# Just how big was Primo Carnera



## PivotPunch (Aug 1, 2012)

He was 6'6'' and 260lbs in a time were HW boxers were smaller since they hadn't the same nutrition and most didn't lift weights he is basically the size of Wladimir Klitschko and it's not like he was fat. That's insane imagine how big he would have been if he fought today a time with better nutrition, real weight training (does anyone know if he did weights?) and even PEDs. He would by today's standards still be a big HW.


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## Vic (Jun 7, 2012)

Well, I think they had better nutrition before.....food was better, more natural in those days, you know. And it´s not like these guys didn´t know what nutrition was....
Anyway....
Carnera´s best asset is that he knew how to use his strenght...on the outside and especially on the inside, where he controled the opponents pretty well.

I don´t think it would matter if he was more muscled than this.....


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## scribbs (Dec 8, 2012)

PivotPunch said:


> He was 6'6'' and 260lbs in a time were HW boxers were smaller since they hadn't the same nutrition and most didn't lift weights he is basically the size of Wladimir Klitschko and it's not like he was fat. That's insane imagine how big he would have been if he fought today a time with better nutrition, real weight training (does anyone know if he did weights?) and even PEDs. He would by today's standards still be a big HW.


If you did a search you would have come up with this thread I did

http://checkhookboxing.com/showthread.php?5326-Primo-Carnera


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## Boxed Ears (Jun 13, 2012)

If you look at *highest* weigh-in weights for heavies, at 284 lbs, I think he actually came in higher than any other lineal heavyweight champion, including and immediately followed by the fattest incarnation of Riddick Bowe and the most musclebound incarnation of Shannon Briggs. I think that says something about his natural mass. And if you look at the heaviest of their lowest weigh-in weights, he's still biggest, ahead of Klitschko, at 238, from what I've seen anyway. This guy was a marvel.

Edit: If anyone has a stat correction there, let me know, please, because it's in my personal records.


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## PivotPunch (Aug 1, 2012)

scribbs said:


> If you did a search you would have come up with this thread I did
> 
> http://checkhookboxing.com/showthread.php?5326-Primo-Carnera


Sorry I haven't seen it



Boxed Ears said:


> If you look at *highest* weigh-in weights for heavies, at 284 lbs, I think he actually came in higher than any other lineal heavyweight champion, including and immediately followed by the fattest incarnation of Riddick Bowe and the most musclebound incarnation of Shannon Briggs. I think that says something about his natural mass. And if you look at the heaviest of their lowest weigh-in weights, he's still biggest, ahead of Klitschko, at 238, from what I've seen anyway. This guy was a marvel.
> 
> Edit: If anyone has a stat correction there, let me know, please, because it's in my personal records.


I think Wlad is around 250 nowadays. Since you can only see the weights on boxrec if you log in I don't know but Lennox had to be just below 250 against Vitali or am I wrong? There are some who match Carnera weight wise but not at his heaviest 284 is really huge. I think the size thing gets exaggareted of course they are bigger nowadays but a lot of it is the differnce in nutrition and training there are some guys who had huge frames back then who would be decent sized HWs today if they had modern training Max Baer had HUGE shoulders he was big enough not to look totally dwarfed in front of Carnera and he was much bigger than Louis despite being only slightly taller . Same with Jack Johnson who was huge there have always been very big people it's not like humans started to mutate 30 years ago and before that everyone was a dwarf but some make it seem like that and speak how every HW back than was so small


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## dyna (Jun 4, 2013)

Men were taller in the middle ages when they were living on the farms, then they got smaller when the industrial revolution began, and since then we were growing.

Also hip size of men has increased since the 60s. (Which allows for more weight)


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## p.townend (May 17, 2013)

He was a massive man for his time. I did a project on Heavyweight boxers for a thing at collage years ago and his story was an interesting one. Jess Willard was another very big man for the time and may have been slightly taller than Carnera but was not as well built. Up until guys like Lewis ,Bowe,Akinwande you did not really see men that size have much success again. Carnera`s weight stood as a record for a very long time,might even still be a record for all I know and he was not some big fat out of shape guy. I think that says a lot about just how big the man was.
Did he not Die on his Birthday in his town of birth or am I thinking of someone else?


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## Boxed Ears (Jun 13, 2012)

PivotPunch said:


> I think Wlad is around 250 nowadays. Since you can only see the weights on boxrec if you log in I don't know but Lennox had to be just below 250 against Vitali or am I wrong? There are some who match Carnera weight wise but not at his heaviest 284 is really huge.


