Carnera is in a different league, in terms of his body of work. I think it would be reasonable to install him as favourite here.
Valeuv has better punch resistance and at least a actual boxing pedigree of grooming to be a boxer . Carnera was more of a weight lifter ,both had poor k.o records for their size ,but one is more fluid desite being bigger . Valeuv klo late rnds.
I will tell you a truth here, and I don't expect you to like it. Carnera was actually one of the best technicians that the superheavyweight class ever produced! He didn't hit particularly hard for his size, he didn't take a punch that well, and he didn't have much killer instinct. What he had, was size, work ethic, and good boxing technique. He was one of the best pure boxers of his size that we have ever seen!
No he really wasn't so much so Bert Sugar has labled him the worst HW champion in history in one of his books.He had a decent jab but didn't know how to fight like a big man as no one did in those days .they didn't work around the jab,they plodded in front of it. He was a mobbed puppet and won his belt on a fixed fight that sharkey admitted to throwing. I would bet anything 50 year old holyfield beats Carnera. Monte Coxx is a huge boxing historian and did a summary of this match up,and said Valuev would knock Carnera out, I don't think coxx is a right a lot but he knows boxing history and its fighters so when he says someone loses one has to listen.
Carnera, though both of them are solid adverts for size not being important at HW, as neither was very good. Both champs though, you cant knock that.
Carnera looks pretty good on film in some of his fights. He actually had some mobility and a decent jab. If he stays busy and doesn't get into a battle of big men contest with Nikolay he might just pull off a decision. With that said, he'd be in there for the first time in his life with a man who had a huge size advantage over him as opposed to the other way around.. That might prove to be culture shock for him. Be interesting to see how he handled it.
I would certainly take issue with your statement that Carnera did not know how to fight like a big man. His destruction of Jack Sharkey was a master class.
Easy Valuev, probably ko. Different leagues. They are one of the best examples of how the division has progressed. Both became low tier champs almost entirely because of their massive size advantage, while having little else to distinguish them. But nv was about 6 inches and 50 pounds bigger than PC.
It was a master class bc Sharky threw the fight . No tall big man would fight like Carnrnera did now , big oversized guys didnt start to polish up inside game until the 90's Bowe and Lewis eras where they were taught to control tempo of range and utilise clinching to their advantage .Carnrnera just turtled up when he was swarmed and had no defense for but leaning back which wouldn't work to an aggressive fighter or counterpuncher bc his right hand was almost always at his hip . He had decent footwork but it resembled a fighter prancing on egg shells afraid to back the opposition up and instead throw stiff lumbering jabs with out putting anything together behind it.
This is almost certainly not the case. You need to go back and watch footage of Carnera again. He made excellent use of the uppercut, and indeed it was this punch that won him the title. Carnera did all this stuff back in the 30s; he just didn’t have the natural talent of a Bowe or Lewis.
So are you saying Sharky was Lying? Seems to me there is more than enough instances of fixed fights ,he didnt remotly look good against Sharky who dropped and rocked him in rnd 4 and hit him countless times the first fight . Carrnera has his chin straight up in the air with any power shot he throws , his biggest flaw is his legs dont move and twist with the punch ,hes on his toes as well and he leans forward in a narrow stance making him easily hit once he throws a punch if he extends .