ARCHIE MOORE
Nigeria
4
On this day...
'Nobody's been stronger than me in there. The fella might be bigger, heavier. But he ain't any stronger.' - Archie Moore
On this day in 1916, light heavyweight world champion, two-time heavyweight world title challenger, hall of fame inductee and arguably the most prolific knockout specialist the sport has ever known was born. That man was none other than ‘The Old Mongoose’, Archie Moore.
Moore, real name Archibold Lee Wright was born in Benoit, Mississippi in 1916, although he claimed that he was in fact born in 1913 but a US Census record appears to confirm his year of birth as 1916. His parents, Lorena and Thomas, worked as farm labourers but separated while Moore was an infant. Moore then moved to St. Louis where he was taken in along with his other siblings by his Aunt and Uncle, Willie Pearl and Cleveland. It was then that Archie adopted their surname of Moore.
Shortly after moving to St. Louis, tragedy struck the Moore family. Firstly, Cleveland suffered an accident during an initiation ceremony into a fraternal organisation that left him paralysed before eventually passing away from the injury. Moore also lost his sister, Rena who died whilst giving birth to twins. Sadly, one of the twins didn’t make it either. The surviving twin was raised by Willie Pearl along with Archie and his other siblings.
With the main bread-winner of the Moore family gone, money and food was scarce, a situation exacerbated by the brutal hardships of The Great Depression. It was during this time that Moore went through a rebellious phase and became a prolific thief. Moore’s petty crimes would see him arrested several times and eventually landed him in reform school. It was during his time in reform school that Moore began to rethink his life.
Moore decided he didn’t want to carry on down the path to prison or an early death and instead, would turn his life around and invest all his energy into something that would not only earn him his fortune, but also make his family proud. Among other things, Moore considered a career in baseball but in those days black players were paid even more poorly than they were treated. In the end, Moore decided he would dedicate himself to the sport of boxing. Moore, who was a natural athlete and had already had a small degree of experience in boxing, began to train in the school’s gym and took part in amateur bouts during his time inside the institution.
After serving just shy of two years, Moore was released and ready to achieve his dream. Moore returned to a St Louis still ravaged by The Depression and steady jobs were hard to come by. Moore eventually found forestry work and although it was a physically gruelling way to earn a living, it helped to develop his famous muscular physique as well arming him with an exceptional level of fitness. Moore also boxed on the amateur circuit and with each bout he learned something new and sharpened his skills. Even in the bouts where he lost, Moore found a valuable lesson to take away from it that would one day serve him well in the paid ranks.
Moore made his professional debut on the 3rd September 1935, he had been sat in the audience at a boxing show before being plucked from the crowd to face Billy Sims, who had apparently already flattened another opponent in a matter of seconds. With the crowd left dissatisfied with the brief bout, Moore volunteered to step in and fight Sims. Despite the short notice, Moore defeated Sims via 2nd round knockout and with that Moore’s life in the professional ranks was underway.
Moore began his campaign in the middleweight division, aged 18 and soon gained a reputation as a powerful, patient fighter with exceptional reflexes and counter-punching abilities. Moore was also tenacious and determined in his pursuit of opponents. Finding himself shunned by white promoters, Moore would often hitchhike, ride in box cars and sleep anywhere he could while travelling throughout the southern states looking for fights. Life on the road for a lone black man travelling around the south was not without its dangers however. Moore would often find himself chased out of towns by lynch mobs as well as being refused service in hotels and restaurants. Moore would also find himself on the short end of the stick when it came to his purse. Black fighters would invariably receive much smaller pay than their white counterparts.
In 1938, Moore relocated to San Diego, California but continued to travel wherever his occupation required. In 1940, Moore would even travel to Australia, where he fought in 7 bouts against the best fighters Australia had to offer, winning all inside the distance. Despite not earning as much from his campaign Down Under as he’d hoped, the string of wins saw the ‘Old Mongoose’ gain notoriety back home. Moore’s career was almost finished the following year however, when a perforated ulcer meant he required extensive surgery that left him with a large scar across his midsection, as well as later catching pneumonia. As Moore recovered in hospital, Doctors told him he would not fight again. Moore knew otherwise.
When Moore was finally well enough to leave the hospital, he weighed less than 100lbs but gradually he began to build his strength back up. When he finally returned to the gym, Moore used an old license plate that had been beaten into shape to fit around his healing wound so that he could spar. After nearly a year away from the ring, Moore made his return in 1942 where he defeated Bobby Britt via 3rd round knockout.
