Primo Carnera : The Ambling Alp, The Man , The Myth

Ok guys took alot of time on this so hope you enjoy it and take something new away from it

No other fighter in all of boxing has done what Primo Carnera did. At least that we know about.

Primo Carnera was a 6'6 Italian Circus side show, in 1930 the mafia, notably Owney "Killer" Madden, on of the biggest Irish mobsters took an interest in him. With Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney gone, Heavyweights werent as popular as before. Owney saw a way to make money and a champion. Primo was raw and crude as far as boxing is concerned, but the mere size of him was a selling point.

His 85 INCH REACH didnt hurt either

In 1928 Owney and Primo began their career together, Owney set them up (and paid the fighters off) and Primo thought he was knocking them down. See at this time many a fighter were willing to take the largest sum ever to lie down for somebody. The thinking was go down sooner than later.

In 1929 Primo was 6-0 , Owney paid all 6 of them, and Primo had already gained a false sense of having devestating punches. Owney figured Primo could handle 19-7-3 Franz Siegler without having to pay Franz off. Big mistake and Primo lost. The same is suspected in Primos 2nd loss to Young Stribling, when Primo was DQ'd

Primo is 30-2 in 1930 when......

1930, Owney approaches Leon Chevalier and tells him to take a dive, Chevalier agrees but changes his mind. During the fight Primo lands his usual shots (which really werent that hard) and Chevalier wasnt dazed, Primo was confused and more importantly obviously losing. However, Owney was smart, not only would he pay a fighter, he would get a corner man.

In the 6th round Chevalier came out and rocked Primo Carnera and began to build up steam, Primo hits Chevalier with an average 1-2, Chevalier takes it and doesnt appear fazed, but Chevalier's conrner man Bob Perry threw in the towel and the referee stoppped the fight awarding the fight to Primo. The crowd, including Italians went nuts, and Primo's purse was withheld and Perry was beaten ringside.

Primo wins his next 8 fights, 7 by early KO, the most notable win is over Bearcat Wright via KO 4

Primo is 38-2 and Owney decides not to fix his next fight, what do you think happened? Jim Mahoney beats Primo on points.

Primo wins 8 in a row including a fixed fight vs Mahoney, his record is 46-3 and he finds himself in a square shake fight versus Jack Sharkey.

Primo is knocked down in the 4th and is easily outpointed over 15 rounds, however, he shows his heart by going the distance.

Primo wins 9 in a row, including a Points win over King Levinsky, who knows if it was on the level? But then guess what happens.........Primo's in a fight Owney cant fix, and yep, of course, Primo loses in 1932 to Larry Gaines. Primo is know 55-4

Primo wins 3 more fights, and then suffers another loss. To Stanley Poreda, however, the judge was reprimanded and had his license revoked. Who knows if this was payback from Owney or what.

Primo is 58-5 , Primo wins 15 fights in a row, including the last fight Ernie Schaff would fight in, that was made famous by the movie "Cinderella Man". Schaff died after fighting Primo but everybody believes and agrees Max Baer had done the damage, this however, gave Primo (who still didnt know his fights were almost always fixed) more confidence in his own strength but also made him very sad.

Primo is 73-5 and has earned a shot at Jack Sharkeys title in 1933

A HUGE Boxing question is was this fight on the level?

I personally dont think it was, Sharkey had handled Primo easily before, this time he was KOd in 6, granted Sharkey was a very hot and cold fighter, I just cant see Primo winning this. If it was on the level it is easily Primo's greatest feat.

Primo is Heavyweight Champion and Owney has the money to show for it. (He kept almost all of Primo's purses.

Primo defends in 2 fights that were pre-arranged beating Uzcudun, and Tommy Loughran and then must face Max Baer in 1934, Owney does not fix this fight. Primo is confident he will win via KO
Instead it is Primo who got knocked all around the ring, who's rudementary boxing skills were exposed from the first second by Max Baer (who wasnt even considered a good boxer) a power puncher. Primo went down 4 times in the first round but showed his heart.

The fight was stopped in the 11th round, Primo Carnera had been knocked down 12 times. Primo's reign as Champion was over, and with that so was Owney's.

Many believe this is when Primo realized some of his fights werent on the level, Baer didnt even look fazed by punches that were KOing men in the 2nd round, why was Baer picking Primo appart?

All these questions probably helped Primo realize what had been going on. Primo won 4 more fights and then was fed to the up and coming Joe Louis who dispatched Primo in 6.
Primo went 7 - 6 in his last 13 bouts in an 11 year period, ending his career with 3 straight losses to the same fighter, Luigi Musina

Primo Carnera's record stands at 88-15, of the fights that we know where not fixed Primo is 1-7.

Who knows how much of his career was bought by Owney, I suspect most of it, but he is still one of the more intriguing fighters of all time.

Owney walked away with almost all of Primo's career earnings and he wound up wrestling in Italy for chump change, but he could always say he was a Heavyweight Champ, it wasnt his fault he didnt know waht was going on around him.

bump

sry bird i didn't see your question about cintron in dmars thread about the espn board so i wasn't ignoring you

its cool brother dont worry

good article..canera indeed was big.a gentle giant and truly was a very very strong and powerfull man.canera as you noted had tons of heart courage galor ..the problem is canera could never learn nor be tought how to use that strenth and transfer it into punching power..he was taught basic footwork which was very adaquate for a man his size and he did learn how to effectively throw a good hard jab which probably as hard as any other punch he could deliver..most of his fights yes were fixed but not on the level of numbers as stated in the article..sharkey himself not a puncher by any means had some controversial fights himself..it could be possible that canera with that jab could outbox him and for sure sharkey would not ko primo..primo when hit took the full force of the punch yet got up several times against louis and baer.he never was taught how to slip a punch or to reduce its effect..given that canera dispite all the knockdowns had a better chin then folks think..the sharkey fight i suspect was one of jack not using any of his evasive skills to the fullest as instructed by the boys thus assuring the scorecards in favor of primo ..
there is a great film bogarts last called the harder they fall..its based on canera and it captures all the sadness and exploytation that canera went threw.it captures primo as a gentle man and a huge heart towards friends and people..canera more than any ten fighters combined was used robbed and set up and spit out without an ounce of reguard for the man...excellent article..

The Harder they Fall is a classic movie, Bogarts swan song

glad yo enjoyed the article, I could be wrong but all of the fights that I said were fixed, I read were fixed in a Gene Tunney book that went into depth about Tunney, Dempsey, and Primo.

like you said though, hard to know really what was what in his career

agree on him being pretty crude as far as boxing is concerned, he still overachieved and accomplished more than the average fighter

sad how bad he was used by Owney and his management