Primo Carnera Virginia ham." His size earned him the nickname "The Ambling Alp". "Time" magazine called him "The Monster". 12 September 1928 was the date of Carnera's first professional fight, against Leon Sebilo, in Paris. Carnera won by knockout in round two. He won his first six bouts, then lost to Franz Diener by disqualification in round one at Leipzig. Then, he won seven more bouts in a row before meeting Young Stribling. He and Stribling exchanged disqualification wins, Carnera winning the first in four rounds, and Stribling winning the rematch in round seven. In Carnera's next bout he avenged his defeat
Primo Carnera in his next fight on 14 June 1934 against Max Baer, Carnera was knocked down multiple times in 11 rounds, before referee Arthur Donovon stopped the fight. There is disagreement regarding how many times Carnera was knocked down, with sources giving conflicting totals of 7, 10, 11 (per Associated Press) and 12 (per "The Ring" magazine founder Nat Fleischer, ringside for the fight, who wrote that Carnera was knocked down 12 times and slipped once after a missed punch). After that, Carnera won his next four fights, three of them as part of a South American tour that took him