Of the 5 heavyweight champions that came after Tunney and before Louis, these two never fought. Who do you out there in Classic Forum land think would win? 15 rounds as usual for the heavyweight title.
schmeling for sure. he was a quality fighter. carnera was just a big bum who won his bouts just through his mob connections. carnera is not in schmelling league.
I really like Schmeling in this...he had a beautiful straight right hand. He'd chop Carnera down in the 13th round
I believe Schmeling, based on the excellence of his winning fight against Louis, would have been cool under fire against Carnera as well, and would have methodically timed the big fellows moves like he did the Brown Bomber's and would have leveled him with a right. Carnera would have probably gotten up, but the German was known for his cruel effectiveness when he had a guy hurt and would have punished Primo mercilessly. Too great a difference in class here. Max tko's Primo and badly hurts him. He would be more consistant against Primo than Max Baer was, and though he wasn't quite as hard a hitter as Baer, he would be more effective, and like I said before, cruelly effective and methodical. TKO 9 for Max Schmeling. Sorry, you Primo Carnera fans, but Schmeling would be too much for him.
You may be right, it would have probably gone to round 13, as Max was very methodical and didn't rush things.
Schmeling himself expressed a great deal of respect for Carnera, both as a man and as a fighter, in his autobiography. I don't think he would feel this would be easy. Schmeling was certainly the better fighter, but the fly in the ointment is size. I think the largest opponent Schmeling defeated was the 208 lb Ben Foord. Carnera is certainly going to be inches taller and fifty lbs heavier than any other Schmeling foe and with his good boxing skills and strength on the inside, I see an upset. Schmeling was a methodical fighter with excellent stamina who wore down his opponents. I don't see him wearing down the much bigger Carnera.
About right, imo. Carnera is justifiably viewed by boxing historians as one of, if not the, worst linear HW champ of all time. For some strange reason he gets overrated around here. Schmeling wasn't just a class above him, he was probably two classes above him. In a fair fight, this is no contest. Schmeling by wide UD
I have to go with Schmeling. He had perfect timing on his right hand and that was a punch Primo couldn't avoid. Not sure Max who was a great puncher had the size to KO Carnera but he could hurt him and win a wide deciscion.
Carnera. If he could give Baer a black eye, I believe he could have beaten Schmeling. Too big and strong and possesed an excellent jab.
There are significant question marks over how Schmeling would handle a fighter of Carnera's size, but Carnera's main vulnerability seems to have been to a right hand. Probably not a good vulnerability to have against Schmeling.
Máx would beat the punching bag but it has nothing TO do with his victory over Louis, 2 different Men, 2 different fights
Schmeling p4p was far the better fighter, but I agree with Old Fogey that Carnera's size is the wild card in this. I can see Carnera outpointing Schmeling behind his jab and simply pushing him around in the clinches. He would have about 70 lbs. on him. But, on balance, I think the very good little man outpoints the so-so big man, probably on the basis on a couple of knockdowns from rights.
Schmeling was the better fighter.. But Carnera had a significant size advantage and a style that might give him problems. It could go either way.
