How Come Carnera Beat Loughran?

[Bronson66]

How did Carnera , a vastly less skilled fighter than Loughran ,beat the great Light heavyweight?

[Dr Z]

Because in spite of his flaws Carrera had a reasonably good jab. Combined with his massive height, weight and reach advantages he was good enough to beat the light punching Loughran. Watch the films.

Pound for pound skills mean nothing when giving up three to four weights classes as Loguhtan was.

If Loughton had great feet and jab he might have been able to overcome these massive disadvantages. Or if he could hit hard.. Neither is the case.

[Marchegiano]

I'll concede Loughran hadn't aged out here if you give me Charles in Marciano debates.

[GhostofDempsey]

Loughran fought most of his career with a bad right hand. He gave up 84 pounds to Carnera and just didn’t have the power to keep him off of him. He knew prior to the fight Carnera would try to clinch and lean his weight on him to fire him out, so he and his coach came up with the idea to buy some foul smelling grease and put it on his forehead between rounds so when Carnera clinched he’d rub this stuff in his nose.

[JAB5239]

Loughran fought most of his career with a bad right hand. He gave up 84 pounds to Carnera and just didn’t have the power to keep him off of him. He knew prior to the fight Carnera would try to clinch and lean his weight on him to fire him out, so he and his coach came up with the idea to buy some foul smelling grease and put it on his forehead between rounds so when Carnera clinched he’d rub this stuff in his nose.

The whole size thing is dependent on so many other things. Would foster have kept him off? Great right hand, but who knows? Spinks? Good power, but did he have the mobility? I think it all depends when one fighter fights another. Put Joe Louis at his best, I think he fares well in any era. Ali...same. Tyson...yep. Holyfield...check another box. Do they win every fight? Hard to say. Of course size matters. But it's dependent on the time one fighter fights another and many other mitigating circumstances. Many of the big guys Louis fought are called "bums". Ii don't see that. Those guys not only exhibited ring knowledge but brat other great and or top fighters of their era. The whole fantasy fight thing is fun, but it's just that, a fantasy.

[Willie Pep 229]

Loughran fought most of his career with a bad right hand. He gave up 84 pounds to Carnera and just didn’t have the power to keep him off of him. He knew prior to the fight Carnera would try to clinch and lean his weight on him to fire him out, so he and his coach came up with the idea to buy some foul smelling grease and put it on his forehead between rounds so when Carnera clinched he’d rub this stuff in his nose.

I hope that's true.

[Bundana]

I'm very hesitant to believe the foul smelling grease story!

The only place I've seen this mentioned, is in the Loughran chapter of Peter Heller's "In This Corner"... where Loughran makes so many strange claims/excuses, that it's hard to take much of it seriously.

[GhostofDempsey]

The whole size thing is dependent on so many other things. Would foster have kept him off? Great right hand, but who knows? Spinks? Good power, but did he have the mobility? I think it all depends when one fighter fights another. Put Joe Louis at his best, I think he fares well in any era. Ali...same. Tyson...yep. Holyfield...check another box. Do they win every fight? Hard to say. Of course size matters. But it's dependent on the time one fighter fights another and many other mitigating circumstances. Many of the big guys Louis fought are called "bums". Ii don't see that. Those guys not only exhibited ring knowledge but brat other great and or top fighters of their era. The whole fantasy fight thing is fun, but it's just that, a fantasy.

I’m in agreement that size isn’t as much as a factor as skill, to an extent. It depends on what a fighter has in his toolbox. I think a lot of smaller heavies from past eras would rip through today’s generation of super heavyweights who are far less skilled and one dimensional. I think Loughran struggled because he couldn’t put much power behind the right hand and bigger opponents knew this.Does that mean a LHW like Foster, Beterbiev, or Moore would have beaten Carnera? Foster failed at his attempts at HW stardom. Moore was crafty enough to outbox him, and Artur could probably **** with him. Yet Dempsey mauled Willard and Louis made easy work of Carnera. Langford KO’d Wills.

Loughran would lose his next three fights and it is safe to assume he was past his prime when he fought Carnera. Primo was also known to have fights fixed in his favor for the mob.

[Mr Mitts]

But could Primo beat Willard?

[Bronson66]

Because in spite of his flaws Carrera had a reasonably good jab. Combined with his massive height, weight and reach advantages he was good enough to beat the light punching Loughran. Watch the films.

Pound for pound skills mean nothing when giving up three to four weights classes as Loguhtan was.

If Loughton had great feet and jab he might have been able to overcome these massive disadvantages. Or if he could hit hard.. Neither is the case.

Are you for real?
Loughran is noted for having one of the best jabs of all time,in fact with his fragile hands he had little else! lol

Loughran was a master boxer with a perfect stance; He was quick on his feet and possessed excellent ring savvy; During his career, he won the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World

He defeated such men as Harry Greb, Georges Carpentier, Jim Braddock, Mickey Walker, W.L. "Young" Stribling, Jimmy Slattery, Jeff Smith, Mike McTigue, Johnny Wilson, William Bryan Downey, Gerald "Tuffy" Griffith, Roland Todd, Ad Stone, Leo Lomski, Armand Emanuel, Jack Renault, Jack Gross, Arturo Godoy, Al Ettore, Paulino Uzcudun, King Levinsky, Steve ***** and Yale Okun

Nat Fleischer ranked Loughran as the #4 All-Time Light Heavyweight; Charley Rose ranked him as the #4 All-Time Light Heavyweight; Herb Goldman ranked him as the #7 All-Time Light Heavyweight; Tommy was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1956 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991