I think you're misreading me, mate. I meant, if you look at the lowest weign-in weights for them, Carnera has one of the highest, in addition to having the highest weigh-in weight. I hope I'm saying that clearly. :lol:

"I think the size thing gets exaggareted of course they are bigger nowadays but a lot of it is the differnce in nutrition and training there are some guys who had huge frames back then who would be decent sized HWs today if they had modern training Max Baer had HUGE shoulders he was big enough not to look totally dwarfed in front of Carnera and he was much bigger than Louis despite being only slightly taller.":

Yeah, it does get exaggerated, I agree. The average weight has jumped up, but these guys are training *up* to a supposed (wrongly supposed, in my opinion) "best" weight, instead of *down* to their best weight, at that division. I don't think it does right by them or gets the best out of them at all. But, as far as guys who aren't unnaturally bulked up, Lewis and Klitschko the elder and younger, and Carnera, are enormous men, enormous men.


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## dyna (Jun 4, 2013)

In the end, big men would always be big men.
Atleast for truly big men like snv, Carnera, Wlad, lewis


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## PivotPunch (Aug 1, 2012)

Boxed Ears said:


> I think you're misreading me, mate. I meant, if you look at the lowest weign-in weights for them, Carnera has one of the highest, in addition to having the highest weigh-in weight. I hope I'm saying that clearly. :lol:
> 
> "I think the size thing gets exaggareted of course they are bigger nowadays but a lot of it is the differnce in nutrition and training there are some guys who had huge frames back then who would be decent sized HWs today if they had modern training Max Baer had HUGE shoulders he was big enough not to look totally dwarfed in front of Carnera and he was much bigger than Louis despite being only slightly taller.":
> 
> Yeah, it does get exaggerated, I agree. The average weight has jumped up, but these guys are training *up* to a supposed (wrongly supposed, in my opinion) "best" weight, instead of *down* to their best weight, at that division. I don't think it does right by them or gets the best out of them at all. But, as far as guys who aren't unnaturally bulked up, Lewis and Klitschko the elder and younger, and Carnera, are enormous men, enormous men.


Yeah I misunderstood that :lol: 
I think someone like Joe Louis could even today be a HW with modern training and nutrition. Back then they weren't doing real weight training I think Louis did rowing (real rowing) and they did body weight exercises but no barbells (I think it's wrong to say they did no weight training at all because body weight and thinks like rowing have pretty much the same effect) and even HWs tried to keep their weight down they really tried to stay as small as they could while still having enough power. At the end of his career Louis became bigger and he looked almost like a modern HW because he got older and just put on more weight despite still trying to be light you could see that he was a real HW and would still be today if he was a modern boxer he would have looked like that in the beginning of his career and had got even bigger later on


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## MadcapMaxie (May 21, 2013)

PivotPunch said:


> Yeah I misunderstood that :lol:
> I think someone like Joe Louis could even today be a HW with modern training and nutrition. Back then they weren't doing real weight training I think Louis did rowing (real rowing) and they did body weight exercises but no barbells (I think it's wrong to say they did no weight training at all because body weight and thinks like rowing have pretty much the same effect) and even HWs tried to keep their weight down they really tried to stay as small as they could while still having enough power. At the end of his career Louis became bigger and he looked almost like a modern HW because he got older and just put on more weight despite still trying to be light you could see that he was a real HW and would still be today if he was a modern boxer he would have looked like that in the beginning of his career and had got even bigger later on


Ahh hope you know that ain't Joe Louis...it's Archie Moore facing Marciano


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## MadcapMaxie (May 21, 2013)

I think Jeffries is another guy who would be enourmous today, probably a super heavy while in fighting trim. Craziest of all is he had this size and physique even though the training he did would be suited for men half his size. 1 hours swims, 10 mile runs, 3 miles rowing at a lake etc. Another physical marvel especially considering he was around over 100 years ago.


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## dyna (Jun 4, 2013)

Weight training isn't the only way to get big though.

Tyson was big and didn't do weight training in his prime years.


