Primo Carnera vs. Jack Sharkey II

I agree with your take. You sum it up very well.

Only two points of my own:

Sharkey throwing those big right hands at Carnera, and hitting him a number of times, for me totally undercuts the fix theory. How would he know that Carnera could stand up to those punches? Nothing in this film supports a fix.

Sharkey got hit by a powerful uppercut. Also, notice that the back of his head hit the rope when falling. That might have contributed to the KO.

Excellent essay and evaluation, William.

 

Had Sharkey admitted he threw the championship some men in law enforced may of had some follow up questions. Like for who? Names? $? Beside the stench of openly admitting he threw the title common sense kept Jack Sharkey from opening his mouth .

 

I think this argument is flawed.

There certainly are reasons for someone to deny they threw a fight, even if they did, since it's admitting to doing something highly dishonest, and will also cause people to ask if they were involved in other fixes.

Pep denied he took this dive. Which I think is pretty blatant.

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What would have been his incentive to admit to a fix?

 

Did Benny Leonard ever admit to intentionally hitting Jack Britton when he was down thereby earning himself an instant dsq? Did Young Stribling admit the two fights with Carnera were fixed?
Since there is no record of any of Carnera's opponents ever admitting to going in the tank, even though some of them had their purses held up and licences withdrawn? Are we to assume then that all his fights were on the level?
Jimmy Carter the lightweight champ is believed to have thrown some non title fights for betting purposes in rematches for the title,Fleischer went as far as he could towards accusing him of such in The Ring in an article headlined," An Unfortunate Habit"did Carter ever admit that was the case?

Did Liston ever come out and say I took a fall on orders?
Liston's long time friend and sparring partner Foneda Cox said he asked Sonny why he let him bet on him in the 2nd Ali fight and didn't tip him off he was going into the tank?.Cox said Sonny replied ,"with your big mouth we'd both be wearing cement overcoats".
The fact that Sharkey's manager and his own wife thought he dived at least opens the door of possibility towards a fix does it not?

 

It’s a tough one to believe because of the actors ... to this day I’m not sure.

 

I don't see not admitting to a fix being evidence of a fix.

In Sharkey's case he supposedly threw the fight, and threw away his championship, because "the mob" threatened to murder his children. Admitting that in later years would not be admitting to doing something that shameful, as most people would cut him slack for such a reason. The evidence given for this is that he visited his children one day while training. What would that accomplish? What he would have had to do was hide his children where the mob couldn't find them.

The film simply gives no evidence of a fix, and in fact I think highly weighs in to the contrary. Sharkey throws and at times hits Carnera with full bore overhand rights. How could a diving Sharkey be certain Carnera would not go down and out? After all, Sharkey had knocked Carnera down with one punch in 1931.

And how big an upset was this? The odds were a close 6-5. Sharkey lost his next two fights within months to Levinsky and Loughran, both of whom lost to Carnera. If there hadn't been a Carnera fight, King Levinsky might have become heavyweight champion. Sharkey was in decline. The sculpted Sharkey of the 1920's had been replaced by a soft looking guy who doesn't look like he was a bear for training.

And on the eye test, Carnera doesn't look nearly as bad as his critics want us to believe he was.

 

It isn't , but when an argument is put forward that states,Sharkey lived into his nineties but never admitted he took a dive , then producing examples of fights that are widely accepted to be dives with no participants ever confirming them as such makes mentioning them valid imo. The other points have been covered several times and I see no useful purpose in doing so again.

 

What about the second knockdown?? are you kidding me ? hard to accept that one also 1:13. Looks to me he just waited for the right .. LOL

 

You know its possible he took a dive and also got hit and hurt at the end. Its not an either or.

 

I don't know if there is one in a situation like that. It would be a helluva thing to live with. I can only imagine. The key word there is live.

 

No way this fight was a fake. Compton nailed it in a post on another thread just a few days ago. Do we really need to go over it yet again? Sharkey was moving to his right when Carnera landed the punch. The camera angle makes it look like it was Carnera's forearm that landed, but because of the camera angle you can't see Sharkey's chin which, due to his slide to the right, was directly in line where Primo's fist would be. Here's a copy of Compton's post for those of you who ignored it just two days ago:

"I dont agree with the observation that Carnera's forearm is what hit Sharkey. If you watch the sequence in slow motion as Sharkey bobs he also weaves to his right to avoid a pawing Carnera jab. Carnera's jab further moves Sharkey's head to the right and when Primo comes up with his uppercut his fist comes up right under Sharkey's chin as Sharkey is moving into it. Sharkey had just been buzzed, stung Carnera back and tried to go after him, and then got caught. I see no real reason to question the KO.
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