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.
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 March 1930, Primo Carnera faced George Trafton, an active player for the Chicago Bears. Trafton was knocked out by Carnera in the first round of their fight. 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. Chevalier also stated that Perry had rubbed him with a sponge that caused his eyes and nose to burn.
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, and 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:
Since his arrival in the US, backed by a group of prosperous but shady entrepreneurs, Carnera's career has been less glorious than fantastic. His first opponents—Big Boy Peterson, Elzear Rioux, Cowboy Owens—were known to be incompetent but their feeble opposition to Carnera suggested that they had been bribed to lose. Suspicion concerning the Monster's abilities became almost universal when another adversary, Bombo Chevalier, stated that one of his own seconds had threatened to kill him unless he lost to Carnera. Against the huge, lazy, amiable George Godfrey (249 lb), he won on a foul. But only one of 33 US opponents has defeated Monster Carnera—fat, slovenly Jimmy Maloney, whom Sharkey beat five years ago. In a return fight, at Miami last March, Carnera managed to outpoint Maloney.
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.