzcudun especially were noted for durability. In the end, Carnera again finished on his feet. A foggy film, but watchable. Louis looks in a different class from any previous heavyweight.
I’m not so sure Primo was so much past his prime when he met Louis. Yes Max Baer beat him badly but Primo got off the floor to win some rounds in that fight even though he had a broken ankle from the first round. Primo then won all his fights since losing to Baer against decent fighters. The Ray Impelletiere bout was filmed and Primo dished out quite a beating. He looks as good as ever just one bout ahead of meeting Louis. In fact even Primos next fight, after losing to Louis, was perhaps one of his best wins. He beat the blond Tiger Walter Neusel who was a good fighter with wins over Larry Gains, Stanly poreda, Jack Peterson and Tommy Laughran. After losing to Primo Neusel still beat good fighters, eventually beating Max Schmeling . So all in all, I think Louis beat a very good fighter here. It’s probably an underrated win.
I think your presentation is flawed, choklab. I think you're right that he wasn't washed up, but maybe just in decline. However, the Impelletiere fight was awful. Worst Primo win I've ever seen.
I don’t think the evidence is there that Primo was in decline for Louis. The Neusel win was a well documented legit win. And it came after losing to Louis.
