CARNERA TRIUMPHANT

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1933, Page 11

CARNERA TRIUMPHANT

“MY FIVE-YEAR PLAN.” NEW YORK, June 30. “It was of Italy I thought when I saw him hit the floor,” were the words in which Carnera summed up his emotions this morning when he described his victory over Sharkey the night before. Picturesquely draped in a dressing gown, the world’s new heavy-weight champion —18 stone of him—was somewhat precariously balanced on a gilt chair in his Broadway hotel. Evidently he feels that if he talks at all he should do so with the dignity fitting his new status as an international figure. In moments of excitement his control of English—never too great—deserts him entirely. Immediately after the fight he could only talk Italian, but this morning, however, he had recovered, and was quite the complete linguist. He described his career since 1928 as an “Italian Five-Year Plan,” and, after dictating suitably Ambassadorial messages of good will to his compatriots at home and abroad, he turned eagerly to the next great event of his life—his meeting with Signor Mussolini.

“I have never met him before.” he said, “but before I sailed he told me to visit him when I returned. So now I will go.” Camera’s waking thought, it appears, was of the Fascist leader, and his huge face brightened when he heard that the news of the victory had been communicated to Signor Mussolini at his breakfast this morning. The new world’s champion is to occupy his leisure with a little film work in Hollywood, appearing in special stories. “ONE OF THE GREATEST.” LONDON, July 1. With the defeat of Jack Sharkey, the world’s heavyweight championship returns to Europe (says the Boxing Correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph”). Camera is now firmly set on the throne, and it is not easy to see who will topple him off at present. Baer, the American who beat Schmeling recently, will probably be his next opponent. but on this side of the Atlantic there is nobody worth putting up against him. The new champion is a far better’ man than he has been given credit for. His abnormal physique, height, and strength lent an artificial air to the contests in which he has figured. His victories were under-estimated and his defeats, when they did occur, -were unduly magnified. The truth is that Camera is probably one of the greatest heavyweights the world has ever seen. It is, perhaps, too much to say that he is, apart from his size, a fistic superman, but his boxing skill, fine intelligence, speed and imperturbable temperament combine to make him a fighting individual quite above the average. “He will fall in the dust like the others,” said Jim Corbet, when Jack Dempsey won the title by knocking out Jess Willard in four rounds. It is the general experience of champions, although Gene Tunney, the predecessor of the American Lithuanian, Jack Sharkey, on the fistic throne, avoided such a fate by retiring undefeated from the ring. Jim Jeffries, a previous champion, also retired undefeated, but was persuaded to come back again after long inactivity. He met Jack Johnson and was knocked out for his paijis. Jeffries lost because he had been absent from the ring too long, and Sharkey is no doubt partly correct in attributing his defeat by Camera to his being “rusty.” It is a year ago since Sharkey won the title from Max Schmeling on a very doubtful decision, and he had not had a fight since until he. met Camera in the Long Island arena on Thursday night.

Inactivity is the worst enemy of the pugilist. As a matter of fact, Sharkey has fought only once in the last two years, whereas Camera has been one of the most industrious men in the game. The terrific right-hand uppercut which sent Sharkey off his feet into oblivion not only extinguished his blustering promises to beat the Italian again, but it struck a hard blow at the too complacent judgment of those critics who complained that Camera “could not hit his own weight,” as the saying goes. SHORT LIVED REIGN.

The beaten champion has had a short lived reign. He fought Schmeling for the title two years ago, and lost because, when he had the German almost on the verge of collapse, he committed an egregious foul. If Sharkey had not been handicapped by his lack of self-control in the ring and his hysterical temperament, he might have been a worthy successor to such illustrious fighters as Dempsey, Johnson, Jeffries, and Fitzsimmons. He was never popular, however, and it is interesting to nolo that Camera’s knock-out triumph is the first of this nature to be achieved in a world's heavyweight championship bout since Dempsey beat Willard. “It. is hard to get to the top,” said Tunney, and Camera’s path to the championship during his four and ahalf years’ boxing has been beset by many difficulties. He has been suspended by Commissions, and when Ernest Schaff died after fighting him it was decided that. Camera would only be allowed to meet rivals of the same “dreadnought” class in build as himself. That restriction was lifted in order that he could meet Sharkey, however, but Camera still had his worries. There was his breach of promise case, pursued both in England and the United States, and his bankruptcy troubles. Even his share of the purse for the fight with Sharkey was attached beforehand, but the world’s championship should bring him ample consolation for it all.