Real name Jose Soares Santa Height 2.06 m Nickname(s) Camarao Wins 0 | Rated at Heavyweight Name Santa Camarao Total fights 2 Nationality Portuguese Role Boxer | |
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Spouse Mary Loreto (m. 1932–1947) Parents Josefa Pereira dos Santos, Antonio Soares Santa | ||
José Soares Santa (December 25, 1902 – April 5, 1968), known as Santa Camarão ("Camarão" being a family nickname meaning Shrimp in English) or Zé Santa in Portugal, and as José Santa in America, was a Portuguese boxer who was the tallest known heavyweight of all time in the 1930s.
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Life and career
Born to António Soares Santa and Josefa Pereira dos Santos in Ovar, Portugal, Santa was a remarkable individual 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall and weighed (265 lbs) 120 kg, at a time when the average height was approximately 5 ft 5 in.
His boxing career lasted from 1925-1933. He fought Pierre Charles for the European title in 1929 which he failed to capture. During his career he fought in Europe, North and South America taking on heavyweight champs Max Baer, and Primo Carnera (Carnera won the fight by a 6th-round decision), in Madison Square Gardens, United States.
Santa starred in the first film where Portuguese was spoken on screen, Liebe Im Ring (Love in the Ring), a 1930 film by Reinhold Schünzel in Berlin. He starred alongside heavyweight boxing champ Max Schmeling in this film about a boxer.
In 1932 he married a Portuguese American, Mary Loreto. He became a hero to Portuguese people all over the world. After retiring from the ring he moved back to the house where he was born in Ovar with his wife and son and where he would eventually die in 1968.
Until 7 ft 2 in, 147 kg (23 stone) Heavyweight Champ Nikolay Valuev became a professional boxer in 1993, Santa was one of the tallest heavyweights in boxing history. He enjoyed a sizable reach advantage over most rivals, and when seen on fight footage, he seems like a towering giant compared to many heavyweights of his era, who were usually shorter than him.
In 1999, a street of Lisbon was named after him, Rua José Santa Camarão.
Professional boxing record
Incomplete record
