What made Archie Moore such a great fighter?

[Grand Champ]

The headliner speaks for itself..

According to http://coxscorner.tripod.com/thefighters.html he was fighter of the year from 50-59 do you agree with that and why? Foreman when commentating on HBO has also frequently talked about Archie Moore and his skills..

What in you opinion made him great, was he the fighter of his era and why?

[TheGreatA]

Archie Moore was a smart and skilled boxer with a great right hand that he knocked out middleweights, light heavyweights and heavyweights with. He was also a very respectable person and never gave up in the ring.

His longevity in the sport was unmatched until Bernard Hopkins.

Some videos:


Moore rallies to stop the much younger Harold Johnson


Moore KO's the middleweight champion Bobo Olson




Over 40 year old Moore knocked down 4 times, comes back to KO his opponent Durelle in the 11th round


One of Moore's greatest performances when he was well over 40 years old, nearly 50.

[MissDeeCole]

its in his kiss

[Grand Champ]

Archie Moore was a smart and skilled boxer with a great right hand that he knocked out middleweights, light heavyweights and heavyweights with. He was also a very respectable person and never gave up in the ring.

His longevity in the sport was unmatched until Bernard Hopkins.

Some videos:


Moore rallies to stop the much younger Harold Johnson


Moore KO's the middleweight champion Bobo Olson




Over 40 year old Moore knocked down 4 times, comes back to KO his opponent Durelle in the 11th round


One of Moore's greatest performances when he was well over 40 years old, nearly 50.

TheManSchine those are some nice vids! You gotta be boxingScene king of researching youtube videos of old great fights!

[LondonRingRules]

Archie Moore was a smart and skilled boxer with a great right hand that he knocked out middleweights, light heavyweights and heavyweights with. He was also a very respectable person and never gave up in the ring.

His longevity in the sport was unmatched until Bernard Hopkins.

-- Trust me, The Ol' Mongoose is still unmatched compared to Poppy.

Need to remember that Arch never lost his one and only cherished belt he worked a lifetime for in the ring. He was finally stripped with Harold Johnson winning a points decision over Doug Jones for his belt in 1962.

Could be he could no longer make the weight, or perhaps didn't want to face certain fighters at age 50, or perhaps boxing was just plain embarrassed by this grizzled wizard who couldn't be dethroned in the ring.

Like Liston, everyone just knew he was older than advertised. He had been an absolute genius in making weight, starting as a career middle and bouncing up and down between heavy and LH as opportunities dictated. We know now there is a physical cost extracted in repeated weight loss programs, but his discipline encapsulated as sitting down to a steak and salad dinner, chewing the steak in slow savory delight and then spitting it out and eating the salad is priceless.

Arch sees the writing on the wall, so what does he do? He steps up and passes the torch to the brash young phenom who wouldn't sweep Arch's training camp and fled the quarters to land in Angelo Dundee's hands. Had Arch beaten young Clay, it's possible he could've earned the shot Clay ended getting against Liston.

I give Poppy the greatest credit for his brilliant masterclass over Pavlik, but that was a once of a lifetime performance from him. He's long regressed to a spoiling, whining, party ******, eeking out wins over the likes of Eastman before losing his title to Taylor. Tarver was nice, but has always been very beatable and been fairly decrepit after his stint in Hollywood and another old man past his best at any rate. Winky arguably beat him. At age 43, Arch was knocking these types out and never would've disgraced himself with such a gutless performance as against Calzaghe.

Interesting in that I immediately thought of George Foreman before opening the thread, because he's the one and only fighter I've seen approach the greatly underappreciated philosophies of Arch which served him well in his comeback. Arch never had George's prodigious physical advantages, so literally was a self made boxer/puncher/craftsman/artist although Arch would probably give much credit to various mentors long forgotten in his climb up the ranks.

It's a shame there were no matching writers of the day in the same intellectual class of Archie who could've sat down with him to pick his brains for the ultimate bible of boxing save perhaps AJ Liebling. Unfortunately, Liebling died near the completion of Arch's career, so they never had the chance to combine efforts.

Oh, and great videos. Seen most, but always check out the thread for undiscovered ***els, and that one of Arch at age 50 is a new one, so much thanks.

[Southpaw16BF]

Archie ''The Old Mongouse'' Moore was a very smart/clever fighter and is known as one of the hardest punchers ever seen in the prize ring.Archie was denied title shots for years,and then finnaly at the age thirty-nine he was wolrd light heavyweight champion beating future hall of famer Joey Maxim who was coming off a Ray Robinson victory, proved age is only a number and carried on beating top contenders in his 40's like todays great Bernard Hopkins.Archie is a very interesting chracter to learn about and had a wonderfull career in boxing and will be remered as one of the best ever to lace the gloves up.

[Southpaw16BF]

Also a few interesting things relating to ''Archie Moore''

.The great Sandy Saddler would refer to him as ''Mr Moore''

.Went to Ray Robinson house to try and arrange a fight between the two which would of been huge but never come about.

.Reports and Legend has it Archie once went down to ''7 stone'' after He went into hospital for an operation on an ulcer but complications set in and he fell into a coma for five days contracting peritonitis and pneumonia and left the hospital weighing ''7 stone'' However even in an industry of people famed for their fitness regimes Archie Moore was something of a legend. He got himself back to fitness in a most determined manner. It included walking on his hands for hours on end and 250 press-ups a day.

.Like to be thought of as a profeser of the ring, and liked to play mind games with media/newspapers by keeping them guessing as to were he was born and how old really was he.

.Only ever man to face both Classius Clay and Rocky Marcainio.

[Tony Jones]

its in his kiss

lmao gd one

[KostyaTszyu44]

his longevity, his power (most KO's ever) and his good skillset and resume

[Jim Jeffries]

Archie Moore was a smart and skilled boxer with a great right hand that he knocked out middleweights, light heavyweights and heavyweights with. He was also a very respectable person and never gave up in the ring.

His longevity in the sport was unmatched until Bernard Hopkins.

Some videos:


Moore rallies to stop the much younger Harold Johnson


Moore KO's the middleweight champion Bobo Olson




Over 40 year old Moore knocked down 4 times, comes back to KO his opponent Durelle in the 11th round


One of Moore's greatest performances when he was well over 40 years old, nearly 50.

Plus he gets extra points for continuing to fight on past his prime (which he was ducked through) and even though he didn't get a title shot until he was 36, managed to have an impressive career and resume. Fighting Marciano, Patterson and Ali all after the age of 38, LHW champion (back when there was only one belt) at 44, pretty amazing sht.