beaujack wrote:jaclem2 wrote:...o'halloran had the same glandular disorder as primo carnera...jess willard and possibly abe simon.
I don't think Primo Carnera had any "glandular disorder" as O'halloran and Abe Simon.. Carnera in his day was described as a Giant ,with perfect proportions for his size. Amazingly muscled for such a big man,who could scoot around the ring for a man of 260 pounds...
Carnera had acromegalic features, but imho he never had it. His body never got any broader, denser, thicker, as time went on. Pituitary surgery was in in its infancy then, and Carnera certainly would have died between the age of 20-40 had he actually had it. The body grows so much that the immune system cannot fight off infections and common colds and inflammations. That's why Robert Wadlow, for example, died from a simple blister on his ankle at age 22. Another telling fact and reason why I don't believe Carnera, Willard, Simon, etc didn't have the disorder is the fact that the body grows at such a rate that muscles never adapt to the structure. While these individuals are big, and look wickedly strong, they are in fact very weak and off balance individuals. That's why I think someone like Nicolae Valuev had acromegaly, because over time he began wearing knee braces and was getting less mobile as time went on and retired relatively young, rather than go for bigger paydays against Vitali Klitschko and others.
O'Halloran on the other hand, I am not sure of his status as far as having a pituitary disorder goes, but if his bio rings true he didn't have it either; because it says he lacked power, and then built himself up with weights and became stronger. And as I stated before, if you really had acromegaly or gigantism, you wouldn't be able to do this and it last. The only true acromegalic's I know of in boxing history, where there is irrefutable evidence, were Jim Cully, John Rankin, Gogea Mitu, and that African heavyweight Edwardt (whose last name I can't bring myself to type) who fought James J. Parker during Marciano's title reign. You can argue, also, that possibly American title claimer Charles Freeman was acromegalic, though descriptions of his agility and prodigous strength goes against the disease characteristics.
