Talk:Primo Carnera

wonder about death

He owned a liquor store and died of liver disease at 61, did he have a drinking problem?

He had kidney problems and one was removed long before his death. Activist (talk) 14:56, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Fixed fights

There is not question that *most* of his fights were fixed. He could not hit, and he had a weak chin - he only won when the fight was fixed. This is detailed by sports journalist Paul Gallico in Farewell to Sport (1938). Fothergill Volkensniff IV (talk) 20:13, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

There is a strong assumption that most of his important fights were fixed after he came to the U.S. from Italy. His winnings were said to have gone mostly to the New York Irish gangster Owney Madden. Madden may have failed to fix a few of his fights possibly owing to betting on Carnera's opponent.

One wonders about recording his "record" in his wrestling career, since all those matches were presumably fixed, just as they are today. I saw him wrestle when I was a young boy. The bouts were choreographed spectacles with leading characters such as "Gorgeous George," who was the ring equivalent of Liberace.

When he ran into real boxers, when the fight was not fixed, his results were awful. The undefeated Joe Louis pulverized him to take the championship. Maxie Baer thumped him pretty good. He won one fight he was clearly losing when his opponent's corner man threw in the towel.

Carnera had one opponent die within a couple of days of their fight. It was widely assumed that the dead boxer had received previous trauma in a fight with Baer which was only exacerbated by the Carnera match. Activist (talk) 15:06, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

---

"The fight came under the eye of fans and sportswriters alike when the uppercut that KO'd Sharkey was believed not to have landed. Rumours of a mob fix were brought up causing some to maintain Sharkey threw the fight." No source provided. Unreferenced "rumors" should not be part of an encyclopedia. The sentence should be either referenced or removed. --93.205.115.105 (talk) 17:15, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

WW2

Several sources state that he worked with the Italian resistance during the Second World War, and spent some time in a fascist prisoner-of-war camp after being captured,[1][2] although they tend to be very vague. The article completely skips over this period; true facts, or barmy old cack? -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 12:17, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Tallest?

"Until December 19, 2005, when the 7 ft 1 in, 147 kg Nikolay Valuev won the WBA title, Carnera along with Jess Willard who stood 6' 6 1/2" were the biggest heavyweight champions in boxing history."

A) the structure of this sentence is awkward. B) how can he share the title of 'tallest' with a man that is more than two inches shorter than him.

Furthermore "In 1932, Carnera faced the tallest Heavyweight in history up to that point, Santa Camarão, a Portuguese fighter who was taller than him. Carnera won the fight by a 6th round decision"

How can Carnera hold the title of 'tallest' until 2005 when there was a Portuguese fighter taller than Carnera in 1932?

You've misread the text. The Portuguese fighter was not a world heavyweight "champion."

I've found various heights for Carnera and Valuev. Carnera is listed as 1.97m (6'5 9/16") and 1.98m (6'5 61/64"). Valuev is listed at 7' even and 7'1". Carnera's fighting weight was usually listed as between 250# and 276#, mostly over 260#, details found at . One outlier which I assume was inaccurate had him at 238#. I've found Willard listed as 1.99m, or 6' 6 11/32" tall. Weights during a career vary and measurements, especially of such large persons is not always precise. Activist (talk) 20:37, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Vitali Klitschko is taller than Willard and won a world title before Valuev did, even if you exclude his WBO run. If you include the WBO championship there is also Akinwande before Valuev. There may be others too. Whatever way you go, the factoid is false.

References

height

83.117.96.177 (talk) 23:27, 27 December 2010 (UTC)According to the source he was 6-5 3/4. I fixed the data accordingly

The page still shows two slightly different heights. His weight over his career also varied by at least 15#. He often outweighed opponents, including Joe Lewis by sixty or seventy pounds. Activist (talk) 15:12, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

photo date?

Just from eyeballing the styles of the suits, the photo looks more like it is circa 1937 rather than 20 years later, and perhaps even earlier. The shorter guy in the photo looks rather like boxer-turned-actor Nat Pendleton, and given what he looked like in HORSE FEATHERS, that would push the date even earlier into the '30s. Ted Newsom (talk) 00:41, 20 April 2012 (UTC)Ted Newsom

canera in exhibition bout

ihave a signed photo of carnera sparring with my wifes great uncle his manager also signs it .Is it worth anything

Willard, Valuev, and Vitali

"Until December 19, 2005, when the 7' 1", 147 kg Nikolay Valuev won the WBA title, Jess Willard who stood 6' 6½" was the tallest champion in boxing history."

To my recollection, Vitali Klitschko is officially taller than Willard and he definitely was a champion earlier than Valuev (1999?) 178.24.99.175 (talk) 00:26, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

What happened to the lawsuit?

The Humphrey Bogart article mentions that Carnera filed suit against Bogart's last film for depicting him. What happened to the suit and who won or lost? Starhistory22 (talk) 06:26, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

Personal Life

The article says he and his wife received dual citizenship, but of where? Carnera was Italian. The article says that he moved to US in 1930 but although it also says at some stage after the marriage they settled in Los Angeles he died in Italy. The query re WW2 suggests at some stage he moved back to Italy but was he there with the US army or had he moved back to Italy before 1939? All his fights after 1936 were in Europe. All his boxing fights after 1937 were in Italy. His wife was born in a town which is and was in Italy although the name suggests she was of a Slovenian/ Yugoslav family and the town she came from was claimed by Yugoslavia. Was the dual citizenship Italian and US (most likely) or Italian and Yugoslav or what? Please remember Wikipedia is a world resource not just US. Editors can't assume we know this kind of thing.10:01, 10 February 2023 (UTC)Spinney Hill (talk)

Jules Strongbow?

How did Primo wrestle Jules Strongbow in 1946 if Jules was born in 1952? 2601:197:B80:33F0:7052:69BE:53E2:6CE3 (talk) 14:28, 30 October 2023 (UTC)