1. Primo Carnera reigned as the boxing World Heavyweight Champion from 29 June 1933 to 14 June 1934.
30 Facts About Primo Carnera
1. 2.
Primo Carnera won more fights by knockout than any other heavyweight champion in boxing history.
3.
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.
4.
On 13 March 1939, Primo Carnera married Giuseppina Kovacic, a post office clerk from Gorizia.
5.
Primo Carnera died in 1967 at age 60 in his native town of a combination of liver disease and complications from diabetes.
6.
Primo Carnera enjoyed a sizable reach advantage over most rivals, and when seen on fight footage, he seems like a towering giant compared to many heavyweights of his era, who were usually at least 60 pounds lighter and 7 inches shorter.
7.
Primo Carnera won his first six bouts, then lost to Franz Diener by disqualification in round one at Leipzig.
8.
Primo Carnera and Stribling exchanged disqualification wins, Carnera winning the first in four rounds, and Stribling winning the rematch in round seven.
9.
Primo Carnera became world champion by knocking out Sharkey in round six.
10.
Primo Carnera retained the title against Paulino Uzcudun and Tommy Loughran, both by decision in 15 rounds.
11.
Primo Carnera was the third European to hold the world heavyweight championship after Bob Fitzsimmons and Max Schmeling.
12.
Primo Carnera would be the last until Ingemar Johansson claimed the title against Floyd Patterson in 1959, over a quarter of a century later.
13.
Primo Carnera was the first boxer to win the European Heavyweight title and subsequently become World Heavyweight champion.
14.
Primo Carnera-Uzcudun was the first World Heavyweight championship fight to be contested between two Europeans.
15.
The film was made just a year before Primo Carnera fought Baer for real, in a bout that was as wild as the film version, but ended with a knockout loss for Primo Carnera.
16.
Primo Carnera had a bit part in the 1949 movie Mighty Joe Young.
17.
Primo Carnera played himself in the tug-of-war scene with the giant gorilla.
18.
Primo Carnera played a bully boy wrestler in Carol Reed's A Kid for Two Farthings.
19.
Primo Carnera appeared in at least ten Italian films between 1939 and 1943, as well as several in the 1950s, like Prince Valiant, in the role of Sligon.
20.
Primo Carnera won his debut against Jules Strongbow in Wilmington, California on 20 August 1946.
21.
On 23 October 1946, Primo Carnera won his 41st consecutive wrestling match by defeating Jules Strongbow.
22.
Primo Carnera went 120 straight wrestling matches undefeated before suffering his first loss to Yvon Robert in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 20 August 1947.
23.
Primo Carnera met his first serious heavyweight contender, Young Stribling, in 1929, and won when Stribling fouled him.
24.
In January 1930 against Big Boy Peterson, Primo Carnera won easily in the 1st round.
25.
In March, 1930, Primo Carnera faced George Trafton in Kansas City.
26.
The match was found to be fixed, Primo Carnera's purse was initially withheld.
27.
Critics drew parallels with the real-life Baer-Primo Carnera fight two decades before.
28.
Primo Carnera played himself in the 1949 movie Mighty Joe Young.
29.
In physique he was not unlike what Primo Carnera would have been if Carnera hadn't stunted his growth by smoking cigarettes when a boy.
30.
Primo Carnera is mentioned in Cambalache, a 1934 tango song by Enrique Santos Discepolo that was featured in the musical drama film The Soul of the Accordion.