Was Primo Carnera the most technicaly adept superheavyweight of all time?

max schmeling wrote that carnera was a beter boxer than given credit for and that it did not suprise him when primo beat sharkey for the title.

gains wrote that whilst carnera did not punch his weight he punched plenty hard enough, and took a punch "wonderfuly well"

I think it is worth remembering primo looked less clumsy against ray implateire who was a simular size.

primo was at a speed disadvantage against good fighters smaller than he was so he developed flicking streight shots that were harder to read since a weighted blow drawn back was much too slow and telegraphed. in this respect he was severly restricted with what he could land.

lennox lewis and riddick bowe looked just as slow and clumsy against smaller opponents. even ali was less effective against light heavyweights foster and doug jones.

 

Carnera had a huge heart, a decent jab and fairly good stamina .. he would have lost badly to Bowe, Lewis, Vitali and Wlad ...

 

Schmeling, unlike Gains and Louis ,did not fight Carnera, I prefer to take their word on his abilities.

Schmeling may not have been surprised when Carnera kod Sharkey, but just about everyone else was,with the possible exceptions of Carnera's management and Sharkey and Johnny Buckley his manager.

Paul Gallico watched Carnera fight Moise Bouqillon in Paris.
Carnera was over 80lbs the bigger man
yet could not hurt the oft stopped Bouqillon it went the full 10 rds , don't tell me Carnera was a puncher ,because he was not.

I asked Larry Gains about Carnera,Gains was a very gracious man and did not knock anyone, he just laughed and would not elaborate further.
Gains was not a puncher ,yet he had Carnera down so, Carnera did not take his punch" wonderfully well "did he?.

Impellittierre did not look as skilled as Carnera?

Impellittiere was a 10 fight novice, who had lost 3 of those ,when he fought 87 fight Carnera. comparisons here are laughable.
The fight is on You Tube ,the only demonstration of footwork is displayed by the referee ,Jack Dempsey.

 

I don't think Gains knocked down Carnera.

Technically Carnera as good as you'd expect a late starter such as him to have been. The likes of Lewis and Wladimir had fighting experience since their childhood and have an advantage in technique over him. Primo was well taught by his trainers but always lacked the natural "instincts" of a long-time pro, often pushed his punches other than the jab which sometimes left him off balance and struggled against good boxers who presented him with tricky footwork and upperbody movement.

 

I think his broken ankle was the result of taking a punch.

 

No..was the result 0f 210 pounds Max Baer ( perhaps not intentionality) falled on his leg.

 

In short No.

Not when you have guys like:

Lennox Lewis,
Wladimir Klitschko,
Riddick Bowe,

I don't even think I have to go further than this. Carnera was better than given credit for but there are others who are far more skilled.

 

I do think that Lennox is hard to beat on this one.

Wladimir has a good argument, but i have always hated that awkward Long Stance that he has, and personally, i think it is a lot of the reason why he is able to be caught so flush by big punchers, from time to time and it gives the impression (or at least adds a lot to it) of a dreadful chin.

Other than that, I wonder if Valuev might be a lot better on pure technique than he is given credit for, very, very similar to Carnera, although i think a little behind in him, i am not sure.

Bowe is one of the best and he throws his punches well, but even at his best in Holy I, that left hook could be landed at will. I think he loses on this basis.

Vitali and Golota arm punch too much, although I am not sure if a younger Vitali was better than the current version, i might need to rewatch him.

Willard, is an interesting shout, but he does use the lean back stance and defence. Fulton may have been an interesting choice, I have no idea, but for some reason i think of him as a more modern and polished version of Willard, without a chin.

Would anyone give Hein Ten HOff a chance or mention. He actually doesnt look too bad, from memory, on some film. What about Jack Trammell, I have never seen him on film, has anyone?

 

Carnera was quite quick for his bulk, but technically astute?
Watch Gains nail him time after time with right hands,and Primo had 61 fights when he met Larry.

Primo learned to use his weight, and did the old Lennox trick, holding with one hand and clubbing with the other but I don't see much evidence of real ability.

 

Even if that is so(which I don't agree with), it still doesn't come close to Wlads. Wlad's technique and skill level displayed is better in every single way, I shouldn't even have to go into detail about it.

 

atsch In that case, how about the following...

Lennox Lewis
Riddick Bowe

 

it is true that when you watch Carnera...for as big as he was....and as bad as he was, he did so many things right..threw his cross correctly, jabbed correctly...moved well, but...just lacked the other things that janitor mentioned. I would pick prime Willard to put a whipping on Carnera for example, even though Carnera was in most ways "better schooled"

 

It's possible the Sharkey of the second Carnera fight was the different animal.imo
I find it strange that Carnera suddenly went into free fall after losing his title ,to the extent of being destoyed twice by , Leroy Haynes , Carnera was only 30 ,hardly past it . I wonder what the explanation could be?
Both these fights occurred in 1936 immediately after Carnera ,and his previous opponent Isidoro Gastanaga were investigated by the NYSAC , because they were both "managed " by Luis Sorisi,[ Sorisi was just a front].