Is Primo Carnera's chin underrated??

I see only two real punchers on Carnera's record ,Baer and Louis both of them crucified him.No disgrace there but more damning is being dropped by guys like Sharkey and stopped by Haynes and Musina. Carnera's bubble had burst by then and these fights were legit , but at 34 he was hardly ancient.
I think Carnera had a below average chin, but well above average" heart."

 

Gene Tunney rated the first punch Max Baer dropped Carnera with as maybe the hardest single punch he ever witnessed over the first half of the 20th Century. Because that shot screwed up Primo's ankle so badly in the fall he took that he wound up as a hospital inpatient afterwards, I think there's a limit to how much we can demerit his chin in the remaining knockdowns.

Jack Sharkey decked him with a perfect hook, possibly the Gob's hardest punch on film, which compares favorably in execution with Frazier's FOTC knockdown of Ali.

Primo showed a far better chin and did better for longer than Max Baer did against Louis. (Actually, Max just chickened out, while Carnera showed guts in a credible effort.) It took Joe six rounds to drop Primo thrice for brief counts, and he was on his feet when Donovan rescued him, while Max was already on the floor intending to take the count when round three ended.

Carnera was NEVER counted out, and improved his performances against Musina and Haynes in rematches.

The key question here is how Primo does if his ankle is NOT injured as a result of that first knockdown against Baer. (Decades later, Benitez had his ankle likewise shattered when Bronx Davey Moore floored him, and did not come out for the next round.)

Mcvey pointed out he did not take on too many real punchers, but most of the knockdowns he did sustain are on well known footage.

Likewise, we can see everything which dropped Patterson, not all of it by renowned hitters.

You want an HOF HW with a questionable chin, great matchmaking and a resulting reputation with supporting physique which makes him seem far better and more durable than he really was, you can have Ken Norton, who was dropped by nine different opponents (Dutra, Gilmore, Eastling, Garcia I 3X, Vic Brown, Foreman 3X, Shavers 2X, LeDoux 2X and Cooney, plus he was buckled and wobbled a number of other times).

Ali did an insane job pumping Ken up for fracturing a jaw which definitely would not have been troubled if not for an impacted wisdom tooth Muhammad had neglected. Ali's mouth is the reason Norton got into the IBHOF as quickly as he did, and I question if Ken wins their first bout if Muhammad's jaw was not busted in that second round, and he completed that match uninjured. (Jerry Quarry revealed the real truth about Norton's power when Ken was facing Middleton.)

 

That's a fair observation. He had the ***** to get up off the canvas while being badly beaten, but he was definitely vulnerable. I do however wonder if some of those knockdowns he sustained had to do with being off balance or just having poor balance to begin with.

 

Carnera's stats are obviously not a reliable guide to assessing him as regards his power or durability,simply because we don't know how many opponents were trying.Many may have been just that inept that handcuffs weren't necessary .

A cursory look at his record shows the usual humpty dumpties.
Wiggins
Clark
Lodge
Rioux
Striblingx2
Petersonx2
Thomas x2
Clisby
Chevalier
Godfrey
Clark
Harris
Gorman
Sharkey

Seventeen fights that are treated with enormous scepticism. Carnera's first manager claimed about 99% of his early fights were fixed.
We don't know ,and we never will.
As to his excellent ko % ,Joe Louis who was not that hard to floor, said he had no power,and past prime light heavyweight Loughran who was starched by light hitting Sharkey was never in any danger of being floored against Da Preem.
No reputable boxing writer entertains Carnera as a dangerous puncher despite his stats of 77 ko's in 88 wins for a near 70% ko record.
Accurately gauging his various abilities ,his strengths, and weaknesses could take up a forum of it's own.

 

maybe a little underrated, not hugely though.

 

All we know is Godfrey fought with the handcuffs on quite a few times and quite a few of Carnera's fights were fixed ,that being the case I'm inclined to think it was a "strategic foul". Godfrey was said by many including Gains and Johnson to look like a Tiger against black fighters and a ***** cat against whites.
I think you can make a fixed fight look hard fought and competitive , there is an amusing anecdote regarding this in the" gee" fighter Harry Legge's excellent autiobiography "Penny A Punch" .

 

Primos own promoter and manager said Primo's main weakness was his chin. He said Primo would routinely get wobbled and knocked down by guys 100 lbs lighter than him in sparring when they "lightly tapped him on the chin".

If this isn' the description of a glass jaw then I don't know what is.

 

Certainly not in the class of Jess Willard's which a poster inferred on another thread.

 

I have often read articles that Primo was on the lowest rung of chins when it came to Champions but he was 77-6 before his 1st KO loss to Max Baer and then 81-7 when he was bounced around by Louis. I guess many of the Heavyweight champions that are rated above him are lucky that they did not have to fight Louis or Baer.

I would still not rate him in a high tier of chins but do we rate him alongside David Price.

If we had to rate the chins of heavyweights you probably would have to rate Primo in the lower tier but who would go into that tier with him Patterson?, Willard? Ingo? who else fits into the lower bracket.

 

:good