Despite his reputation as an exceptional fighter, Moore was in no danger of landing a title fight anytime soon. Moore’s being black certainly didn’t help, but his refusal to rub shoulders with the mob, who pretty much controlled boxing during that time didn’t help either. With no title shot on the horizon, Moore busied himself by grinding out the results and sharing the ring with other highly respected but equally avoided fighters such as Jimmy Bivins, Jack Chase, Harold Johnson, Holman Williams and Charley Burley. Moore also fought another pound for pound legend and future heavyweight world champion in Ezzard ‘The Cincinatti Cobra’ Charles on three occasions during this time.
In 1951, Moore travelled to Argentina where once again he took on the Country’s finest in a series out 8 bouts, winning 7 and drawing 1. It was during his tour of Argentina that Moore caught the attention of the then President, Juan Peron who as a former boxer himself, admired Moore and tried to persuade Moore to stay in Argentina. Moore declined however and returned to The US in pursuit of an elusive title shot. Moore would finally get his shot at the light-heavyweight world championship in 1952 against Joey Maxim but only if Moore agreed to Maxim getting $100,000 of the purse, as well as Doc Kearns, Maxim’s manager, taking co-ownership of Moore going forward.
Finally, after 128 bouts, 17 years as a professional and at the age of 36, Archie Moore made his challenge for the light heavyweight crown on the 17th December 1952 against Joey Maxim in his former hometown of St Louis. Moore was focused on the task at hand and was not going to be denied. He would go on to claim the victory along with the title via a clear 15 round unanimous decision - a victory made all the more sweet by his mother and estranged father being at ringside to watch their son achieve his lifelong dream of becoming world champion. Despite capturing the title, there was no pot of gold waiting for Moore, whose purse was a meagre $800. After expenses and deductions, Moore took home just $60.
Moore would go on to successfully defend his title twice against Maxim, who despite his determination to reclaim his title was unable to defeat Moore. Moore made further defences against Harold Johnson and Bobo Olson before focusing his energy on the heavyweight division. Moore, who was known to subject himself to extreme dieting to make weight to defend his title, as well as adopting a secret aboriginal diet plan while in training. Legend has it that during his tour of Australia, an aborigine had told him the secret to maintaining a healthy weight and Moore would often eat behind screens so the press wouldn’t know his secret. Moore was also known to chew food before spitting it out to ensure he didn’t gain unnecessary weight before a fight. With his decision to pursue the crop of top heavyweights, Moore wouldn’t need to resort to such extremes before a bout.
After defeating the highly regarded Cuban heavyweight, Nino Valdes of Cuba, Moore set his sights on the heavyweight world champion, Rocky Marciano. After Moore spent several weeks hounding him for a shot, Marciano finally agreed to the fight, which would take place at Yankee Stadium on the 20th September 1955. The fight would eventually take place the following day however due to torrential rain causing the event to be postponed. Marciano, who had amassed 48 straight victories going into the bout was 7 years younger than Moore and was the 4-1 betting favourite to win. Despite being the underdog, the 39 year old light heavyweight champion fought valiantly, even scoring a knockdown in the 2nd round before before Marciano eventually took control and retained his title via 9th round knockout. It would prove to be Marciano’s last fight, who retired shortly after.
Moore bounced back from the defeat by notching up 11 straight victories in 7 months, including another title defence against Yolande Pompey of Trinidad. Then on the 30th November 1956, Moore faced the rising star in Floyd Patterson for Marciano’s vacant heavyweight crown. Moore, who was old enough to be Patterson’s father was simply unable to produce the brilliance of his previous years and was out-fought by the young and fresh 21 year old, who claimed the title with a 5th round knockout victory.
Despite being in his 40’s Moore continued to box and enjoyed an impressive run of form, seeing him go unbeaten in 20 bouts which included 3 successful world title defences, one against Tony Anthony and two against Yvon ‘The Fighting Fisherman’ Durelle. The first fight against Durelle is widely considered one of the most impressive and awe inspiring performances of Moore’s career, who despite being knocked down three times in the opening round and once in the 5th, defiantly rose to his feet each time and steered the fight in his favour, dropping Durelle four times before claiming an 11th round knockout victory.
Moore made one more successful defence of his title against Giulio Rinaldi of Italy who had defeated Moore the previous year in a non-title bout before eventually being stripped of the crown for inactivity. At the time he was stripped of his title, Moore had reigned as the king of the light heavyweight division for a decade. Moore’s final career loss came at the hands of his former apprentice, Muhammad Ali – then known as Cassius Clay. Moore had previously agreed to train Ali but the relationship soured after Ali refused to carry out chores while at the training camp.
