Primo Carnera - how tall would he stand today?

Afternoon all,

Primo Carnera was a bit of a strange character and what with all the mob influence it's hard to really judge how bad or indeed good he was. So simple question as today's heavyweights are often derided how do you guys see him getting on if he was about today? Still poor quality even against todays fighters or someone to mix it up a little?

Cheers

7 ft 3 and a 1/4 ..

So, very tall but very, VERY thin, then?

Picked up a few fundamentals eventually, had a half-decent dig (still not sure about that Sharkey knockout, mind you) and was a bloody big bugger at 6'6" and about nineteen stone. In this era, given the lack of real quality at Heavyweight, that'd probably be enough to make him a top fifteen ranked guy.

But he was slow, didn't take a big punch too well and was pretty basic in his skill set. The Klitschkos would have carved him up like a Christmas dinner, Wilder could well have sparked him the minute he landed, Haye's speed and own good power would be too much for him, Povetkin should be able to outbox him etc. I wouldn't even be surprised if a guy like Valuev decisioned him, to be honest, given that Carnera would lose his physical 'advantages' (ie, being heavy) in that one.

Primo probably isn't as bad as history first thought, in fairness, and I know there's a whispering campaign growing all the time that he was actually close to quality status, but I don't really think he was that much cop. He'd be ranked somewhere today but that's it, for me.

Primo vs A-Force?

How's that pan out...we're talking Prizefighter motivated Audley or the version that did for Danny Williams and Michael Sprott

Think the intimidation factor would do for Audley at the ring walk.

SPENCER...YOU WEREN'T PAYING ATTENTION. I KNOW THERE ARE PRECIOUS FEW EXAMPLES TO GO ON BUT I'M REFERRING TO THE VERSION OF AUDLEY WHO SHOWED GLIMPSES OF THE ABILITY HE CLAIMED TO HAVE IN BUCKET LOADS.

Ah OK. Audley to win then. Jeez no need to shout Dave. Hurt my feelings.

Carnera would be a titlist today. If Valuev - a guy who couldn't fight a lick - could win a belt, Carnera could.

He was huge and far braver than most of today's lot. He took a frightful pasting from big-punching Max Baer and kept getting up for more - no reason to suspect any of today's puddings would put him over easily.

He'd give Klitschko a better fight than most have.

When you're biggest advantage is that you're 6'6 in an era where the average heavyweight is 5'11-6'1... being transported to an era where your size is basically upper middle of the range isn't gonna help. Might he have won a title? Possibly, things were rather fragmented between Vitali's retirement and Wlads rebirth, but I can't see him beating Povetkin, Haye, or the Klitschko's. Maybe he does win a title, but his list of losses and fighters who gave him a real tough night's work isn't particularly impressive, unless you're of the school of thought that the fight was in B&W, so the opposition must have been good

kingraf wrote:When you're biggest advantage is that you're 6'6 in an era where the average heavyweight is 5'11-6'1... being transported to an era where your size is basically upper middle of the range isn't gonna help. Might he have won a title? Possibly, things were rather fragmented between Vitali's retirement and Wlads rebirth, but I can't see him beating Povetkin, Haye, or the Klitschko's. Maybe he does win a title, but his list of losses and fighters who gave him a real tough night's work isn't particularly impressive, unless you're of the school of thought that the fight was in B&W, so the opposition must have been good

If Tyson Fury can become a top 5 heavyweight by beating Kevin Johnson and Steve Cunningham, Carnera would have been in the mix. He'd have licked most of them on fitness alone - he was cut like a greyhound not pumped up to the gunnels like today's lot.

With almost grim inevitability it befalls me yet again to defend the big guy. As Chris has said there were a number of weaknesses with Primo, his chin was certainly one and he sure as hell did not punch his weight. However for all that, towards the end of career Carnera developed into a half way competent heavyweight. I am not going to rewrite history and pretend he was any great shakes, but there were something approaching fundamentals there. His movement and footwork were not too bad for his size, his jab was reasonably consistent a weapon and whilst his chin was not great he did not lack for heart or powers of recovery.

Anyone who can outbox even a wildly outweighed Loughran and can keep himself in a fight with a very live George Godfrey is not devoid of talent. I cannot in a month of Sundays give him a shout with Wlad, but as Haz has said the thought of him being one of the slightly better challengers or being amongst the best of the rest is not too far out of leftfield.

hazharrison wrote:Carnera would be a titlist today. If Valuev - a guy who couldn't fight a lick - could win a belt, Carnera could.

He was huge and far braver than most of today's lot. He took a frightful pasting from big-punching Max Baer and kept getting up for more - no reason to suspect any of today's puddings would put him over easily..

Not sure picking a fight where a guy got flattened 11 times and had his opponent p**sing about in his ice bucket between rounds for a laugh is a great example as to his proficiency..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

hazharrison wrote:Carnera would be a titlist today. If Valuev - a guy who couldn't fight a lick - could win a belt, Carnera could.

He was huge and far braver than most of today's lot. He took a frightful pasting from big-punching Max Baer and kept getting up for more - no reason to suspect any of today's puddings would put him over easily..

Not sure picking a fight where a guy got flattened 11 times and had his opponent p**sing about in his ice bucket between rounds for a laugh is a great example as to his proficiency..

The point was how many times he got up - against a noted puncher - and came back to win a handful of rounds.

Carnera wasn't much cop but neither are today's heavyweights. He was fit, tough and game enough to match your Fury and Chisoras.

Awful ugly boxer with slow feet and slow hands, poor balance, NO DEFENCE, and ZERO BOXING IQ.

He could take a beating...and thats about it.

He is that bad by todays standards that even Richard Towers would beat him. Infact, anyone over 6ft 2" with decent fundementals would beat him. How woukd he win? He doesn't have the power to KO, he doesnt have tge ability to punch a modern fighter. Defence, if not anything else, is the one thing that's improved through the ages.

He would only be a cruiserweight nowadays anyway

He would avoid Manny if he was around today same as chicken Floyd