Archie Moore

Yes, why not?

 

If he develops the same skillset, of course.

The man is such a genius, and the fact that he shared an era with Ezzard Charles and Charley Burley makes you drool (and they were just the most recognizable Megalodons, as Mike Casey would say; plenty of sharks in the sea back then as well.) They fought each other without the titles on the line, and developed the craft in the fire of professional ranks.

 

Ezzard Charles-Archie Moore trilogy is an uncanny part of the history. Cincinnati Cobra againt the Mongoose. It doesn't get more cinematic than that. Will he get bitten? Or will he exhaust the snake in a wild dance. The first bout was an almost surgical UD for Charles, with a foreshadowing of the cobra's "bite" that would cause Moore so much trouble -- left hook to the body. It's probably the punch that saved Ezzard in his hometown, when Moore made it an inside fighting competition through and thorugh, losing 4-5-1 MD as per Cincinnati Enquirer, which could have been a draw or a close victory for Archie, as he claimed. The third was pretty much a samurai showdown, with the action condensed, and the pace frenzied. Apparently Charles lured the Mongoose in, pretending to be hurt, and delivered the killing blow, ending the triology. Or perhaps he really was moments away from being devoured by Archie.

No title being on the line in any of those bouts (as well as Burley-Charles, Burley-Moore bouts) makes a depressing statement on current state of affairs. Gus Lesnevich must have been sweating, watching some of those fights ringisde (or whoever was the champion back then.)

 

Yes definitely still up there, mate.
He was so bloody good that any light heavy would be in danger.

 

I am sure Mr Moore would have been one of the greatest, and in fact could well have been top dog in the light heavy division for longer, as would very likely have fought for the title at a much younger age.

I think any plans he had for venturing into the heavyweight division would be a non starter, but certainly dipping his toes into the Cruiserweights would be very likely on the cards.

 

He’d always have the “‘potential “ but it’s hard to say that he would have replicated what he did in his actual time. Archie Moore’s greatness was forged through the necessity to survive and work incredibly hard - a circumstance that was just as much a part of his time as it was his natural born character

 

With all modern weight cut methods he would have boxed middleweight. So we would enjoy the Fabulous 5 rivalry. How epic is this???

And i'm conviced he will be competitive and write boxing history in this era. With many knockouts and many titles in different weight classes.

 

Up until 1943 Archie Moore was a middleweight and he began his career in the upper 140s.

 

He had so many assets that are unteachable... reflexes. anticipation, power, recuperation, speed.... Given good tutelage, it's hard to believe he wouldn't have been exceptional.

 

Why not? Because.... Michael Spinks

 

Yeah....I suspect that Holyfield retires from boxing and becomes a middle school math teacher to avoid Archie Moore

 

If Moore is born in 63, we never hear of Mike Tyson

 

While I am a HUGE Moore fan and he clearly had the attributes to be an ATG, I wonder …

The thing is, Moore was (like any fighter) a creature of his time. And his time demanded that fighters climb into the ring practically as soon as they’d gotten out from their last fight, showered and had a good meal or two and a few days (or weeks) to get over the soreness and exhaustion (or, in many cases, not enough time to do so).

Archie’s greatness is tied to his experience level. He was, without question, a thinking man’s fighter and it takes far more fights to develop that ring IQ and encyclopedic knowledge … much less the ability to pick and choose from those experiences to grab the right tool for the job.

If he came along at a time where fighters have 40-fight careers, or even 70-fight careers, would he have picked up all that data in the gym or from watching. Or was he the type who learns by doing and trail/error? Heck, he’d have been barely a young pup at that stage of his development from how it worked out under the conditions of his day.