At over six and a half feet tall and nearly 300 pounds, heavyweight champion Primo Carnera was a giant for his times, but today “the Ambling Alp” is too often written off as an unskilled oaf and a product of the mob dealings that plagued boxing during the 1930s. He may not have been a natural in the ring, but he worked as hard as any boxer to learn his craft, to be in top condition, and he repeatedly showed that he was tougher than nails. This biography details Carnera’s early life and boxing career, his success as a fighter as well as accusations of fight fixing, his strengths and limitations in the ring, and his later career as a wrestler.

Joseph S. Page is an organizational development consultant in Nashville, Tennessee. His other works include a biography of boxing’s first world middleweight champion Nonpareil Jack Dempsey and a history of professional football championships prior to the first Super Bowl.

Joseph S. Page
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 257
Bibliographic Info: 21 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4810-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5786-1
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction—Primo Carnera: The Ambling Alp 1
1. Young Primo of Sequals, 1906–1928 5
2. Early Boxing Days in Europe, 1928–1929 8
3. To the United States, 1930 25
4. The Battle of the Cracked Rib and Other Tales, 1931 64
5. Making His Case, 1932 79
6. The Death of Ernie Schaaf, 1933 100
7. “A Right Uppercut”: The Championship, 1933 110
8. Title Defenses, 1933–1934 121
9. Max Baer, 1934 135
10. After the Title, 1934–1935 148
11. The Joe Louis Fight, 1935 157
12. After Louis, 1935–1939 166
13. The War Years, 1939–1945 181
14. The Comeback/Wrestling, 1945–1962 185
15. The Films 189
16. Boxing Ability 192
17. The Fix Question 200
18. Primo Carnera: The Man 209
Appendix I: Ring Record 219
Appendix II: Undercards 225
Chapter Notes 234
Bibliography 241
Index 243

“Boxing historians, or others, who follow the sport, will profit from reading this book about one of the ring’s huge champions”—Cyber Boxing Zone; “excellent…the author’s knowledge of boxing history is solid…an enjoyable read. Page give Carnera his due”—Doghouse Boxing News Report; “interesting and informative…boxing historians, or others, who follow the sport, will profit from reading this book”—Tracy Callis, International Boxing Research Organization.