Obviously he was a good contender, but despite what the movie potrayed, he didn't beat Giardello. Do you think if it wasn't for prison, he ever had it in him to become a middleweight champion, even if briefly?
Anybody who can beat the absolute **** out of Emile Griffith is for sure talented, in some way or the other.
Carter was already pretty solidly on the slide by the time he was arrested. I don't think he would win the title personally but he was a huge puncher, so there's always the chance he chins the right guy at the right time.
He was a terrifying puncher and I'm glad they didn't match him with 45-year-old Sugar Ray Robinson. I would bet that some lowlife manager or promoter tried to do that.
He could and should have fought at 154 and would be a very dangerous man based on styles .. he was a small middleweight ..
I think that his peak had already passed when he went to prison, and that it was likely downhill from there.
In his autobiography Carter said he knew Griffin could outbox him so he taunted him at the weighin about rumors of being gay and Emile came out angry and got caught.
No. Carter wasn't that good. Punch drunk. He just wailed away. That's why they called him "Hurricane". Against a skilled boxer he would have no chance. Bob Dylan's song was 95% fiction. The only truth in the song is that Carter was convicted of the murders. If it wasn't for the song, We wouldn't be having this discussion. Carter would be a nobody. As has been pointed out, in no way did the conviction hurt his chances, he was already on the decline when the murders happened.
You should watch him fight sometime. You are way off. The guy had surprising skills and some great moves. He literally beat George Benton (9 fight streak, rated #3) in a close affair and lost a razor-thin decision against Joey Archer (rated #4) in another tight affair where Carter edges the scores at ringside. Both were brilliantly skilled boxers.