The two men squared off on the 15th November 1962, when Moore was 45 years of age. Ali, who had won the Olympic Gold Medal just two years earlier, was unbeaten in 15-0 bouts as a professional, proved too young, too fast and to fresh for the ageing Moore, who suffered a 4th round knockout defeat. Moore fought just once more, defeating Mike DiBiase via 3rd round stoppage before finally hanging up his gloves at the ripe old age of 46.
Although there’s much speculation around Moore’s final professional record, BoxRec lists it at 189-23-10 (132 wins by KO), although there are those who argue he amassed as many as 145 career knockouts. Either way, an absolutely phenomenal figure for a legendary fighter.
Moore kept himself busy after retirement, seeing him travel the world in a humanitarian capacity and raising money for various charities. He also became a boxing trainer, coaching the Nigerian national team as well as developing several professional fighters, most notably two-time heavyweight world champion, George Foreman. As well as appearing in several motion picture movies, Moore also established the Any Boy Can (ABC) organisation, an organisation that focused on young boys from poor backgrounds and encouraged them to achieve their full potential and steered them away from delinquency. The ABC was later opened to female participants also but was later stripped of government funding. Rather than giving up, Moore went into his own pocket to keep his dream of freeing children from a life of poverty.
Moore was known to those close to him as a kind man who was a strong advocate of civil rights, someone who had a keen and curious mind who loved to learn, read and write as well as being a lover of jazz and would often work out to the accompaniment of music. Sadly in the 1990’s Moore’s health began to decline and he underwent heart surgery. Moore passed away on the 9th December 1998, just shy of his 82nd birthday.
Moore will forever be remembered by boxing fans as an incredibly talented fighter, who possessed exceptional knockout power and deserved a shot at the world championship many years before he was given an opportunity. His longevity in boxing saw his career span four decades and surpass many of his peers. The fact that Moore was still able to operate at top level well in to his 40’s is a testament to just how special he was.
Happy heavenly birthday Champ, rest in peace.
#FightNight
'Nobody's been stronger than me in there. The fella might be bigger, heavier. But he ain't any stronger.' - Archie Moore
On this day in 1916, light heavyweight world champion, two-time heavyweight world title challenger, hall of fame inductee and arguably the most prolific knockout specialist the sport has ever known was born. That man was none other than ‘The Old Mongoose’, Archie Moore.
Moore, real name Archibold Lee Wright was born in Benoit, Mississippi in 1916, although he claimed that he was in fact born in 1913 but a US Census record appears to confirm his year of birth as 1916. His parents, Lorena and Thomas, worked as farm labourers but separated while Moore was an infant. Moore then moved to St. Louis where he was taken in along with his other siblings by his Aunt and Uncle, Willie Pearl and Cleveland. It was then that Archie adopted their surname of Moore.
Shortly after moving to St. Louis, tragedy struck the Moore family. Firstly, Cleveland suffered an accident during an initiation ceremony into a fraternal organisation that left him paralysed before eventually passing away from the injury. Moore also lost his sister, Rena who died whilst giving birth to twins. Sadly, one of the twins didn’t make it either. The surviving twin was raised by Willie Pearl along with Archie and his other siblings.
With the main bread-winner of the Moore family gone, money and food was scarce, a situation exacerbated by the brutal hardships of The Great Depression. It was during this time that Moore went through a rebellious phase and became a prolific thief. Moore’s petty crimes would see him arrested several times and eventually landed him in reform school. It was during his time in reform school that Moore began to rethink his life.
Moore decided he didn’t want to carry on down the path to prison or an early death and instead, would turn his life around and invest all his energy into something that would not only earn him his fortune, but also make his family proud. Among other things, Moore considered a career in baseball but in those days black players were paid even more poorly than they were treated. In the end, Moore decided he would dedicate himself to the sport of boxing. Moore, who was a natural athlete and had already had a small degree of experience in boxing, began to train in the school’s gym and took part in amateur bouts during his time inside the institution.
After serving just shy of two years, Moore was released and ready to achieve his dream. Moore returned to a St Louis still ravaged by The Depression and steady jobs were hard to come by. Moore eventually found forestry work and although it was a physically gruelling way to earn a living, it helped to develop his famous muscular physique as well arming him with an exceptional level of fitness. Moore also boxed on the amateur circuit and with each bout he learned something new and sharpened his skills. Even in the bouts where he lost, Moore found a valuable lesson to take away from it that would one day serve him well in the paid ranks.
