Jess Willard vs Primo Carnera

Jess didn't have the vulnerabilities and weaknesses which can come with acromegaly. I think he was faster, had a much better chin, superior mobility and more proved endurance off of Havana alone. Primo had a better left hook, but that's his only clear advantage here. Willard was more adept at defending himself. On the inside, Carnera wouldn't enjoy his usual advantage in physical strength, and Jess had that uppercut for Primo to contend with. From long range, Willard was the straighter puncher.

Carnera could be more aggressive though, and that might be critical if this was to go to a decision. More times than not however, I think I'd favor Jess. Fairly recently, the footage of Willard-Floyd Johnson has surprised many views who previously didn't have too high an opinion of Jess. Returning from a layoff of nearly four years at age 41, he looks far better than expected.

Fortunately in this instance, neither man suffers from a dearth of action footage.

 

I think that Carnera was much thge better technician of the two, though I would have to give Willard a significant edge in both power and durability.

 

carnera had a lot more fights, that has to count for something.

 

Carnera was the better fighter.....Carnera by decision..

 

Primo takes this one. He has no trouble with big strong giants..he did beat bigger men like Campolo, Santa and Impelletieri.

 

I think this fight would look a lot like a Vitali Klitchsko vs Nicolai Valuev fight would look (actually when i think of it, i think that is a fight i would like to see today, or at least i would have a couple of years ago). I think Jess might finish the stronger. I dont know why, but i get the feeling that Jess hit harder, but Primo was stronger. I think i would give Jess the slight edge in a close fight. If nothing else, he was the more dominant champion of the two and ruled the roost a fair bit longer.

 

Primo Carnera gets underrated too much IMO. Sure, some of his fights were probably fixed... doesn't mean that they had to be. Not all of his wins were fixed though. Also, if some of his wins were fixed... why not some of his losses?

Anyway, let's just look at what each man did in the ring... the available film, etc.

Carnera almost 6'6" with an 85" reach. His highest weight for a fight was around 285Lbs. but his best weight was between 260-270 Lbs. He was very solid.

Willard was almost 6'7" with an 83" reach. His highest weight for a fight was around 260 Lbs. but his best weight was between 230-240 Lbs. He was not the physical specimen that Carnera was.

Carnera went 88-14 (72) overall and 3-1 (1) in HW World Title fights. He was stopped 5 times in 102 fights and all of the KO losses came in his last 19 fights (he lost 3 decisions during this stretch).

Willard went 26-7-2 (20) overall and 2-1 (1) in HW World Title Fights. He was stopped 3 times.

Carnera faced the likes of-

Young Stribling- WDQ4, LDQ7 -some say both fights were fixed

George Godfrey WDQ5

Bearcat Wright KO4

Paulino Uzcudun x2 W10, W15

Jack Sharkey x2 L15 and KO6 (won the HW World Title)

King Levinsky x2 W10 x2

Victorio Campolo x2 KO2 (NYSAC wanted this to be for the Dreadnaught World Title) and W12

Art Lasky W10

Ernie Schaaf KO13 -Schaaf died 4 days later but somehow Max Baer killed him in the ring even though this was his 4th fight since facing Baer!

Tommy Loughran W15

In his 85th fight he was stopped for the first time... LKOby11 Max Baer (lost the HW World Title). He was stopped in 6 rounds by Joe Louis in his 90th fight.

Willard faced-

Carl Morris W10, Jack Johnson KO26 (won the HW World Title), Frank Moran W10, and Jack Dempsey LKOby3 (lost the HW World Title) among others.

I'll take Carnera by decision.

 

I agree man, great post ! :good

 

Willard late tko

 

I'm gonna shoot for Willard, the more durable of the two. Probably not the greatest of style clashes but could possibly have its moments. Anyway, i see Willard digging in and stopping a floundering Primo in the very last couple of rounds.