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## Laughing Bruno (Jun 13, 2012)

heh heh heh


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## PivotPunch (Aug 1, 2012)

MadcapMaxie said:


> Ahh hope you know that ain't Joe Louis...it's Archie Moore facing Marciano


Fuck wrong pic fuck that's embarrassing :scaredas:
Let's assume I just wanted to show a pic which proves that there were big HWs back than. I never said anything of Louis :lol:


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## FelixTrinidad (Jun 3, 2013)

PivotPunch said:


> Sorry I haven't seen it
> 
> I think Wlad is around 250 nowadays. Since you can only see the weights on boxrec if you log in I don't know but Lennox had to be just below 250 against Vitali or am I wrong? There are some who match Carnera weight wise but not at his heaviest 284 is really huge. I think the size thing gets exaggareted of course they are bigger nowadays but a lot of it is the differnce in nutrition and training there are some guys who had huge frames back then who would be decent sized HWs today if they had modern training Max Baer had HUGE shoulders he was big enough not to look totally dwarfed in front of Carnera and he was much bigger than Louis despite being only slightly taller . Same with Jack Johnson who was huge there have always been very big people it's not like humans started to mutate 30 years ago and before that everyone was a dwarf but some make it seem like that and speak how every HW back than was so small


Lennox Lewis was 258 against Vitali. The guy was extremely out of shape. Days before the fight he was 270.


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## It's Ovah (Jun 6, 2013)

Carnera has always impressed me with how densely muscled he was. Usually huge men like that lack definition or athletic proportions, especially when their size is as a result of growth hormone overproduction in childhood. He wasn't perhaps as tall as advertised, but he was stocky as hell and had the frame to handle that mass, years before steroids made such body types (relatively) common.


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## choklab (Jun 6, 2013)

PivotPunch said:


> He was 6'6'' and 260lbs in a time were HW boxers were smaller since they hadn't the same nutrition and most didn't lift weights he is basically the size of Wladimir Klitschko and it's not like he was fat. That's insane imagine how big he would have been if he fought today a time with better nutrition, real weight training (does anyone know if he did weights?) and even PEDs. He would by today's standards still be a big HW.


I think carnera did wights when he was a circus strong man.
He retrained as a boxer. over the years his weight actually dropped as he got older. This is weird for heavyweights. usually they put weight on as they mature.


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## fists of fury (May 24, 2013)

Shows you how deceiving looks can be. On proportions alone, Carnera would be an ATG fighter. Yet, he wasn't even much of a puncher.


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## It's Ovah (Jun 6, 2013)

fists of fury said:


> Shows you how deceiving looks can be. On proportions alone, Carnera would be an ATG fighter. Yet, he wasn't even much of a puncher.


Carnera tended to throw punches off the back foot which minimised his power. When he set his feet and punched with his weight he generally got a reaction from his opponent. His uppercut and jab looked to be very heavy.


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## Seamus (Jun 4, 2013)

modern is better. we need to erase history lest we be trapped in its mediocrity.


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## It's Ovah (Jun 6, 2013)

Seamus said:


> modern is better. we need to erase history lest we be trapped in its mediocrity.


Huge hosepipe veins and acromegalic facial features do not a mediocre fighter make.


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## fists of fury (May 24, 2013)

It's Ovah said:


> Carnera tended to throw punches off the back foot which minimised his power. When he set his feet and punched with his weight he generally got a reaction from his opponent. His uppercut and jab looked to be very heavy.


He probably could have punched better had he sat down on them more. To me though, his jab looked more like a flicking punch than something carrying genuine weight. At least from the footage I've seen.


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## heavy_hands (Jun 6, 2013)

PivotPunch said:


> He was 6'6'' and 260lbs in a time were HW boxers were smaller since they hadn't the same nutrition and most didn't lift weights he is basically the size of Wladimir Klitschko and it's not like he was fat. That's insane imagine how big he would have been if he fought today a time with better nutrition, real weight training (does anyone know if he did weights?) and even PEDs. He would by today's standards still be a big HW.


 the size of who? are you serious? carnera was a huge guy with giant frame and he was naturally by far wider than wladimir, wladimir is an athletic 6´6 245 pounder training weights.. carnera was a guy from the 30s and he was a natural 260-285 pounder with zero fat. he was much bigger than wladimir, taller is not bigger.

actually 260 pounds was light for carnera, i think that it was his lowest weight, he weighed 270-285 without fat, carnera was a natural giant, not a modern tall athlete built in a gym who weighed 240-249


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## Boxed Ears (Jun 13, 2012)

He looks very small here:


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