Bula readers!
Over the years we have had many great world heavyweight boxing champions, but sometimes we neglect to fully respect the challengers who make these champions so great. In life all of us need great challenges and it is no different in the squared ring.
Today, we have the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder battling it out for supremacy in their era and the same can be said of all the great champions going back in history.
This year, 2020 marks a very special time as it was 65 years ago in 1955 that the legendry heavyweight champion of the world Rocky Marciano beat a worthy challenger to become the only heavyweight champion in history to retire with a perfect record of 49 fights and 49 wins with no losses during his whole boxing career.
It is a perfect record that has never been beaten and Marciano’s opponent that glorious night was one of the greatest fighters in history. His name was Archie Moore.
The famous night was on the September 21 1955 and the venue was Yankee Stadium in New York.
The crowd attendance was in excess of 61,000 spectators to witness this historic event.
Moore knocked Marciano down in the second round, which only angered the ferocious champion who went all out and knocked Moore out in the 9th round of this championship bout.
Moore, like Marciano, also has a unique record that has not been broken and probably never will be in this modern era, and that is having the most knockouts in boxing history.
He had a total of 145 knockouts in 233 official fights spanning more than four decades as a fighter from the 1930s to the 1960s — some feat indeed.
With his fine reputation as a fighter, Moore managed to get another title bout and fought once again for the heavyweight championship of the world, this time taking on Floyd Patterson in November 1956 at the Chicago Stadium.
Once again he came up short, this time, losing in the fifth round to the fast and nimble champion.
Moore was not done yet as this light heavyweight champion once again donned the gloves to try and turn back the clock and teach a lesson to a young and outspoken rising heavyweight later known to the world as “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali. Predictably this bout didn’t end well for Moore and to add insult to injury Ali had named the round in which he would knock out Moore. He proclaimed that he would take “Moore in Four”.
Unfortunately, as much as Moore was determined, Ali was just too skilled and demolished him in, you guessed, it fourth round — the round he had been predicting all the time.
Don’t let Moore’s losses, when he moved up to the Heavyweight division, deter you from thinking how great he was — in fact, Moore was probably the greatest light heavyweight champion in boxing history and ruled this division for more than a decade.
It was only when he moved up in weight to challenge possibly the greatest heavyweights in history, he came up short.
The lesson to be learned here is reach for the stars and if you fail you will land on the moon. Archie certainly did this and landed on the moon.
Fortunately, I was very privileged to meet and interview Moore in 1995 and he told me, “it is better to have tried and failed than not tried at all” alas 99.99 per cent of us will never venture out of our comfort zone, but he is one of the special individuals who did.
Out of the ring Archie took up part-time acting and starred in a host of films and television shows as well as humanitarian work.
While in Argentina for a fight in 1951, Moore caught the attention of then President Juan Peron and wife Eva Peron for serving the poor in their nation. Moore was then invited to stay on and take up a ministerial role as Minister for Welfare and Children. He declined as he already had a thriving boxing career.
In 1981, he was given a Presidential appointment by then US President Ronald Reagan, called Project Build, where he worked closely with the poor and disadvantaged.
There are too many appointments to name, but one thing is for sure, Moore took his opportunities when they presented themselves and lived a full and happy life.
In and out of the ring Moore lived out a very grand life indeed, enjoying the fame and fortune he worked so hard for and having the admiration and celebrity from the public that he deserved.
Archibald Lee Wright (Archie Moore) 1914 or 1916 – December 13 1998 R.I.P.
* Ajay Bhai Amrit is a freelance writer. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily shared by this newspaper.
