Would you vote for Primo Carnera to be inducted into the IBHOF?

Even I assume that all his fights wetter on the level, he still does not merit induction. The fact that people of similar quality have been inducted constitutes in my opinion, a mistake, one that needs not be compounded by adding Carnera. He was huge, and brave, and tragic and for a brief spell he was the heavyweight champion of the world. But he was not a Hall of Fame type fighter.

 

Yes. He was THE Champion unlike many other guys with better reputations....
Willard and Burns are there, Carnera definitely deserve more than both IMO.....

 

Sharkey's dive?

 

If Carnera belongs in the IBHOF, then no way can Max Baer be considered such a primitive throwback as he is so often mis-described.

 

The only thing Sharkey dived into was Carnera's fist. After that, Sharkey thought better of getting up against a man who outweighed him by over 50 pounds.

Carnera is not what I think of as a hall of famer and I also don't believe that everybody should be put in only because McGuigan got in.

I do believe he deserves a better reputation than he has, unless substantial proof comes out of all his fights being fixed. The films are out there and I have difficulty pin-pointing a single obvious fix having seen plenty of them. The media back then was rather vicious on him and even painted Carnera-Schaaf as a fix, until Schaaf actually died.

 

Why?

 

Which of Braddock's fights were fixed ? Why iyo, did he lose his licence?

 

He should be in a hall of fame. He was very famous, in the golden age of boxing. I'm surprised he isn't in.

 

Braddock might have had some fixed fights. They probably all have some fixed fights. Braddock had a very patchy record. He won the title on a massive upset. He was friends with serious gangsters.

I tend to think perhaps Max Baer just didn't feel like fighting much that night he faced Braddock. Max was a strange one. Anyone else and I'd strongly suspect he's tanking it.

 

Why does Carnera deserve more than Burns who defended his title a dozen times, and could have justifiably claimed the LHVY title to make himself a two division world's champ ?

 

I know you have seen a lot of fights. have you seen the Chevalier, Clark, Clisby,Peterson x2, Stribling x2 ,Gorman, Wiggins fights?

How do you prove a fight is fixed unless both participants categorically say so?

What Hype Igoe actually said at the Carnera/ Schaaf fight, when Schaaf went down was,"the only way I will believe this is if he dies".

Schaaf was a fatality waiting to happen.

 

Boxers aren't top class actors. When a fight is fixed or a boxer takes a dive, it's usually relatively easy to recognize. Admission of guilt obviously works, see LaMotta-Fox.

Even if all those fights were fixed, it doesn't impact Carnera's legacy much. Nobody points to his wins over Bud Gorman and Chuck Wiggins in order to claim that he was better than people thought at the time.

His best fights are on film, and none of them look outright fixed. The only truly questionable one to me is Carnera getting hit below the belt by a notorious fouler in George Godfrey, who did throw several dangerous overhand rights during the match also.

Sharkey got nailed by probably the best punch Carnera ever threw, only moments after catching and stunning Carnera himself with a right hand flush on the chin.

Off topic but here's Max Schmeling showcasing his counter right hand and extremely rare footage of Baer in training:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PughF-gMFCw[/ame]


Sharkey-Carnera:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfUjzm7IgEM[/ame]


I do not think punches such as 1:00, 1:03 and 1:45 would be thrown by a fighter looking to dive, when the same kind of punches rocked and had Carnera on the canvas in their first bout.