An opinion on Primo Carnera from 1993

Who was his manager? Why did they hate him? Was there some stuff there that would raise doubts about his legitimacy as a fighter?

 

Carnera was a big fraud who was built up with fixed fights and set-ups. And was managed by criminals and hyped beyond belief.
The press were correct about that.

But the same was true of many of the other big name fighters.
Carnera did seem to get more flak and is remembered as a fraud more than the others, he as more or less singled out, probably because of his freakish size and being a foreigner in America.

 

How is believing Carnera could beat the likes of Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis, Moorer and Mercer indicative of a fair and balanced opinion?

This is patently false. Carnera had both fans and detractors, like any other sports personality. A lot of the press were favorable towards Carnera; many, at least, giving him the benefit of the doubt - particularly in the earlier, build-up stages of his career, during which much of the match-fixing is alleged to have taken place.

A lot? Who?

By the time he got a title shot, Carnera had lost to as many, if not more, opponents than he had beaten ranked fighters.

Moreover, many of his wins are questionable, in terms of their legitimacy.

Why would organizations, which were almost certainly instrumental in promoting and furthering Carnera's career, at the same time, have an axe to grind with him and his management?

Which big men of renown did Carnera beat in his own time to lead you to this conclusion?
Conversely, how big and great were those Heavyweights, who did beat Carnera?

 

The occasional suspicions of a fixed fight, here and there, are perhaps viewed a little differently than what looked like a consistent feature of Carnera's career - made all the worse by him being a giant, sold as some kind of man-killer - but one, who needed a fix to get by club fighter, Chevalier, and who was roundly trounced by men giving up height, reach and weight of 50-60lbs+.

 

One of Joe Louis’s top 5 career wins was against a guy who couldn’t beat club fighters without cheating?

whoa

 

Some of them probably did have similar advantages at least in height and reach.

 

Baer, Schmeling (2), Braddock, Conn, Walcott (2) are all superior wins - and there are others I'd rank above his win over Carnera.

Louis' take-down of "The Monster" was significant, in so much as it put the giant's myth to bed, once and for all. Carnera had nothing to offer and was soundly beaten by Louis - an emerging talent, at the time.

 

Though, not fighting blown-up, 5'11" Light Heavyweights, scaling at 186.

 

There have always been light heavyweights penetrating the heavyweight rankings, and there probably always will be.

 

Carnera had some significant wins after the Louis fight.

a couple of guys came unstuck trying to use him as a stepping stone.

 

Louis said it was one of his top 5 career wins.

 

And Carnera still "bounced back" with another suspicious win, against Walter Neusel.

 

Not weighing-in at less than 200lbs, there won't be, though Carnera fought a couple of dozen men, who did weigh less than that.

Either way, you seem set on ignoring the fact that today's Heavyweights, on average, fight and beat much bigger men than Carnera did, on average, in his day. Moreover, Carnera was pushed and lost to much smaller men than would likely be seen in today's heavyweight ranks.

There seems little worth in you arguing against that point.

 

You are assuming that the quality of a fighters opposition, is a function of the average weight of their opposition.

this is not necessarily the case.

 

Not a single lineal HW champion in the history of boxing fought more 200lb+ men than Carnera.