THE 100 GREATEST BOXERS OF ALL TIME #13: ARCHIE MOORE

“THE OL’ MONGOOSE”

185 WINS (131 BY KO), 23 LOSSES, 10 DRAWS

World Light Heavyweight Champion 1952–1962

Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year 1958

International Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee 1990

Only one man in boxing history faced both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali in the ring, and that is Archie Moore, whose career lasted from the 1930s into the 1960s. A devastating puncher with a champion’s heart, Moore also developed a unique boxing style that included a nearly impenetrable defensive shell and an unpredictable in-fighting style. That power, heart, and style allowed him to compete at a world-class level from middleweight to heavyweight over a 28-year career.

Introduced to boxing as part of President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, Moore turned pro at age 17 in 1935 as a middleweight (160 pounds) and would fight multiple times a month all the way into the 1950s. He was part of a generation of talented black middleweights and light heavyweights of the 1940s who were denied championship shots because their skin color and talent frightened away promoters and champions alike. As a result, they had to fight each other. Among the other members of this hard-luck club were Eddie Booker, Lloyd Marshall, Charley Burley, Jimmy Bivins, Cocoa Kid, Holman Williams, Ezzard Charles, Oakland Billy Smith, Jack Chase, and Elmer Ray. His record against these men would be 15 wins, 8 losses, and 4 draws, with 9 of his victories coming by knockout.

Eventually, 17 years into his career and 39 years old, Moore was allowed a shot at world light heavyweight (175 pounds) champion Joey Maxim on December 17, 1952. Winning a fifteen-round decision in front of his hometown St. Louis fans, he became the oldest man to win a world championship to that point, beating a record set by Bob Fitzsimmons 51-years-earlier.

Amazingly, Archie would hold onto the championship for a decade, defending it eight times in that period. One of those defenses, against Canada’s Yvon Durelle in Montreal on December 10, 1958, is considered the most thrilling title fight in the division’s history. Against a 29-year-old challenger, the 45-year-old champion rose from four knockdowns and fought through terrific punishment to win by eleventh-round knockout. Archie remained champion until 1962, when he permanently moved to the heavyweight division at age 49. No one had taken the belt from him in the ring.

Moore had been fighting heavyweights off and on since 1945, usually at a tremendous size disadvantage. In 1951, he stopped 224 ½ pound Abe Cestac in nine rounds, despite their 47-pound weight disparity. His ability to jump back and forth between weight classes from fight to fight at an advanced age was a subject of fascination for the sporting press at the time.

Archie fought twice for the heavyweight championship of the world. In large part because of Moore’s charismatic personality and talent for trash-talking, his challenge of undefeated Rocky Marciano on September 21, 1955 was the biggest fight of either man’s career, drawing 61,574 fans to Yankee Stadium. In that fight, he became one of only two men to ever put Marciano on the canvas, doing so in the second round with a chopping overhand right. He then endured a brutal comeback from the champion, bravely rising from three knockdowns before being finished off in the ninth.

Marciano retired almost immediately after the fight, and Moore was selected to fight young Floyd Patterson for the vacant championship on November 30, 1956, in Chicago Stadium. Patterson had been born the same year Archie turned pro. There was an 18-year age difference between the fighters, and Patterson won in the fifth round.

Moore occasionally trained fighters even as he continued his career. Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali) was briefly one of his students before Clay switched to Angelo Dundee. In 1962, the trainer fought his student, and 20-year-old Clay easily stopped 49-year-old Moore, who announced his retirement two years later with more knockout wins (131) on his record than any other fighter to this day. In later years, he helped train heavyweight champion George Foreman.

Archie Moore’s Record vs. Hall of Famers & lineal world champions:

4/20/1939 — L 10 — Teddy Yarosz

12/11/1942 — D 12 — Eddie Booker

1/21/1944 — L (TKO) 8 — Eddie Booker

6/26/1945 — W (TKO) 10 — Lloyd Marshall

4/21/1944 — L 10 — Charley Burley

8/22/1945 — L (KO) 6 — Jimmy Bivins

9/17/1945 — W (KO) 8 — Cocoa Kid

10/22/1945 — L 10 — Holman Williams

11/26/1945 — W (TKO) 11 — Holman Williams

5/20/1946 — L 10 — Ezzard Charles

5/5/1947 — L 10 — Ezzard Charles

9/8/1947 — W (TKO) 8 — Jimmy Bivins

1/13/1948 — L (KO) 8 — Ezzard Charles

6/28/1948 — W 10 — Jimmy Bivins

4/11/1949 —W (KO) 8 — Jimmy Bivins

2/21/1951 — W (TKO) 9 — Jimmy Bivins

9/24/1951 — W 10 — Harold Johnson

12/10/1951 — L 10 — Harold Johnson

1/29/1952 — W 10 — Harold Johnson

12/17/1952 — W 15 — Joey Maxim

6/24/1953 — W 15 — Joey Maxim

1/27/1954 — W 15 — Joey Maxim

8/11/1954 — W (TKO) 14 — Harold Johnson

6/22/1955 — W (KO) 3 — Bobo Olson

9/21/1955 — L (KO) 9 — Rocky Marciano

11/30/1956 — L (KO) 5 — Floyd Patterson

5/28/1962 — D 10 — Willie Pastrano

11/15/1962 — L (TKO) 4 — Muhammad Ali