Interesting article in Regards to Archie Moore before Marciano fight

Well Moore himself mentioned that he allowed himself to balloon up to the 200+ mark between fights and would do rigorous training to get down when necessary. He freely admitted that he couldn't give up good tasting food and had no shame in the game but was willing to go through hell to lose the weight. Obviously not a very healthy approach. He likely lost some nutrients and strength doing that.

 

Not regarding Moore, but it reminds me of my thoughts on a lot of ‘modern training and nutrition’ methods.

Sugar Ray Robinson drank cow’s blood and ate steak as his day-of-fight meal. He ran in clumping Army-style boots. He turned out OK.

Today the modern experts would tell you how wrong that is. And a lot of what they say and call science is just bullspit. Ten or 20 years from now, some cutting-edge scientist will tell you how wrong today’s ‘science’ is.

Apart from PEDs and rehydrating with IVs (also not the healthiest way to live, cutting massive weight and then ballooning up after the weigh-in, but of course today it’s all about the health of the fighter lol), most ‘modern, cutting-edge’ training methods are no better than those of, say, 40 or 50 years ago (probably more). And if they are, it’s so marginal that it doesn’t make a difference.

There are some exercises that can help with explosiveness, like bounding, but it’s not going to turn fish eggs into caviar (that’s a joke) and make a journeyman into an ATG. There are 1,000 ways to develop cardio, but which is utilized doesn’t much matter as long as it makes the heart and lungs work to develop greater capacity. Running on an elliptical saves wear and tear as opposed to running on asphalt, but if you do an hour of each with the same resistance you’re going to get the same results.

I remember Emmanuel Stewart, who knew a thing or two, saying he believed a fighter should eat what he is comfortable with as his pre-fight meal. If he likes McDonald’s hamburgers, let him eat those — don’t make him eat spaghetti because someone else said it’s better. His body will digest what it’s used to better and he will be comfortable.

His point was that it mostly doesn’t make a big difference and it’s largely mental. If a fighter is convinced that eating broiled fish on Wednesdays will make him stronger, he’ll probably perform a little better and have fewer doubts and less mental discomfort than if he is denied his fish.

I bring this up because Archie Moore fought longer at a higher level than just about any boxer in the history of the sport. And yet those fighters who are not doing this and ‘keeping nutrients and strength’ don’t seem to perform at as high a level for as long as the Old Mongoose did — but let’s trust the ‘strength and conditioning experts’ rather than actual, documented fact of what he did lol.

 

Good article- Archie was the deserving Challenger - He was on his best streak and beating Nino X2 and KOing Baker, besides wins over Satterfield and Harold Johnson among others it would have been a travesty if Archie didn't get the shot when he did - he wound up taking a horrific beating but went out on his shield against an ATG

 

This. Archie definitely earned his shot at the heavyweight title. Archie beat more heavyweight contenders than many past and present heavyweight titleholders.