Moore made his professional debut on the 3rd September 1935, he had been sat in the audience at a boxing show before being plucked from the crowd to face Billy Sims, who had apparently already flattened another opponent in a matter of seconds. With the crowd left dissatisfied with the brief bout, Moore volunteered to step in and fight Sims. Despite the short notice, Moore defeated Sims via 2nd round knockout and with that Moore’s life in the professional ranks was underway.
Moore began his campaign in the middleweight division, aged 18 and soon gained a reputation as a powerful, patient fighter with exceptional reflexes and counter-punching abilities. Moore was also tenacious and determined in his pursuit of opponents. Finding himself shunned by white promoters, Moore would often hitchhike, ride in box cars and sleep anywhere he could while travelling throughout the southern states looking for fights. Life on the road for a lone black man travelling around the south was not without its dangers however. Moore would often find himself chased out of towns by lynch mobs as well as being refused service in hotels and restaurants. Moore would also find himself on the short end of the stick when it came to his purse. Black fighters would invariably receive much smaller pay than their white counterparts.
In 1938, Moore relocated to San Diego, California but continued to travel wherever his occupation required. In 1940, Moore would even travel to Australia, where he fought in 7 bouts against the best fighters Australia had to offer, winning all inside the distance. Despite not earning as much from his campaign Down Under as he’d hoped, the string of wins saw the ‘Old Mongoose’ gain notoriety back home. Moore’s career was almost finished the following year however, when a perforated ulcer meant he required extensive surgery that left him with a large scar across his midsection, as well as later catching pneumonia. As Moore recovered in hospital, Doctors told him he would not fight again. Moore knew otherwise.
When Moore was finally well enough to leave the hospital, he weighed less than 100lbs but gradually he began to build his strength back up. When he finally returned to the gym, Moore used an old license plate that had been beaten into shape to fit around his healing wound so that he could spar. After nearly a year away from the ring, Moore made his return in 1942 where he defeated Bobby Britt via 3rd round knockout.
Despite his reputation as an exceptional fighter, Moore was in no danger of landing a title fight anytime soon. Moore’s being black certainly didn’t help, but his refusal to rub shoulders with the mob, who pretty much controlled boxing during that time didn’t help either. With no title shot on the horizon, Moore busied himself by grinding out the results and sharing the ring with other highly respected but equally avoided fighters such as Jimmy Bivins, Jack Chase, Harold Johnson, Holman Williams and Charley Burley. Moore also fought another pound for pound legend and future heavyweight world champion in Ezzard ‘The Cincinatti Cobra’ Charles on three occasions during this time.
In 1951, Moore travelled to Argentina where once again he took on the Country’s finest in a series out 8 bouts, winning 7 and drawing 1. It was during his tour of Argentina that Moore caught the attention of the then President, Juan Peron who as a former boxer himself, admired Moore and tried to persuade Moore to stay in Argentina. Moore declined however and returned to The US in pursuit of an elusive title shot. Moore would finally get his shot at the light-heavyweight world championship in 1952 against Joey Maxim but only if Moore agreed to Maxim getting $100,000 of the purse, as well as Doc Kearns, Maxim’s manager, taking co-ownership of Moore going forward.
Finally, after 128 bouts, 17 years as a professional and at the age of 36, Archie Moore made his challenge for the light heavyweight crown on the 17th December 1952 against Joey Maxim in his former hometown of St Louis. Moore was focused on the task at hand and was not going to be denied. He would go on to claim the victory along with the title via a clear 15 round unanimous decision - a victory made all the more sweet by his mother and estranged father being at ringside to watch their son achieve his lifelong dream of becoming world champion. Despite capturing the title, there was no pot of gold waiting for Moore, whose purse was a meagre $800. After expenses and deductions, Moore took home just $60.
Moore would go on to successfully defend his title twice against Maxim, who despite his determination to reclaim his title was unable to defeat Moore. Moore made further defences against Harold Johnson and Bobo Olson before focusing his energy on the heavyweight division. Moore, who was known to subject himself to extreme dieting to make weight to defend his title, as well as adopting a secret aboriginal diet plan while in training. Legend has it that during his tour of Australia, an aborigine had told him the secret to maintaining a healthy weight and Moore would often eat behind screens so the press wouldn’t know his secret. Moore was also known to chew food before spitting it out to ensure he didn’t gain unnecessary weight before a fight. With his decision to pursue the crop of top heavyweights, Moore wouldn’t need to resort to such extremes before a bout.
