62 Facts About Archie Moore

Archie Moore had one of the longest professional careers in the history of the sport, competing from 1935 to 1963.

Archie Moore was a trainer for a short time after retirement, training Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and James Tillis.

Archie Moore was denied a shot at the world title for 15 years, and spent many of those years fighting on the road with little to show for it.

Archie Moore established himself as a successful character actor in television and film.

Archie Moore died in his adopted home of San Diego, California; he was 84 years old.

Archie Moore always insisted that he was born in 1916 in Collinsville, Illinois, his mother told reporters that he was actually born in 1913 in Benoit, Mississippi.

Archie Moore's father abandoned the family when Archie was an infant.

Unable to provide for him and his older sister, his mother gave them into the care of an uncle and aunt, Cleveland and Willie Pearl Archie Moore, who lived in St Louis.

Archie Moore attended segregated all-Black schools in St Louis, including Lincoln High School, although he never graduated.

Archie Moore was released early from the school for good behavior after serving twenty-two months.

Around 1933 Archie Moore joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, working for the forestry division at a camp in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

Archie Moore was furious at me and told me to keep my punches up.

Archie Moore won his first six bouts that year, including a second-round knockout of Hogue in a rematch, and a ten-round decision over Jack Chase.

Archie Moore met Booker in a rematch, and reached the same conclusion as their first meeting had: another 10-round draw.

In 1943, Archie Moore fought seven bouts, winning five and losing two.

Archie Moore won and then lost the California State Middleweight title against Chase, both by 15-round decisions, and beat Chase again in his last bout of that year, in a ten-round decision.

Archie Moore lost a decision to Aaron Wade that year.

Archie Moore beat Jimmy Hayden by a knockout in five, lost to future Hall of Famer Charlie Burley by a decision, and to Booker by a knockout in eight.

Archie Moore won his first eight bouts of 1945, impressing Atlantic coast boxing experts and earning a fight with light heavyweight Jimmy Bivins, a boxer that was not considered a hard puncher, who defeated Moore by a knockout in six at Cleveland.

Archie Moore returned to the Eastern Seaboard to fight five more times before that year was over.

Archie Moore met, among others, light heavyweight Holman Williams during that span, losing a ten-round decision, and knocking him out in eleven in the rematch.

Archie Moore beat Chase by a knockout in nine, Sheppard by a decision in ten and Bivins by a knockout in nine.

Archie Moore defeated Burt Lytell, by a decision in ten.

Archie Moore fought a solid 14 fights in 1948, losing again to Charles by a knockout in nine, losing to Henry Hall by a decision in ten and to Lloyd Gibson by a disqualification in four.

Archie Moore defeated the Alabama Kid twice; by knockout in four and by knockout in three, Bob Satterfield by a knockout in three, Bivins by a knockout in eight, future World Light Heavyweight Champion and IBHOF inductee Harold Johnson by a decision, Bob Sikes by a knockout in three and Phil Muscato by a decision.

Archie Moore lost to Clinton Bacon by a disqualification in six.

In 1951, Archie Moore boxed 18 times, winning 16, losing one, and drawing one.

Archie Moore went on an Argentinian tour, fighting seven times there, winning six and drawing one.

Archie Moore knocked out Bivins in nine and split two decisions with Johnson.

Against Maxim, Archie Moore consistently landed powerful right hands, hurting him several times en route to a fifteen-round decision.

The next year, Archie Moore won all nine of his bouts, including a 10-round, non-title win against then fringe heavyweight contender Nino Valdez of Cuba and a 15-round decision over Maxim in a rematch to retain the belt.

Archie Moore made two more bouts in Argentina before the end of the year.

On September 21,1955, Archie Moore faced future Hall of Famer Rocky Marciano at New York's Yankee Stadium.

In subsequent years Archie Moore made much of Referee Harry Kessler's handling of the pivotal moment.

Archie Moore grabbed Marciano's gloves and began to wipe Marciano's gloves and look over his shoulder.

Archie Moore is perpendicular to Marciano's chest, and his right hand waves rapidly near Rocky's left glove.

In 1956, Archie Moore fought mostly as a heavyweight but did retain his Light Heavyweight title with a ten-round knockout over Yolande Pompey in London.

Archie Moore won 11 bouts in a row before challenging again for the World Heavyweight Championship.

The title was left vacant by Marciano, but Archie Moore lost to Floyd Patterson by a knockout in five.

Archie Moore's fight with Yvon Durelle in particular was of note: defending his world light heavyweight title in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he was felled three times in round one, and in round five, but then dropped Durelle in round 10 and won by a knockout in the 11th.

In 1960, Archie Moore was stripped of his World Light Heavyweight title by the National Boxing Association, but continued to be recognized by most major boxing authorities including the New York State Athletic Commission and The Ring Magazine.

Archie Moore won three of his four bouts in 1960, one by decision against Buddy Turman in Dallas, his lone loss coming in a ten-round decision versus Giulio Rinaldi in Rome.

Archie Moore campaigned exclusively as a heavyweight from then on, and beat Alejandro Lavorante by a knockout in 10 and Howard King by a knockout in one round in Tijuana.

Archie Moore then drew against future World Light Heavyweight Champion Willie Pastrano in a 10-round heavyweight contest.

Nonetheless, as Clay predicted, Archie Moore was beaten by a knockout in four rounds.

Archie Moore is the only man to have faced both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali.

Archie Moore was elected in 1985 to the St Louis city Boxing Hall of Fame and he received the Rocky Marciano Memorial Award in the city of New York in 1988.

Archie Moore is one of only a handful of boxers whose careers spanned four decades, retiring with a final record of 185 wins, 23 losses, 11 draws and 1 no contest, with 131 official knockouts.

In 1960, Archie Moore was chosen to play the role of the runaway slave Jim in Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, based on the Mark Twain novel, opposite Eddie Hodges as Huck.

Archie Moore garnered positive reviews for his sympathetic portrayal of Jim, which some viewers still consider the best interpretation of this much-filmed role.

Archie Moore did not choose to pursue a full-time career as an actor, but he did appear in films such as The Carpetbaggers, The Hanged Man and The Fortune Cookie, and on television in episodes of Family Affair, Perry Mason, Wagon Train, The Reporter, Batman and the soap opera One Life to Live.

Archie Moore appeared in the critically acclaimed TV movie My Sweet Charlie.

Archie Moore arrived in Argentina in June 1951 for a rematch with the champion Abel Cestac.

Archie Moore's victory made headlines and caught the attention of the Argentinian President Juan Peron and his wife Eva for his selfless act helping children, buying them shoes, clothing, and building their confidence.

Archie Moore was invited to stay in Argentina and accept an appointment as the Minister of Welfare of Children.

Archie Moore declined the offer to continue his road to winning title fights.

In 1957, Archie Moore founded Any Boy Can, a non-profit organization based in San Diego, California.

Archie Moore was invited to Jamaica and sponsored by the Jamaican Boxing Board of Control to train boys for the Olympics.

Under the national heading, Project Build, Archie Moore taught boxing to underprivileged youth in and around the housing projects in California.

Archie Moore had three daughters, Reena, J'Marie and Elizabeth Moore-Stump, and four sons, Archie Jr.

In 1997, J'Marie Archie Moore became the first daughter of a famous boxer to herself become a professional boxer.

Archie Moore was cremated and is interred in a niche at Cypress View Mausoleum and Crematory, in San Diego.