How would Archie Moore do in the late 60s to mid 70s

JohnThomas1 · Mar 3, 2026

Dubblechin said: ↑

A 40-year-old-plus Archie Moore wasn't going to accomplish anything in the heavyweight division of the late 60s and 70s. The days of top light heavyweights also being top heavyweight contenders was over.
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And yet there was Michael Spinks winning the lineal title in the mid 80’s, and without a warm up to boot.

InMemoryofJakeLamotta · Mar 3, 2026

Dubblechin said: ↑

Archie Moore was 39 when he won the light heavyweight title. If he was 39 in 1966, as was set up in your original scenario, he was still going to be 15 to almost 20 years older than the top heavyweights of the late 60s and 70s.

Joe Frazier was 24 in 1966. Muhammad Ali was 24. Jimmy Ellis was 26. Jerry Quarry was 21. George Foreman (who hadn't turned pro yet) was 17. By the time of the 1967 heavyweight tournament, Moore would've been 40.

I don't think you thought this through. He was old when he won the light heavyweight title. But the heavyweight division was awful during the early 50s (it just was), so he could go back and forth between 175 and heavyweight.

By 1956, Moore wasn't remotely as good as a 21-year-old Floyd Patterson.

A 40-year-old-plus Archie Moore wasn't going to accomplish anything in the heavyweight division of the late 60s and 70s. The days of top light heavyweights also being top heavyweight contenders was over.

Ali didn't defend his title against Dick Tiger in the 1960s. George Foreman and Ali didn't defend against John Conteh or Victor Galindez. Joe Frazier used the dominant 175-pound champ as a tuneup, and treated him as such. Foster lasted about four minutes before getting plastered.
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So? How many prime contenders did Moore beat? Many of them were the size of Quarry, Ellis, Lyle. I'm not saying Moore would be a dominant force but he'd definitely be top 10. Moore KO’D Harold Johnson who outboxed Eddie Machen. KO'd Whitehurst who survived prime Liston. KO'd Lavorante who just stopped Zora Folley (or I could be thinking of Bob Baker). In any case, Folley and Machen are 2 of Liston’s best opponents who he built his reputation on.

Devon · Mar 4, 2026 at 4:32 AM

McCallumsJab said: ↑

There's some underrated boxers in the late 60s through to mid 70s if we ignore Ali, Foreman, Frazier and Norton. It's a much deeper era than the 40s/50s

Let's start with Patterson who dominated Archie, he was past his prime but still at a very good level. Then look at these fellas better wins:

Jimmy Ellis - Quarry, Patterson, Bonavena, Martin (fresh off Liston win), Chuvalo

Quarry - Patterson, Lyles, Shavers, Mac Foster, Buster Matthis

Then you have Shavers decimating Norton, Ellis and Young with a good Bugner win - you really want to bet money on a LHW withstanding Shavers onslaught?

Then you have Jimmy Young who was arguably the best pure boxer of the 70s, Lyle who was a physical monster, Bonavena who gave Frazier hell while picking up some top wins, old Liston, Terrell, Chuvalo, older versions of Machen, Doug Jones, Folley. Bugner and Cooper were no sloaches either.

Tell me now you'd be happy betting your life savings on Archie beating any of them, sure he'd beat some of the I imagine, but he'd lose a fair share.

He already got dominated by a 21yo Patterson.
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Yeah, I’d probably pick Jimmy Young to beat him actually, but I’d pick Moore from the Bivins win to beat Patterson, Lyle, Bonavena, Bugner, Machen, Doug Jones, Cooper and Folley.

Not saying he wouldn’t pick up a loss along the way, but H2H I’d pick him over them.

Dubblechin · Mar 4, 2026 at 10:33 AM

greynotsoold said: ↑

How do you reckon a 46-50 year old Usyk would fare against Floyd Patterson?
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I'm sure Archie Moore would do a lot better against many guys when he was younger.

But I didn't start this thread or create the scenario. Archie Moore was 39 years old when he WON the light heavyweight title.

Moore got even older (not younger) while he held that title.

Old Archie isn't beating most top heavyweights from the late 60s and 70s.

Sorry.

Fergy · Mar 4, 2026 at 10:49 AM

Very good contender possibly.
There's some good names he could maybe defeat ,on his best nights.
He wouldn't dominate the era but not many would want to fight him.

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How would Archie Moore do in the late 60s to mid 70s

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