Carnera must be a heavy favourite ,71 kos in 88 wins with a near 80% ko record . It's extremely doubtful anyone could withstand his collossal power.:deal
Carnera would give Willard a boxing lesson, but it is conceivable that Willards power could bail him out.
Carnera was not viewed as "white" not as he would be today. Italians especially a national were not looked upon favorably by the majority of Americans of his time. Not until Joe DiMaggio helped intergrate Itailians into the American conscience. A fascist from the land of the wop led to many unfavorable opinions of Carnera that have stuck to him ever since. Truth be told Sharkey was quickly becoming shot when they fought and I have a hard time accepting that Sharkey would take a dive against a man that his closest friend in the sport died competing against. Carnera could box a little what he couldn't do was punch very hard for a man his size and build. He was also inherently clumsy and became undone when hurt. I would think he would get more favorable opinions of his ability if the media of the time did not have such a tainted view of Italians in general of that era.
He was not a bad fighter and a lot of his fights were legit, Big guys were always known for getting beat and falling hard. Carnera was white European Italian,3 knocks against him, Willard was a white American that beat Johnson but Carnera may have been able to beat that Johnson quicker. Funny but until Buddy Baer not too many Big man could make it to the title shot, at least these 2 got titles. I think Primo was the better fighter. It was not until the 90s and 2000's that the Super-heavyweights from the Olympics made some waves in the pro's, Lennox 6"5 Bowe 6'5, and the Klitschko's...so most of the Big man history prior to that was Willard and Primo, the cream of the century
Willard beat Johnson by absorbing his punches and outlasting him, he was able to do this because he was very durable. Carnera's chin was nowhere near Willard's for durability. He doesn't beat the 1915 Johnson.
I agree with this, Willard fought a war of attrition, taking punishment and staying the course to strike late against Johnson. Carnera could not win utilizing that game plan. I don't think Carnera would have won regardless of his gameplan. However he showed heart against Baer a massive puncher so he would be hard to take out.
My take is that Carnera was a legit champ, but he peaked at the right moment. Sharkey was past it and lucky to have gotten the nod over Schmeling in 1932. He would never win another big fight. Schaaf was ill. Loughran and Uzcudun on the downslope. Carnera was a huge man who was a pretty good boxer and fair puncher and that was enough for that point in time. The film of the Sharkey fight looks like a legit KO to me. I think the point about Carnera having all sorts of strikes against him--being Italian, from a Fascist country, with shady characters behind him--made it easy to dismiss him. My own take is to wonder how much more crooked the bootleggers behind Carnera were than paragons of honesty like Jack Kearns and Don King. Boxing has always been run by shady characters. How much worse were the bootleggers and nightclub owners behind Carnera than a typical manager?
Ha Ha very good point, the legitimate boxing people can make some of the bootleggers look like Saints. That is the problem with book-covers and labels, the insides dont always match the contents
The main man behind Carnera was Owney Madden, Public Enemy Number 1, he committed several murders and was responsible for quite a few others.He was sentenced to 20 years in Sing Sing. I don't think the likes of Doc Kearns could even begin to compare with the little Yorkshireman.