Primo Carnera

Primo Carnera (26 October 1906 – 29 June 1967) was the first Italian Heavyweight Champion boxer, holding the title from 1933 to 1934. Nicknamed the Ambling Alp, he was best known for his immense size and status as one of the most physically imposing heavyweights in boxing history. At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and weighing more than 275 pounds (125 kg), Carnera became the World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Jack Sharkey by knockout.

Carnera was a major box-office attraction during the 1930s, regularly drawing large crowds due to his sheer size and spectacle. He set many attendance records during the height of the Great Depression. Later active as a professional wrestler and film actor, he appeared alongside Max Baer and Jack Dempsey in the Oscar-nominated film The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933). Primo's life is crudely mirrored in the Humphrey Bogart film The Harder They Fall (1956). He sued the producers for invasion of privacy but was unsuccessful.