Yes, he said he over trained and was stale after the fight. He really wanted another crack at him. Wasn’t meant to be though. He was in line to get a fight with Ingo had he won the Patterson rematch but that was squashed right after he lost
Patterson was 32 and on a good run having beat Cooper, Chuvalo and Machen outside the Ali loss. He would imo go onto deserve the Ellis decision to regain the championship. On that basis there's an argument the Patterson Quarry beat was better than the version who dominated Archie. A prime Moore isn't doing anything against Patterson, that win was way too emphatic. The difference in speed is too much given Patterson won pretty much every second of it. Moore would continue to be LHW champ for 5 more years after the Patterson loss, so he might have been 40 but he was one of the best aged boxers in history much like Hopkins. He also lost to a 25yo Harold Johnson in '51 but clearly had mastered him when he knocked him out in '54. Archie aged like fine wine.
That Archie wasn’t close to as fast in anyway as the prime one. Archie also won the first round. But can’t argue the performance it was his worst on record. Harold Johnson was a hell of a fighter with a solid HW record as well. Just my opinion
I love Patterson. Aside from Charles, who I class as a LHW, he's probably my favourite HW along with Smoking Joe.
Well the fact they were close decisions that could go either way proves my point: he struggled with boxers who had high ring IQ. The Patterson win was controversial. I don't think he has any convincing wins over high ring IQ boxers. Quarry's best performances are against the heavy hitting slugger types like Lyle, Foster, Shavers, etc. Moore was a high ring IQ fighter who also hit hard and had a strong cross arm defense. On paper, you'd have to favor Moore. Quarry could bang, but Moore got off the floor to win some fights and knew how to survive, so even if he nails Moore hard or drops him that wouldn't guarrantee anything.
I have Layne wining the fight going into the 5 and Moore being the slick veteran he is takes over and knocks out Rex in 5. Now Quarry, there is now way Moore wins this fight as a heavyweight. He is well past his prime as a heavy and Quarry was not a bum. His losses are to some all-time greats and he has ring experience and could punch. I have Quarry taking over in the 6th and dropping Moore in the 7th twice and getting up once. Watch the 67 tournament on YouTube give Quarry some respect.
I would make him a favorite over both, but they are the kind of fighters that he could split a series with.
Jack Hurley, the great boxing man, felt that Rex Layne had a great deal of potential. But he also believed that Layne was being rushed into fighting top heavyweights in the East without getting the right instruction and seasoning. Hurley made it a point to see Layne fight Bob Satterfield, mainly to get an idea of how Layne was progressing. During that bout, Hurley observed that Layne made very little progress at best. In fact, Hurley was perturbed to see Layne take so much punishment in that bout despite the fact that Layne won by a TKO in the eighth round. Hurley eventually had his fighter, Harry "Kid" Matthews fight Layne with Matthews winning by an unanimous decision after ten rounds. - Chuck Johnston
Moore would have little trouble with Layne because he was hittable even with fairly obvious shots. Archie would have completely confounded him with feints and counters. Quarry is a different matter all together as he was a brilliant counter puncher himself and, as the smaller man, Archie would have had to do most of the leading. Also, the cross arm guard is not good against a hooker.
Archie always had his excuses. Even in the 80s he was claiming it was the refs fault that he didn't KO Marciano and he'd never forgive him in all his days. Which was a nonsense, much like his 'overtraining' excuse.
I agree fighters often make excuses. But my opinion watching the Patterson fight is it looks nothing like the normal Archie. Very slow no snap. And he was about 39. 39. Ps love the screen name no one talks about Burley here
I favor Moore against both and think it would be a pretty big upset is either beat him. One trend in this thread I would disagree with is that Quarry would clearly have the better chance of pulling an upset. As someone pointed out, Quarry's big wins over slow-moving big fellows. Skilled boxers tended to handle him. Layne actually beat fighters in Walcott, Charles, and Satterfield who were more like Moore in size and speed and punching power. I think Layne is on about equal footing with Quarry in this match-up.