Archie Moore had 98 fights with ranked contenders. Anyone with more?

If that number is accurate then I don’t think I can come up with anyone who beat more ranked fighters.

 

He fought more contenders then most guys have fights. Perspective ay?

 

Man had 131 official knockouts too. Insane.

 

Are you saying they were in the top ten when Moore fought them?

 

Off the top of my head I cant think of anyone in particular.

 

Rosenbloom

 

Perhaps Langford or Greb, if rankings had existed, throughout their careers?

 

I think Archie has become underrated a bit these days.

Really everything you’d want a prizefighter to be: supreme boxing skills, could punch, great heart, a distinct and interesting style, willing to fight basically anyone at any time, carried himself with class and dignity, always in shape.

 

I get a kick out of how many rate M Spinks over him. To me it’s absurd. Spinks had four big fights at light heavy. Two were against a post prime Johnson and a weight drained Mustafa. Then a decision in near Wlad style over Qwai. Not saying Spinks wasn’t a great fighter but to compare w Moore is silly. Then again, boxing was prehistoric in Moore’s day so there you go …

 

I rate Spinks as my No. 1 light heavyweight of all time.

That’s not a slight at Archie Moore or anyone else.

Your breakdown of Spinks’ big wins seems pretty disingenuous to me: Marvin Johnson was all of 27 years old, one year removed from being light heavyweight champ AND would win a title at that belt again 5 years later. He was not washed up.

EMM would have beaten anyone else at 175 that night — he always struggled with weight, and in fact had a rematch with Spinks canceled because … he didn’t make weight. But it’s still a big, big win and would be on anyone’s resume.

As for Qawi … does a fighter have to play rock-em-sock-em robots for you to give credit for a win? He boxed Dwight’s ears off and did engage plenty in that fight. (You would have hated Willie Pep — guess he never won a fight in a way that meets your standards, haha.)

Fighters in Archie’s day fought a lot more often, no doubt. I’m not sure he had more ‘big fights’ at 175 than Spinks at least as you seem to define the term. But by your reckoning, does that make everyone from the eras when boxers fought more often superior to those who came along at a time when fighters didn’t fight as much? I mean, you’re welcome to that point of view but it seems pretty absurd to me.

Archie’s one of my favorite fighters at any weight all-time. But I happen to believe Spinks is the best 175-pounder of all time. I think it’s a very defensible position — look at him on video and look at his resume. I think he stands up to anyone I’ve seen in that weight class.

 

I love Archie, & he was quite a humanitarian, including working with & for youths.
I knew about his ability to jump divisions, but somebody wrote me here saying how he also got heavy between fights & sometimes came in heavier & with love handles-but I do not know if his general fitness ever compromised his success.

In fact, although he tended to fight as a HW late in his career-which in absolute terms is harder...
Looking at his pages of fights documented in boxrec, it is shocking that considering the seemingly undeclined level of competition, I see no real decline in his accomplishments!!
I mean he lost sometimes to the very best prime HWs like Marciano & Patterson, but I cannot even tell that he would do better any younger.

How on earth with still usually fighting often and until about 49, did he have no apparent decline at ALL?

 

As far as I'm aware, this is the correct answer. Rosenbloom fought 172 fighters who were ranked inside the top-10 at some point.

As for Ray Robinson, I was told that he fought 71 guys who were at one point ranked.

 

Fritzie Zivic must have fought a fairly high number of contenders.
Among others were Ray Robinson × 2, Charley Burley × 2, Jake LaMotta × 4, Henry Armstrong x 3, Billy Conn, Tommy Bell, Bummy Davis, Lew Jenkins, Beau Jack, Bob Montgomery etc etc.
I doubt his record matches the Ol' Mongoose but he fought anybody and everybody