I was clearing out my loft for some of my old boxing memorabilia to see if I could find any old gems to bring down to my local Boston Tavern to share with @BitPlayerVesti , @sheamus , @cross_trainer and @klompton2 . Alongside a hand signed glove by Philadelphia Jack O'Brien and a first edition Jackie Blackburn biography, I came across some old film reel that might finally dispel the myth that fighters are better today than yesteryear. Now I understand that I could auction this off for a heavy price. I'm fully aware of that, but since it's a travesty that we have no fight footage of Hurricane Harry Greb, I simply couldn't risk this footage being lost forever. It is shadow boxing by the Giant Primo Carnera. Skip to 30 seconds for the main part. It is astonishing to me that a man of this size could resemble a frantic Tasmanian devil with the high speed, angles and footwork that would put any fighter to shame in today's climate. However, the most impressive thing is the way he torques away with violent combinations. You can tell he is transferring his full body weight into every shot - a real lost art. He is fully tensed to maximise his power output. Bare in mind, black and white footage can appear to make the fighter slower yet we still need to play this in slow motion to notice the nuances that Carnera is displaying. I've never seen anything quite like it. I thought I'd share. Thanks. This content is protected
Wow! Each blow launched by this colossus is perfectly timed, one motion beginning only after the other has been completed!
Bumped for modernist @Seamus Compare the above clip of Primo Carnera to the video below of Anthony Joshua Primo, despite being several inches taller & 50 pounds heavier than AJ, is still able to match, or get close to his speed - and that's him transferring his full body weight into every shot. This content is protected
Funny how the O/P has to take a clip of a guy who was ridiculed even in his own time as an example of how bad boxers were back then. Funny that Vitali Klitchko strongly resembled oafs like Willard and yet he was pretty dominant in the modern era. The more things change the more they stay the same...