Archie Moore

Mystery surrounds Moore's early career and even his birthdate. He claimed to have been born in 1916; his mother said it was 1913. Most authorities accept his mother's version. Whichever is correct, he was the oldest fighter ever to hold a world championship.

His first recorded fight was a 2nd-round knockout of Piano Man Jones in 1935. Moore built up an impressive record, including a lot of knockouts, as a middleweight and light heavyweight during the next ten years and he briefly held the California middleweight title in 1943.

After World War II, Moore was generally considered a light heavyweight contender, but he couldn't get a title fight until he began a public relations campaign on his own behalf. On December 17, 1952, Moore won a 15-round decision over Joey Maxim in St. Louis to win the championship. He defended the title four times, twice against Maxim, and then tried for the heavyweight title against Rocky Marciano on September 21, 1955. Marciano knocked him out in the 9th round. After Marciano retired, Moore fought Floyd Patterson for the vacant heavyweight championship on November 30, 1956, but was knocked out in the 5th round.

The National Boxing Association withdrew recognition of Moore's title in 1960 and awarded it the following year to Harold Johnson. Other boxing authorities didn't follow suit, because Moore had already beaten Johnson four times in five meetings. However, Johnson defeated European champion Gustav Scholz in 1961 and both the New York State Athletic Commission and the European Boxing Union formally named him the titlist on February 10, 1962. At forty-six or forty-nine years of age, Moore was no longer champion. He had six more fights before retiring in 1965. In 234 recorded bouts, he knocked out 145 opponents, a record, and won 54 other fights by decision. He lost 26, 7 by knockout, and also fought 8 draws and 1 no-contest.

Just gaze to the right and spend a moment looking at this guy’s career and the quality of opposition during his career, his record is literally peppered with legends of the ring, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson and Yvon Durelle to mention a few.

Photos Courtesy of Tracy Callis