Conventional wisdom holds that Carnera simply caught Sharkey with a good punch. Personaly I think that Sharkey was already in trouble by the time that punch landed and that Carnera fought a smart fight to wear the champion down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trEGY-q_IFA&feature=related
I would bet my house that knockout was legit. Carnera knew he had Sharkey in trouble early in the final round and went for the kill.
Yea, I agree, he wore him down and waited for the right moment to use all of his strength, holy **** what an uppercut!
Apart from the finishing uppercut itself, I always thought the way that Sharkey wobbled Carnera before that suggested the fight was on the level. Also, Carnera floored Sharkey briefly a little earlier (newspaper reports I've read dont even mention this first kd - which adds to my view that you cant really know what happened until you see a fight yourself). As Sharkey said, Carnera had "improved" since the first time they met. Also, I dont think Sharkey was at his best. He didn't look too good "winning" the title against Schmeling a year earlier, and didn't look too good here. It was actually quite a decent fight though. Considering his massive bulk, Carnera is actually a lot more agile and sophisticated than he's usual given credit for. Sure, he's a bit awkward and clumsy, but so are all fighters his size. Against a 6 foot, 205 pound opponent, he shows he knows how to use that size to his advantage.
Sharkey stated to the day he died that the fight was legitimate, until he was in his 90's when he finally died some years ago.
It was no fix of couse. Carnera was not like by the media of couse, and like it or not, they CONTROL what came in and what came out or rewrite history with there pens(As was the case of Sharkey Carnea II) Must also rember that Sharkey didnt have the best of chins, he could be taking out with a well time shot as Jack Dempsey show of couse.
Sharkey won about 13 out of 15 rounds in the first fight, knocked carnera down. He was rock solid. In this 2nd fight, Sharkey's body looked as soft as a marshmellow.
A 100% Sharkey beats Carnera every time. When you get a 70-80% Sharkey and Carnera fights the fight of a lifetime then Carneras dream of becoming champion sudenly becomes a reality. The one think that Carnera did have was focus and consistency. If sombody beat him it was generaly because they were better than him and not because he came up short.
