Rocky Marciano vs Primo Carnera

I honestly don't know who would win. Legacy wise, Marciano shits all over him but H2H, he's giving up an awful amount of weight (80+ pounds!), and for all that he's still the weaker, less skilled, less athletic fighter.

On the other hand, as Pat pointed out Carnera was not really a natural fighter, and lacked the killer instinct of Marciano, and didn't hit nearly as hard despite being the bigger man.

Still I can't forget as GCC said, Carnera had a way of neutralizing smaller fighters.

Rocky was an infinitely better fighter than Carnera but this isn't a good match-up for him. Carnera may very well have had his number.

 

I think Valuev should be next- Also It isn’t competitive at all Carneras would be too much for the Italian flyweight.

 

You mean a boxer got a black eye in a boxing match? Against one of the best jabbers all time no less!! Guy must be terrible.

 

Against a one-handed 38 year old*

 

And for the record Primo lost to several people under 6ft much worse then Marciano. For the size only queens

 

One hand happened to be the jab. And happened to be the second best HW ever on what a 9 fight win streak against ranked contenders? Let’s not pretend it was Ali v Holmes or Holmes on a two year layoff against Tyson. A not prime Marciano did a fine job on him and controlled the fight practically start to finish. Getting a black eye shouldn’t be looked at as a negative...it’s boxing. This isn’t High school

 

Getting painted by a 38 year old who'd looked like **** since his first retirement shouldn't be seen as a positive, either.

And Louis wasn't even close to the second best heavyweight of all-time when Marciano beat him.

 

Hardly got painted. Literally controlled the fight start to finish. Louis being a savy vet kept him busy for a round. Marciano hadn’t even perfected his style yet. No one says Tyson got painted in the Holmes fight. When Holmes lit him up for four rounds w the jab. You know why? Because Tyson controlled that fight too. He probable even had a black eye the next day. What a loser

 

Size Queens.

You just added a new term to the dictionary!

 

Can’t take credit for that one it’s been around lol

 

I'm not erudite enough to contribute to the conversation, beyond this: I have too much respect for Jersey Joe, Ezzard Charles, and Joe Louis (even a one-handed washed-up Joe) to dismiss Marciano out of hand just because of a size difference and Carnera's grappling ability. I think Rocky eats some jabs on the way in but ultimately smashes Carnera with his relentless, inexhaustible attack. It's the Carl Froch Effect for me; even if logic and reasoning are absolutely sound and well-thought-out, until I see someone do what no one else has done, I don't buy it.

Call it fanboying if you wish, but some guys are just frustratingly unexplainable.

 

It's embarrassing how badly represented the Louis - Marciano fight is in here at times. So much is parroted and taken for granted. Louis had fleeting success with the jab and Marciano slipped or parried the vast majority of them. For a swarmer at that stage of development it was an excellent effort defensively. Marciano fought much of the fight inside and found his way in there basically whenever he pleased from the first minute of the fight.

He was also around the stage that Tyson and Ali were when they surprisingly tough times with Tillis and Cooper. Marciano was much more impressive. Louis himself was beaten down by Schmeling on his way to becoming a better fighter.

I'd take Marciano to gradually beat Carnera down. He'd get inside that jab and reach on a very consistent basis and whale away to the body and head like he always did. He take a few but he'd land better and more of them. Somewhere around 6-9 maybe.

 

Everyone was smaller than Carnera. He couldn’t neutralise Stribling, Gains, Sharkey in fight one nor someone called Jim Maloney who I note was 5’11 tall.
Carnera lacked power, had no defense to speak of aside from clinching and lacked the sort of jab to gain any respect from Marciano.
Someone said that people picking Rocky aren’t giving a technical explanation as to how he wins. There’s no need. Marciano fought one way only. He’d keep working away, pounding the body, arms, hips and head relentlessly until the opponent succumbed. It was crude but also damn effective. Smaller but far better fighters than Carnera couldn’t survive this constant battering and I’d bet London to a brick that a clumsy, gentle natured oaf like the Preem would eventually fold too.