Overview Upon arrival in America, Carnera was first touted as being tall, and thus the tallest heavyweight in history, but later reporting lists him as low as tall. He fought at over . 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 heavier and was the heaviest champion in boxing history until
Nikolai Valuev in 2005. The average height in Italy was approximately and in the United States , Heavyweights at the time were 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 and up, which would have limited him to 10 known opponents.
Early Career / Mob influence and suspicious matches 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." Carnera was immediately a draw in the United States. 18,500 saw his American debut against Big Boy Peterson at
Madison Square Garden. Carnera won easily in the 1st round.
The New York Times noted the absence of betting on the outcome causing skepticism prior to the match. Peterson was counted out while punching himself in the jaw. "Whether to make sure he was knocked out or in an effort to restore his jarred senses could not be ascertained." A week later in Chicago against Elzear Rioux the fight lasted only 47 seconds and Rioux was down 6 times. Bob Soderman of the
Chicago Tribune reported, "Rioux didn't do much fighting... being too intent on doing what he had been hired to do; that is, making sure he fell to the canvas at the slightest provocation." After an investigation, the Illinois Boxing Commission cleared Carnera but fined Rioux $1,000 (~$20,000 in 2025) and revoked his license. In the aftermath of the fight, the Missouri Boxing Commission suspended Trafton but laid no blame on Carnera. His April 1930 fight against California club fighter Bombo Chevalier ended when one of Chevalier's seconds, Bob Perry, threw in the towel, although it appeared that Chevalier was in no worse condition than Carnera. The match was found to be fixed, Carnera's purse was initially withheld. Chevalier's manager stated "the towel should not have been thrown in." In an investigation, Chevalier said he had been approached earlier about a "fake fight," but had declined. No one had expected the towel to be thrown in. In May 1930 the
National Boxing Association, which represented 13 states of the US, suspended Carnera. This banned Carnera from the biggest boxing venues in New York and New Jersey at least temporarily. His June 1930 match against
George Godfrey in Philadelphia was controversial before it began. Seconds were forbidden from throwing in the towel. Godfrey was disqualified for a low blow in the fifth round when he was clearly getting the better of Carnera. In the aftermath, Godfrey lost his boxing license and half his purse, Carnera was cleared.
Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren, at the time district attorney of
Alameda County, California, became suspicious of boxing at the time Primo Carnera fought George Godfrey. There was no law against prize-fight fixing in Oakland at that time, Earl Warren saw that one was passed."
TIME, in a 5 October 1931 cover story on Carnera before he won the heavyweight title, commented on his odd career:
Contender In November 1930 he traveled to Spain and defeated Spanish contender
Paulino Uzcudun in front of 75,000-90,000 spectators at
Barcelona Olympic Stadium winning by split decision. It was a record boxing crowd in Spain at the time. Carnera came up short in a decision against future heavyweight champion
Jack Sharkey before 30,000 fans at
Ebbets Field. He followed that with a winning streak that included victories over
King Levinsky,
Pierre Charles,
Don McCorkindale, and
Hans Schönrath. He suffered a surprise loss to
Larry Gains in front of 70,000 at
White City Stadium. It was a record crowd for boxing in Britain at the time. In February 1933, Carnera fought contender
Ernie Schaaf in a bout that would earn him a heavyweight title shot if he won. Schaaf entered as a slight favorite. The bout was held at
Madison Square Garden in New York City. Primo won by KO in round 13. Schaaf left the ring unconscious and died four days later. An autopsy revealed that Schaaf had
meningitis, a swelling of the brain, and was still recovering from a severe case of
influenza which had briefly hospitalized him during his training camp. Despite Carnera’s knockout of Ernie Schaaf, and Schaaf’s documented poor health before the bout, one narrative portrays Schaaf as never having recovered from a knockout by
Max Baer six months earlier. A framing echoed in
Cinderella Man (2005), “Max Baer's killed two men in the ring.” In
The Harder They Fall (1956), Max Baer (essentially playing himself) is upset about not getting credit, and says, "Your joker tapped him. I did the work and he gets the glory. I don't like it."
