Primo 'Man Mountain' Carnera vs. Ray 'Skyscarper' Impelletiere March 16, 1935

Carnera weighed 268 pounds and Impelletiere scaled at 258 pounds. The fight between these giants began competitively, but by the third round Carnera’s “well planned” (Daily Journal-World) strategy began to work. For the next six rounds Carnera threw everything at Impelleriere as the two fought, mauled and dragged each other around the ring. By the ninth round only Ray’s Chuck Wepner-sized heart kept him on his feet. Referee Jack Dempsey finally stopped the contest awarding Carnera a TKO victory. The fight wasn’t technical or pretty by any standard, but they delivered plenty of action and drama for a contest between two big men. The fight was big enough to be shown in later in the theaters. A copy of the original film has been circulating among collectors but the quality is poor. The copy here is taken from a video collection released in 1990s. The dubbed commentary is distracting, but I included it anyway for reference, and sharpened the picture.

[davidabney]

Sportsmanship was a "given" back-in-the-day of boxing. Noticed how Primo walked across the ring to congratulate Impelletiere. Compare this behavior with the pre and post fight misbehavior of today's fighters. Primo was the former Heavyweight Champ for this fight. He was good enough to become the Champ by knocking our Heavyweight Champ Jack Sharkey in round 5 to become the new Champion of the Heavyweight Division. Primo was unfairly treated by the press, slandered, made the butt end of cruel jokes by people that would not "DARE" get into the ring Primo! He deserved better than he got. Only in recent times has history been kinder to this good man! I wish that today's fighters would behave as well as Primo did in his time, most especially in the sportsmanship department!

[striperking]

Carnera was underrated . I’ve closely followed boxing since 1960’s and from my view I think he could beat most of the top 10 heavyweight fighters of today . Of any decade actually .

[doctortommy]

Never heard of this fight till now. Very good quality. Physical freaks for their time for sure.

[neivaldoduarte]

Primo Carnera, um grande desportista!!! Muito fã, desse que foi um dos grandes lutadores de todos os tempos!!!

[lastrada]

Look up Primo Carnera's record. He didn't fight a lot of bums like they'd like you to believe. Carnera holds the 2nd-most victories of all heavyweight champions with 88 & trailing only Ezzard Charles with his 95 wins. Carnera's 71 career knockouts are the most of any world heavyweight champion.


Some more heavyweights come close to the record but their careers were far longer than Primo.


No, Carnera was not a bum. If the mob-controlled him -- why did he lose at all?


But you have to admit -- his conditioning & thick-skinned muscular build was remarkable on that 6'6 frame. Quite intimidating.


If Primo had the right trainers -- like an Angelo Dundee, Cus D'Amato or Kevin Rooney -- he would've been one difficult guy to defeat. In some fights, he looks like he had a very effective jab too.


I used to box -- I would never have under-estimated a guy like Primo Carnera. He was better than many give him credit for. A better fighter than Jess Willard -- so Dempsey would've had his problems with Primo. From what I read, Primo hit damn hard when he connected. This fight with Impelleriere was quite an exciting bout.

[mider-spanman]

Two giants face off! It would have been cool to see Primo Carnera versus Abe Simon.

[marcusaurelius]

I really like the old style of horsehair boxing gloves because they allowed you to grab and trap.

[colinbrigham]

Thanks the information at the end very interesting.

[carspiv]

Carnera was the butt of old-timer’s jokes. But he was always in tip-top shape and worked hard to improve. He was very, very courageous and developed a pretty good jab. He was pretty even with Max Baer after being knocked down 6 times in the first 2 rounds of their fight, and the stoppage of that fight is, in retrospect, pretty controversial. Carnera was complaining to referee Donovan, in broken English, that Baer was thumbing him. “Finga”, he said, and you can see him holding his thumb spread from the rest of the glove. Evidently, Donovan thought he was saying, “Fini, ” meaning “Finished.” Donovan then stopped the fight, awarding it to Baer.

[mider-spanman]

I wonder if Tyson Fury could manhandle either of these two men?

[johngerard]

Imagine if Carnera had lifted weights.

[hammeringhank]

Dempsey would have destroyed both these clowns

[alanaliyevGT]

in theses times 6'6" was considered like a very tall Man.... NOW ...2.tierce of MY COUSINS stand this height .

[annzeannieorannzeannaschot]

Primo diffenitly hit about as hard as forman and shavers maybe harder he was a little bit hey with his punches sometimes you could see them comming a little but he snapped them too and sometimes they were fast amazing athlete for those days. I boxed a little as a heavey ameurter had a couple of golden gloves fights a few gym fights nd a bunch of sparring sessions with some pris and top flight ameuter guys in the nyc area I never hit the deck and gave out as much as I took but in the long run looking back what the fuck was I doing in that ring my life these days totally different nyc strongest d.s.ny for 32years in the streets on the regudge hauler it's heavey and my out if pocket transition if you know what's that m to f makes me feel like a new m....n not to missgendet me but what the fuck I feel like a new man well not quite used to look like a cute big boy like a valdimere kletschco but I was fluent not a gwork like the russian was now I look like Anna kornacova or pam anderson you with a rack kids you can't make this shit up I'm not lying stories like this do exist ha ha. Tonyi in nyc

[jahno]

The fight should've been put to bed long time but Carnero didn't have the skill and speed to knock him out that other guy was a brave punch bag.

[annzeannieorannzeannaschot]

Camera diffenitly a formableopponent he was a strong f er if he hit you right you are done tonyi in nyc

[robertbaker]

Boxing really has come on a lot since those days. Imagine guys as slow and cumbersome as this going up against the likes of Fury, AJ and Wilder.

[adamevert]

A 175lbs fighter of today destroys these two...maybe even a good 168lbs!