Roark Posted October 26, 2001 Share Posted October 26, 2001 Primo Carnera was born and died in Sequals, Italy. Oct 26, 1906 - June 29, 1967. He was a boxer and wrestler, whose height is variously reported but must have been about 6'5" or so, and his weight ranged from 260 to 300+ lbs, the heavier during his wrestling days. You may remember him from HERCULES UNCHAINED, the Steve Reeves movie. Thomas Inch casually mentions Primo and wonders if he would have been able to lift the Inch 172, and says that on those few occasions when Inch and Carnera were in each other's company, the bell was never at hand. This is interesting because Carnera being born this day 1906, would have been age 25 when Inch retired the bell in 1931, so when did they meet? Perhaps later when Inch un-retired the bell during WW II. Ray Can Cleef measured Carnera and reported in Strength & Health May 1947 that his larger wrist was 8.9 and his larger forearm was 15.1. His biceps were 17.2, hardly noteworthy for someone so tall. His wrist/forearm ratio was not spectacular either, but in fairness to him he hardly claimed to be a sterling weight trainee. The real question, and RVC does not mention this, is the hand length, which we learn elsewhere was 9 x 5, so it is not to be ruled out that Carnera could have deadlifted the bell. Indeed, if we want to know who could likely have lifted it, all we need do is study the list of those who never attempted it: Apollon, Marx, See, Pedley, Cyr, Vansart, and Batta. They would have had a primo chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StoicGrip Posted October 26, 2001 Share Posted October 26, 2001 I have read that Carnera was at one time a strongman in a circus,and that as part of his act would lift overhead a heavy man from the audience . I have also seen him in a movie set in London in the early fifties in which he played a wrestler . You can see that his hands and fingers were ernormous . He looked like he had acromegalia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest woody36 Posted October 26, 2001 Share Posted October 26, 2001 The best pic of his hand is in a photo with Jimmy Durante in the photo gallery. http://www.carnera.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarBender Posted October 26, 2001 Share Posted October 26, 2001 Here is another photo that sharply contrasts his hand size with that of a woman. http://www.carnera.org/images/primo9.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StoicGrip Posted October 26, 2001 Share Posted October 26, 2001 test only Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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