What's your stylistic and analytical opinion of him as a fighter, and where exactly would you rate him amongst Middleweights both past and present? :think
Some people are sky high on this cat. Not me. Carter had an all time build and heck of a left hook. If you havent seen or heard of Carter he was an aggressive fighter who forced the action. He had quite a reputation in the gym. Yes, I think Carter had some Tyson in him, and blew some journeyman out in spectular fashion. The trouble for Carter was he did not always win in the ring. Carter was something of a front-runner, and not a finished boxer or thinker in the ring. I do not think Carter rates among the great middles. The division is too talent rich. Top 25? No way. Top 40-50, maybe.
In the film "the hurricane" it trys to show you that the white champion he lost to in his title fight(his only one before jail?) got a dodgy decision,it seemed to be trying to show it was a racist thing,any truth to that?,who was the guy he lost to,and did he really win?
Granted a tough out in any era, but his shortcomings were obvious. He waxed Griffith in (1) but after taking Emile out of his game with insults at the weigh-in not to mention a 12+ pound weight advantage. The Fernandez 1st round KO was an impressive shocker but really good boxers could play him like a trained bear. He did show his meddle in the Tiger bout but basically got his arse handed to him in a fight against an opponent who's style played right into Carter's strength. The motion picture basically "kissed his arse" in that he was on the downside when he faced Giardello who basically controlled their title scrap from start to finish... my $0.02
He lost to Joey Giardello and I was at the fight. It was close but Giardello won. Carter was the kind of middleweight that would linger around 7th or 8th ranked middle in his time. He was not the complete package. He was more show than go. Giardello was one of the alltime top middles. Carter was fearsome looking but not nearly as productive as he looked. Alltime, Carter would be like the 60th best middleweight. Giardello would be in the top ten alltime.
I read that the guy won fair and square, but they put in the movie that Carter lost to make him look better. They even said that the guy wanted to sue the film writers, but I don't know for sure.
Giardello vs Carter was a very close fight.Not a robbery though Giardello looked like ****. It's just as much of a myth that he dominated Carter as it is that Ruben was robbed.
