Boxing Interview with Archie Moore

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A Fan's Conversation With Archie Moore

During the recent Hall of Fame weekend in Canastota, at Graziano's bar across the street from the museum, I was sipping a beer. Little did I expect an hour's one on one conversation with one of boxing's greatest. But in walked the "Ol Mongoose" himself, Archie Moore and grabbed a seat next to me. After some pleasantries and while he drank tea and ate a doughnut, Archie and I spent an hour discussing some of his big fights, some of the great fighters and a book he has in mind. Archie is a very special person. his calm demeanor, tidy appearance and obvious intelligence come off more like a college professor than an 84 year old former light-heavy champ with over 200 fights against the toughest. he is a good conversationalist in that he is interested in hearing your view, as well as discussing his own.

Some of the topics we discussed:
His toughest fight? Surprise! His Kayo by Floyd Patterson in the 1956 bout for the vacant heavyweight title. Not Marciano. Not Ali/ But Patterson. No hesitation.

On Marciano. Was he truly awesome? "Yes he was."

On Roy Jones, Jr. I suggested that Jones had such awesome talent that he might belong in the same class as an all time great, Sugar Ray Robinson. "A very, very good fighter," he said. "But there was only one Sugar Ray Robinson."

His favorite fight? Yvonne Durelle I, light heavyweight title defense.
Did you invent the peek-a-boo defense? He spent considerable time explaining the difference between his arms-across-peek-a-boo vs Floyd Patterson's D'Amato's forearms-up version. "Mine couldn't be penetrated by an uppercut. I began using it because I found the unique defense frustrated opponents and threw them off," Moore said.

On future plans. Considering his age and the fact that he had a quadruple by-pass last year (he left hospital 4 days later) you'd think he might take it real easy from now forward. Not so, the Mongoose. Archie is planning a book. Not about himself, but about the reality of the after-career lives of most fighters. He talked at length about how the majority of the boxers come from nothing and look on professional fighting as a "way out", but pay dearly for their rewards. Archie wants the world to know about it if they don't know already. I doubt if anyone could do it better.
Thanks for the memory, Champ.

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