Often remembered as one of the poorest heavyweight champions of all time Primo Carnera will always be remembered as one of the sports biggest big men, especially in the era he competed in. For year in the 1930’s though Primo Carnera was the World Heavyweight Champion and say what you want, not many people can claim that title.
Carnera was born in Sequals in Italy on 25th October 1906 and would grow to a massive size which when he started boxing professionally in 1928 was swiftly used to his advantage much like Jess Willard had done over a decade earlier. In fact when he made his debut he weighed a massive 266 ½ lbs (more than 70lbs heavier than his opponent). By the end of his first year in the sport he was 5-0 with 4 KO’s though having fought no one of note, and in fact no one with a winning record.
The following year he fought 13 times as his size proved to be a popular draw with the fans, he lost 2 of those fights both by DQ though did manage to get a DQ win over Young Stribling, a fight many think wasn’t totally above board.
Amazingly in 1930 Carnera fought 26 times winning 25 of them (23 by KO, 1 by DQ and 1 by Split decision). It was obvious that Carnera could draw a crowd mainly from intrigue into this relative giant, though the level of his opponents wasn’t anything particularly taxing, the most well know fighter he fought in 1930 was Paulino Uzcudun a decent fighter but no world champion in waiting.
He would stay busy in 1931 with 10 fights in the year winning 9 of them with 7 KO’s. This was the first year where he really stepped up in class. His loss would come to future world champion Jack Sharkey (who would actually win the title in his very next fight), though he would beat King Levinsky in the same year in one of his stand out wins. If 1931 was busy 1932 was a hectic year with over 20 fights in the year with only 2 losses (both on points) the stand out wins were again against Levinsky and against Art Lasky who at one point was seen as a huge threat for the title. At this point Carnera was racking up wins even though they were against often questionable opponents, his size had gained him a sort of freak show status but no one cared as long as he kept winning most of his fights.
1933 would be a dramatic year for Carnera that would see him reach the highest high in the sport and also the lowest low a fighter can ever feel. If there is something worse than losing it’s killing someone in the ring, Carnera’s first fight of the year was against Earnie Schaaf who would die soon after Carnera beat him. Although some felt that Carnera’s size had helped cause the damage, it’s now thought that Schaaf was seriously injured in his loss to Max Baer and the rather light punches of Carnera had been the straw to break the camels back. It would lead to Carnera not fighting for 4 months until he faced Jack Sharkey for the second time. Sharkey had taken the world title from Max Schmelling in a controversial fight (in fact both Schmelling v Sharkey fights were controversial) on points though most had felt Schmelling was robbed due to being a German. Sharkey despite looking in control looked to have taken a dive (lost the fight on purpose) against the relatively inept Carnera in the 6th round as he was “KO’d”.
Carnera would defend his title once in 1933 against Paulino Uzcudun a fighter from Spain in what would be the first time 2 Europeans would fight for the world title, something that was until recently a rarity. Though in recent years it’s been the norm as the American heavyweight scene has all but died. Carnera would be victorious against Uzcudun in the fight in Italy before beating Tommy Loughran (a fighter he outweighed by almost 100lbs) in his last successful defence. Max Baer would soon claim the title and become the first man to stop Carnera in 1934, although the fight lasted until the 11th round it was an ugly performance that Baer dominated (Carnera was put on the mat through punch or wrestled down almost a dozen times during the fight).
Carnera would win his next 4 fights though they were against rather insignificant fighters of poor quality. After the string of victories he would again pick up his qualities and be put up as a victim for the destructive Joe Louiswho was making a name for himself with 19 victories (16 by KO) in his first 19 fights, Carnera would by KO victim #17 after being stopped in the 6th round. Less than 3 months later Louis would beat Max Baer in the 4th round by KO as he advanced towards a world title shot.
Carnera’s career was now on the downwards slope winning 5 of his following 8 before the second world war broke out. It was soon after his fight with Joseph Zupan (a wrestler) that Carnera would start to wrestle himself as he was left almost penniless from managers that had been less than honest with him. Despite having fought around 100 times by this point he was effectively broke and had to do odd jobs during the war.
After the war died he’d fight 5 times going 2-3 in them before going on to other things including more wrestling and acting. As a wrestler he would become the world champion and rack up a rather impressive 150 wins, he’s the only man to have won world titles in Boxing and Wrestling (though it was “professional wrestling”). And started the trend for fighters to go into wrestling, something Joe Louis, Evander Holyfield, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Mike Tyson and Butterbean would all make appearances in. Though Jack Dempsey was the first boxer to make any notable appearances as a wrestler.
It’s often accepted that of his 89 (72)-14 record many were maybe not as legitimate as they should be, whilst many of the ones that are were against poor opponents. He seemed to be a man positioned into fighting for the title based on his size and presence rather than anything to do with beating the best contenders. Sadly this was far from his fault he managed into the fights he fought by the management team that had taken his money. Boxing fans will remember the huge fighter for being clumsy, the nick name “Ambling Alp” described his slow and clumsy style whilst also making a point of his huge size. Although he was lucky to be where he was, it would be over 50 years for another Italian fighter to be world champion when the WBO title was won by Francesco Damiani.
Carnera would die in 1967 aged 60 from medical problems associated to diabetes. The memory of him as a world champion is often seen as a joke by boxing fans, though it’s with out a doubt he set the stage for super heavyweights that have come around now (he was the heaviest heavyweight champion until Nikolai Valuev became champion, and was the second tallest at the time he won the title, only behind Jess Willard) whether that was a good thing or a bad thing is debatable but it’s not fair to blame him for for the fact he was used as a freak show.
