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Primo Carnera
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Primo Carnera
Primo Carnera (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpriːmo karˈnɛːra]; 26 October 1906 – 29 June 1967) was the first Italian Heavyweight Champion boxer, holding the title from 1933 to 1934. Nicknamed the Ambling Alp, he was best known for his immense size and status as one of the most physically imposing heavyweights in boxing history. At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and weighing more than 275 pounds (125 kg), Carnera became the World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Jack Sharkey by knockout.
Carnera was a major box-office attraction during the 1930s, regularly drawing large crowds due to his sheer size and spectacle. He set many attendance records during the height of the Great Depression. Later active as a professional wrestler and film actor, he appeared alongside Max Baer and Jack Dempsey in the Oscar nominated film The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933). Primo's life is crudely mirrored in the Humphrey Bogart film The Harder They Fall (1956). He sued the producers for invasion of privacy but was unsuccessful.
Primo Carnera was born in Sequals, then in the Province of Udine, now in the Province of Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia at the north-easternmost corner of Italy.
On 13 March 1939, Carnera married Giuseppina Kovačič (1913–1980), a post office clerk from Gorizia. In 1953, they received dual US and Italian citizenship. They settled in Los Angeles, where Carnera opened a restaurant and a liquor store. They had two children, Umberto and Giovanna Maria. Umberto became a medical doctor. Carnera died in 1967 at age 60 in his native town of Sequals, Italy. He died from a combination of liver disease and complications from diabetes.
Upon arrival in America, Carnera was first touted as being 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) tall, and thus the tallest heavyweight in history, but later reporting lists him as low as 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall. He fought at over 275 pounds (125 kg). Often listed as 6 feet 6½ inches to draw comparison to Jess Willard's record breaking height, Carnera was known to be slightly shorter but around 40 lb (18 kg) heavier and was the heaviest champion in boxing history until Nikolai Valuev in 2005.
The average height in Italy was approximately 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) and in the United States 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), Heavyweights at the time were 175 pounds (79 kg) and up. After Carnera's bout with Ernie Schaaf the New York Boxing Commission considered a proposal that Carnera would only be sanctioned to fight opponents 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 220 pounds (100 kg) and up, which would have limited him to 10 known opponents.
According to boxing historian Herbert Goldman (managing editor of The Ring 1978–1987), Carnera was "very much mob controlled." His contract was purchased by mobster Owney Madden after Carnera's arrival in New York in 1930. Abe Attell was brought in to train Carnera. Attell had been caught up in the Black Sox Scandal. However Attell was acquitted when he successfully convinced the jury that he was the wrong Abe Attell.
Carnera met his first serious heavyweight contender, Young Stribling, in 1929, and won when Stribling fouled him. In a rematch, he fouled Stribling. Each scored a victory by disqualification. Commenting on the unsatisfactory conclusion of the two matches, sportswriter Robert Edgren commented, "Stribling seems to be playing Carnera the way he has played a lot of palukas and stable mates at different towns in 'the sticks' in this country. Always the return engagement."
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Primo Carnera
Primo Carnera (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpriːmo karˈnɛːra]; 26 October 1906 – 29 June 1967) was the first Italian Heavyweight Champion boxer, holding the title from 1933 to 1934. Nicknamed the Ambling Alp, he was best known for his immense size and status as one of the most physically imposing heavyweights in boxing history. At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and weighing more than 275 pounds (125 kg), Carnera became the World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Jack Sharkey by knockout.
Carnera was a major box-office attraction during the 1930s, regularly drawing large crowds due to his sheer size and spectacle. He set many attendance records during the height of the Great Depression. Later active as a professional wrestler and film actor, he appeared alongside Max Baer and Jack Dempsey in the Oscar nominated film The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933). Primo's life is crudely mirrored in the Humphrey Bogart film The Harder They Fall (1956). He sued the producers for invasion of privacy but was unsuccessful.
Primo Carnera was born in Sequals, then in the Province of Udine, now in the Province of Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia at the north-easternmost corner of Italy.
On 13 March 1939, Carnera married Giuseppina Kovačič (1913–1980), a post office clerk from Gorizia. In 1953, they received dual US and Italian citizenship. They settled in Los Angeles, where Carnera opened a restaurant and a liquor store. They had two children, Umberto and Giovanna Maria. Umberto became a medical doctor. Carnera died in 1967 at age 60 in his native town of Sequals, Italy. He died from a combination of liver disease and complications from diabetes.
Upon arrival in America, Carnera was first touted as being 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) tall, and thus the tallest heavyweight in history, but later reporting lists him as low as 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall. He fought at over 275 pounds (125 kg). Often listed as 6 feet 6½ inches to draw comparison to Jess Willard's record breaking height, Carnera was known to be slightly shorter but around 40 lb (18 kg) heavier and was the heaviest champion in boxing history until Nikolai Valuev in 2005.
The average height in Italy was approximately 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) and in the United States 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), Heavyweights at the time were 175 pounds (79 kg) and up. After Carnera's bout with Ernie Schaaf the New York Boxing Commission considered a proposal that Carnera would only be sanctioned to fight opponents 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 220 pounds (100 kg) and up, which would have limited him to 10 known opponents.
According to boxing historian Herbert Goldman (managing editor of The Ring 1978–1987), Carnera was "very much mob controlled." His contract was purchased by mobster Owney Madden after Carnera's arrival in New York in 1930. Abe Attell was brought in to train Carnera. Attell had been caught up in the Black Sox Scandal. However Attell was acquitted when he successfully convinced the jury that he was the wrong Abe Attell.
Carnera met his first serious heavyweight contender, Young Stribling, in 1929, and won when Stribling fouled him. In a rematch, he fouled Stribling. Each scored a victory by disqualification. Commenting on the unsatisfactory conclusion of the two matches, sportswriter Robert Edgren commented, "Stribling seems to be playing Carnera the way he has played a lot of palukas and stable mates at different towns in 'the sticks' in this country. Always the return engagement."
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