Carnera - Legit Champ or Circus freak?

I can respect your position.

 

No sarcasm intended, and my apologies if my post came across that way. The facts of his title fights are self-evident.

Going into their bout, the tremendous size difference between the two of them could have been reasonably predicted to work in Tommy's favor, rather than Primo's. (Of course the previous size differential record was Dempsey/Willard, and Loughran had certainly handled Uzcudun, Campolo, Impelletiere and Schaaf. It wasn't absurd to think he might outbox Carnera as Larry Gains did.)

Sharkey actually had respectable power for somebody with so few stoppage wins. I have the clip of his final match with Jimmy Maloney (which is probably on youtube), and many of us have seen the bomb he flattened Carnera with in their first bout. (Not to mention Sharkey incapacitating Schmeling in their first meeting!)

Yes, Loughran certainly did rock Primo in Miami, and it's an often overlooked fact about his brittle hands that they could stand up to Tommy loading up on a big shot once or twice over the course of a match. Boxing for the title, he certainly would have been more inclined to take this risk than for a regular bout.

Primo was certainly not one of the better boxers to hold the heavyweight title, but yes, I do in fact believe that he was one of the better heavyweight champs, for the brief time he held the title. He brought the biggest prize in sports out of the attic mothballs it had remained largely hidden in between 1911 and 1938, and brought it overseas for the only time between 1914 (Johnson/Moran in Paris) and 1966 (Ali/Cooper II in London) when he put it up against Paulino in Roma. In five consecutive bouts, he faced four HOFers, defeating the first two in championship competition. He put the title up against three long overdue and worthy challengers.

In another year's time, his reputation may well be vying with Ali's the way things are going, but once matters equalize, his reputation won't ultimately suffer from the bum rap unjustly laid upon him the last several decades (perpetuated by the likes of Bert Sugar), and he might finally take his appropriate place among the likes of Weaver, Burns and Patterson as a decent, rather than top or bottom of the barrel champion.

 

Just a quick reply D,Loughran himself said he couldnt take a chance on his hands going so he relied on his jab,as you say he may well have thought ,"this is for the title ,let it all go". I agree Sharkey could hit Dempsey thought he was going to be kod in their fight,Sharkey is a bit like the little girl when he was good he was very good and ,when he was bad he was horrid,Ruhlin was said to be the same.Maloney was a dangerous fighter witha good punch ,but supposedly a dodgy chin.No apologies from you are needed ,just a little surprised at your post ,you obviously fell that Primo gets as raw a deal now as he did from his managers.

 

Everything's cool.

As I indicated in earlier posts, viewing Bert Sugar badmothing Primo with second hand information, reading Gallico's, "Pity the Poor Giant" before the computer screen, then contrasting that with Carnera's footage and record does obviously set me off a bit. However, I'm also confident that individual boxing fans are finally gaining the ready access to information necessary to finally form their own conclusions.

Like Sharkey, Norton could be another classic head case. These were lousy performers to place money on. (In striking contrast, many who were close to Marciano allegedly placed all they had on him to win, and mindful of how much they were depending on him, Rocky always delivered. Bless his heart and soul!)

 

Carnera might not to be a bad guy to bet on actualy.

He was verry consistent up to a certain level.