Benny Leonard calls Primo Carnera's defense "Marvelous"

I replied to the wrong post, sorry!

 

The earth is flat!

 

I beg to differ.

In the first round against Carnera, Baer c0cked his right elbow, like the hammer of a pistol.

Carnera just wasn't looking for it. Seemingly, more interested in ensuring he was in range to take it.

Wlad's defense utilizes his reach and keeping himself outside of his opponents' range. Whilst he does so, he can keep an eye on what his opponents are looking to do, in terms of attack.

I think Wlad was more susceptible to left hands, resulting from full-on assaults, as his prime defeats demonstrate.

 

No problem.

 

Quality!!

 

There's this vid, on youtube...

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In round one, the right-hand is a good example of Baer pulling the lever up, before throwing.

It's a good angle too, because Baer is facing away from the camera so we can see the elbow clearly. We can also see Primo blissfully unaware of what is unfolding in front of him and pushing out a lazy left paw, at shoulder-ish height.

You can also see the positioning of Carnera's feet, at this point, which if I'm being honest, is quite alarming.


EDIT: I should have added that the KD in question occurs at approximately 5:38.

 

Carnera looks completely inept during the one knockdown punch that we've both streamabled before (the first kd?). Baer is standing in front of him with his right very low. Baer quickly cocks it even lower and then begins to throw an overhand right. Carnera sees it clearly, and awkwardly tries to push at it with his extended left hand while maybe taking a step straight back with his chin high. The punch lands flush, and Carnera goes down.

 

Nobody is saying Carnera is a great fighter. The idea is he is much better than he had been thought of. He is thought of as an unskilled, lumbering, inept freak show whose bouts were predominantly fixed. After watching him within the videos within this thread he certainly should not be considered as absolute bottom rung. I've been watching Carnera on film since the early 70's. Watching a fighter however is very different than giving said fighter close technical scrutiny.

 

Do you think, from Carnera's perspective, that Baer's punch was, a) unforeseeable and, b) beyond being defendable?

 

That KD is a perfect example of why it's a good idea to keep your left up.

 

Haven't been following the debate that closely, but isn't the central point of contention if he was as good as the Klits? I, for one, aren't as taken by their skill level as some here, but they were clearly better than Primo imo.