Moore, famed fighter, astute observer

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

— When Archie Moore was about 25 years into his boxing career, he paused long enough to insert a chapter in The Archie Moore Story, naturally dictated or written by Moore. The book was published in 1960 by McGraw-Hill, and chances are slim you can run across a copy these days.

“Joe Louis is the best heavyweight I’ve seen in action,” Moore wrote. “John Henry Lewis was the best light heavyweight, but if anyone wants to dispute this and throw my name in, I’ll listen to the discussion with rapt attention.” (Moore was the universally recognized light heavyweight champ at the time).

“The best middleweight was Sugar Ray Robinson. The best welterweight was Charlie Brady. Ike Williams is my pick for the best lightweight. Harold Dade was the bantamweight champion. Flyweight Earl Perez leads his division.

“There are four more fighters I would like to mention. Two of them, Barney Ross and Fritzie Zivic, belong on anybody’s list of greats. And at the top of my own list - the top, mind you - I put Henry Armstrong. My last favorite is Sandy Saddler [a featherweight champion].

“I rate Sandy as one of the greatest punchers I ever saw, but if I had handled Sandy in the beginning, I would have made him hard to hit by teaching him to use that fantastically long reach. They never would have hit him, and with his punch he would have become the greatest of them all. He did pretty well as it was.”

In the mid-1940s. Moore and Ezzard Charles were the toughest light heavyweight contenders, while champion Gus Lesnevitch dodged the toughest challengers in the 175-pound field.

“Charles and me fought three times,” Moore said. “I was sure I had won two decisions in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. In the third fight with Charles, I got knocked out in Cleveland. That happens.”

Archie Moore knocked out 129 boxers, the most on record. Otherwise, in 215 bouts, he won 54 decisions, had 9 draws, lost twice on fouls, lost 19 decisions and was stopped 7 times.

“Take my word for it,” Moore wrote into the second paragraph of his long-ago book, “I was born in Benoit, Miss., on Dec. 13, 1916. I’m proud of my age and the fact that I’ve beaten fighters young enough to be my sons.”

Moore died in1998. That sort of stifled much interest in the date of his birth.

When Moore was finally granted a heavyweight title bout against undefeated champion Rocky Marciano in New York’s Yankee Stadium in 1955, he felt “the first round was nothing.” The fight had been postponed a day, due to the threat of Hurricane Ione, and both fighters were edgy and cautious. In the second round, Moore spotted an opening.

Rocky lunged in with a wide right hand, and Moore pivoted away, then came back with a half right uppercut. Marciano got up at the count of two, but referee Harry Kessler kept counting (3-4) while the seconds in Moore’s corner screamed for Archie to finish him. The mandatory count does not apply in championship bouts (or didn’t then, at least), but Kessler must have been excited, too. He wiped off Marciano’s gloves, apparently giving him an extra few seconds.

Moore said, “When Rocky first got back on his feet, he had an elbow on the ropes and was staring out at the crowd. I know. I was there. I was so furious at Kessler I thought I’d better hit him first, and get that obstacle out of the way. Of course, I didn’t. But I was blind and stupid with rage. And my rage wasn’t directed at Marciano because he was the only one cooperating with me at that point.

“A great, tough battle. It was a knockout for Marciano in nine rounds.

“I must say that the cheer that went up when I decked Rocky [in the first round] was the most inspiring sound I ever heard. You can’t imagine what the roar of 60,000 people can do to your spine. In sports you have to face the fact that they cheer winners.”

Sports, Pages 18 on 02/12/2013