Re-evaluating Durelle flooring Moore

Durelle was so ordinary he should have never been anywhere near a title shot. The fact that he did what he did to Moore says a lot about how far Moore had slipped by this point despite his reputation as an ageless fighter.

 

Somewhat true but not true at all. Durrell was a good fighter. Nothing special but he wasn’t cannon fodder. That and Moore would continue fighting for years beating ranked men. Good ranked men. I more feel Durrell got lucky and caught him but credit to Moore for getting up.

 

wasn't this right after Durell's fight w/ Mike Holt?

 

It was two fights later. Holt was nothing special either it still took Durelle fighting dirty as hell and his hometown ref allowing it in order to win a life and death struggle.

 

Ya, that was a helluva fight though. Who do you think should have gotten the fight rather than Durelle?

 

Another fight we need to reevaluate is Louis/Schmeling 2. I believe that Schmeling was robbed. Had the ref not stopped the fight, Schmeling would have had a come from behind KO win.

 

You're always criticizing old time fighters

 

Like who? Moore was incredibly inactive during this period and spent his time fighting no-hopers in order to tread water while ducking Johnson who was his top contender. The only two contenders he defeated from the first Durelle fight until he retired were Giulio Rinaldi and Alejandro Lavorante. He had only 14 fights after Durelle 1 over a period of nearly 5 years. By comparison Moore had fought 10 times in 1958 (the year of the Durelle fight) alone. Of those 14 remaining fights of Moore's career 2 came against pro wrestlers who were having their first fight. One fight was against his sparring partner, who Moore had fought three times in 1958. Six of those fights came against guys coming off at least one loss. Only six of those 14 fights the opponent was coming off a win and of those six Moore lost or drew three. So no, this was not a vintage Moore and I stand by the assertion that the only reason Durelle had any success with Moore was because he had slipped so bad.

 

No Im criticizing a mediocre fighter. People always focus on the fact that this fight was so competitive but always lose sight of why. All you have to do is look at all of the fights he lost to mediocre fighters to see that Moore would have beaten the dog **** out of him had he been anywhere near his prime.

 

That guy that they stripped the title from Moore for not fighting.

 

Lemme guess, it would have been the sixth fight btwn the two.

 

Yep. Johnson was improving and Moore was slipping and Moore knew it. He wanted no part of Johnson. Moore didnt have an issue fighting his sparring partner six times while he was avoiding Johnson.

 

I do think Johnson would have gotten that real victory he was awaiting over the "Old Man".