World Heavyweight Champion In June 1933 Carnera faced the now world heavyweight champion
Jack Sharkey at the
Madison Square Garden Bowl in
Queens, New York in front of 40,000. Sharkey had won a decision over Carnera 2 years before, and this seemed to be a safe title defense. At first it mirrored their first encounter with Sharkey ahead on points early, before Carnera knocked out Sharkey in round six with "a terrific right hand uppercut to the chin that almost decapitated Sharkey and brought Carnera the title." He successfully defended his title against
Paulino Uzcudun in front of 55,000-70,000 spectators in
Rome, what was the first heavyweight title fight in Italy. Then he defended against
Tommy Loughran in what was the greatest weight disparity between fighters in a championship fight in history at the time, . During his championship reign, he starred opposite his next opponent
Max Baer in the
Oscar nominated film
The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933). In the film, Baer and Carnera's characters fight for the heavyweight title. The two sparred together during filming (reportedly over a dozen rounds), giving Baer extra time to figure out Carnera's fighting style. In their 1934 bout Baer wore a
Star of David on his trunks, underscoring Carnera’s perceived ties to
Fascist Italy. Carnera had performed the
fascist salute for his home crowd during his first title defense, which had included
Benito Mussolini in attendance. Now he was in his 3rd title defense, back at the familiar Madison Square Garden Bowl, this time in front of 56,000. Carnera was knocked down 3 times in each of the first 2 rounds, but managed to hang around until in the 11th round when referee Arthur Donovon stopped the fight. He was knocked down 11 times in total, and fractured his right ankle in the defeat. A statue of the defeated Carnera won the
Prix de Rome First Prize in 1934, "L'Athlète Vaincu," by Albert Bouquillon.
After championship After a successful South American tour that took him to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, Primo was ready for his next big test, a young
Joe Louis. In 1935
Mussolini's Italy was
preparing to invade Ethiopia, the last and only independent nation in Africa still ruled by native Africans. Newspapers hyped the political tensions. Joe Louis said, "they put a heavy weight on my twenty year old shoulders. Now, not only did I have to beat the man, but I had to beat him for a cause." At
Yankee Stadium in front of 60,000 Louis won by KO in round 6.
Maya Angelou writes about this fight in
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Two defeats in 1936 by Leroy Haynes left Primo in the hospital for 3 weeks with temporary paralysis in his left leg, caused by
thrombosis, a sprained back, and a damaged kidney. In 1937 Carnera, now a
diabetic, had to have the kidney removed, which forced him into retirement. After 8 years of retirement he briefly returned to boxing in 1945 with three losses against
Luigi Musina. Carnera's record was 88 wins and 14 losses.
Legacy in boxing A later World (Middleweight) Champion
Nino Benvenuti, said "When I was a kid Primo was a legend for me. I saw him as the unbeatable giant in the fairy tales... they used to say he wasn't skillful. That's false. He had one of the best jabs I've ever seen for a boxer of that size." Carnera was the third European to hold the world heavyweight championship after
Bob Fitzsimmons and
Max Schmeling. He would be the last until
Ingemar Johansson claimed the title against
Floyd Patterson in 1959, over a quarter of a century later. Carnera was also the first boxer to win the European Heavyweight title and subsequently become World Heavyweight champion. Carnera's 1933 title defense against
Tommy Loughran held the record for the greatest weight differential between two combatants in a world title fight () for 73 years until the reign of
Nikolai Valuev, who owns the current record for the weight advantage he held in his 2006 defense against
Monte Barrett. Valuev also broke Carnera's record of to become the heaviest world champion in history, weighing as high as during his reign. Carnera still ranks as the fourth-heaviest, behind Valuev,
Tyson Fury and
Andy Ruiz Jr., over 90 years after he held the title. Carnera's 1933 title defense against
Paulino Uzcudun in Italy was the first heavyweight title fight to be held in Europe since
Jack Johnson's title defence against
Frank Moran in Paris in 1913. It would be the last such occasion until
Muhammad Ali defended the title against
Henry Cooper in London in 1966. Carnera-Uzcudun was the first World Heavyweight championship fight to be contested between two Europeans. It would be another sixty years, when
Lennox Lewis defended the
WBC heavyweight title against fellow-Englishman
Frank Bruno in 1993, that this would occur again. ==Professional wrestling career==