A GIANT IN LONDON

Remembering when the enormous Italian Primo Carnera fought in the British capital

AHUGE lump of a man, too big and clumsy to get out of his own way”. This is how the British press described future world heavyweight champion Primo Carnera in 1929 prior to his first contest in the UK. The giant Italian was here to box Jack Stanley on a Jeff Dickson promotion at the Royal Albert Hall, and it was the first of seven bouts that he had in London over the next three years.

His initial arrival caused a sensation as his fighting weight was around 280lbs. Although not so unusual today, a heavyweight of this size in 1929 was unheard of. The British sporting public didn’t warm to him as a boxer, but they were awed by stories of his immense power and were fascinated by the image of him presented in the press, where he was frequently portrayed as a freak, a monster and, as a fighter, little more than a joke.

In his first outing, Carnera delivered, dispatching Stanley with ease in under two minutes. Interestingly, Pat Tarling, a Walthamstow heavyweight who had gone along to watch the contest, challenged Carnera to a fight there and then, and in his second clash of the night Carnera stopped the brave Tarling in two rounds. This bout has always been omitted from Carnera’s official record, but it was not an exhibition contest, and perhaps it should be included.

A month later the big Italian was matched with the world-rated Young Stribling. Dickson, ever the showman, brought the American to London in a blaze of publicity. Stribling, a veteran of more than 250 fights, was widely known and very popular, but he was a blown-up light-heavyweight and he entered the ring at least six stone (84lbs) lighter than his opponent.

The bout attracted huge interest and, according to the Boxing News report, the sell-out crowd included “the Prince of Wales, Cabinet Ministers and the leaders of society, sport and drama.” The fight was certainly dramatic. Both boxers were floored in an exciting third round and then in the next Stribling hit Carnera well below the belt and was promptly disqualified.

Realising the potential of a return, Dickson matched the men to fight in Paris the following month and, once again, the bout ended in a disqualification, this time with Stribling on the canvas after being hit well after the bell had ended the seventh round.

Returning to London at the end of 1930, Carnera beat the future British heavyweight champion Reggie Meen in two rounds on another Dickson promotion. Not a small man himself, Meen was described as looking “like a pygmy against a giant”, and despite a brave showing he was beaten in fourand-a-half minutes.

Carnera’s final flirtation with British boxing occurred in 1932 when he had three fights in London. He won the first two of these easily enough, but then came up against the Leicester-based Canadian Larry Gains in a 10-rounder at the White City Stadium.

The underrated Gains gave Carnera a boxing lesson in front of 80,000 spectators, and this victory added to his knockout of Max Schmeling in 1925. Gains beat two future world heavyweight kings convincingly, but never came close to a title shot himself.

Carnera has long been denigrated as one of the worst of the world heavyweight champions, and I find it hard to disagree with this assessment. He was frequently matched against either big heavyweights who were poor, or good fighters who were small. Stribling falls into the latter category and until the low blow in their second bout the clever American had bamboozled and frustrated Carnera with his superior boxing skills. Gains did the same.

Carnera died penniless in 1967, Stribling passed away in 1933 aged 24 after a motorbike accident, and Dickson went missing over Germany in 1944 while serving with the US Air Force.