After defeating the highly regarded Cuban heavyweight, Nino Valdes of Cuba, Moore set his sights on the heavyweight world champion, Rocky Marciano. After Moore spent several weeks hounding him for a shot, Marciano finally agreed to the fight, which would take place at Yankee Stadium on the 20th September 1955. The fight would eventually take place the following day however due to torrential rain causing the event to be postponed. Marciano, who had amassed 48 straight victories going into the bout was 7 years younger than Moore and was the 4-1 betting favourite to win. Despite being the underdog, the 39 year old light heavyweight champion fought valiantly, even scoring a knockdown in the 2nd round before before Marciano eventually took control and retained his title via 9th round knockout. It would prove to be Marciano’s last fight, who retired shortly after.
Moore bounced back from the defeat by notching up 11 straight victories in 7 months, including another title defence against Yolande Pompey of Trinidad. Then on the 30th November 1956, Moore faced the rising star in Floyd Patterson for Marciano’s vacant heavyweight crown. Moore, who was old enough to be Patterson’s father was simply unable to produce the brilliance of his previous years and was out-fought by the young and fresh 21 year old, who claimed the title with a 5th round knockout victory.
Despite being in his 40’s Moore continued to box and enjoyed an impressive run of form, seeing him go unbeaten in 20 bouts which included 3 successful world title defences, one against Tony Anthony and two against Yvon ‘The Fighting Fisherman’ Durelle. The first fight against Durelle is widely considered one of the most impressive and awe inspiring performances of Moore’s career, who despite being knocked down three times in the opening round and once in the 5th, defiantly rose to his feet each time and steered the fight in his favour, dropping Durelle four times before claiming an 11th round knockout victory.
Moore made one more successful defence of his title against Giulio Rinaldi of Italy who had defeated Moore the previous year in a non-title bout before eventually being stripped of the crown for inactivity. At the time he was stripped of his title, Moore had reigned as the king of the light heavyweight division for a decade. Moore’s final career loss came at the hands of his former apprentice, Muhammad Ali – then known as Cassius Clay. Moore had previously agreed to train Ali but the relationship soured after Ali refused to carry out chores while at the training camp.
The two men squared off on the 15th November 1962, when Moore was 45 years of age. Ali, who had won the Olympic Gold Medal just two years earlier, was unbeaten in 15-0 bouts as a professional, proved too young, too fast and to fresh for the ageing Moore, who suffered a 4th round knockout defeat. Moore fought just once more, defeating Mike DiBiase via 3rd round stoppage before finally hanging up his gloves at the ripe old age of 46.
Although there’s much speculation around Moore’s final professional record, BoxRec lists it at 189-23-10 (132 wins by KO), although there are those who argue he amassed as many as 145 career knockouts. Either way, an absolutely phenomenal figure for a legendary fighter.
Moore kept himself busy after retirement, seeing him travel the world in a humanitarian capacity and raising money for various charities. He also became a boxing trainer, coaching the Nigerian national team as well as developing several professional fighters, most notably two-time heavyweight world champion, George Foreman. As well as appearing in several motion picture movies, Moore also established the Any Boy Can (ABC) organisation, an organisation that focused on young boys from poor backgrounds and encouraged them to achieve their full potential and steered them away from delinquency. The ABC was later opened to female participants also but was later stripped of government funding. Rather than giving up, Moore went into his own pocket to keep his dream of freeing children from a life of poverty.
Moore was known to those close to him as a kind man who was a strong advocate of civil rights, someone who had a keen and curious mind who loved to learn, read and write as well as being a lover of jazz and would often work out to the accompaniment of music. Sadly in the 1990’s Moore’s health began to decline and he underwent heart surgery. Moore passed away on the 9th December 1998, just shy of his 82nd birthday.
Moore will forever be remembered by boxing fans as an incredibly talented fighter, who possessed exceptional knockout power and deserved a shot at the world championship many years before he was given an opportunity. His longevity in boxing saw his career span four decades and surpass many of his peers. The fact that Moore was still able to operate at top level well in to his 40’s is a testament to just how special he was.
Happy heavenly birthday Champ, rest in peace.
#FightNight
Comments (4)
0/500
New Comments（4）
PRINCESSAUDREY
Mwandu Msendo
great
Khalmandro
Nice post
Movie Lover
cool
nice