Which light-heavyweight CHAMPIONS do you pick to beat a peaking Archie Moore?

No? Well that's just not right, Sal. Here, help yourself!

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Ezzard Charles, because Peak for Peak, in my opinion, Charles was the greatest LHW ever! What Technique, skills he had!

Moore was a marvelous fighter & if indeed he was actually older than people thought, then well, he's even more great!

They certainly don't make them like Charles or Moore anymore! Never will they make them like those guys again! Different breed entirely!

 

Spinks has a shot but I wouldn't pick him though

Ezzard Charles already beat him three times but wasn't a LHW champion

 

McGrain had to stipulate and capitalize CHAMPIONS only :readthre:when he created this thread, or else he knew he'd get bombed with names like Tunney, Greb, Charles and Patterson ad nauseum. Even so, Charles has turned up repeatedly, and Greb has come up as well.:gsg:cus:beat:wall Even Kellerman has said Charles was the greatest LHW ever, but he was never the CHAMPION:readthre: at 175.

 

Actually, I think any LHW Champ who was a big hitter has a good chance vs Moore.

 

Again, I think it depends on when you consider Moore to have been peaking. The first right Durelle floored him with was a monstrous shot, Archie claimed it was the hardest single punch he ever took, he came back to win by knockout, actually said on camera immediately after that classic (as well as the one with Marciano), that he "enjoyed it":shock:artya :viking:ldevil, and it has been widely speculated that his peak performance came in the Durelle rematch. Whoever this big hitter is, he's dealing with the most prolific knockout artist of all time. Both Hatchetman Sheppard and Ted Lowry said Moore was the hardest puncher they ever fought. (These are remarkable statements, because Hatchetman fought both Moore and JJWalcott multiple times, and back to back, while Lowry went ten with Marciano twice, and the ten round distance with Archie.)

 

That's an insightful observation there. The key really is sustaining it though, i just think it's highly difficult against Spinks as the fight progresses, due to his own versatility and how he switches so quickly from defense to offense, and with hard shots, it takes fighters by surprise and he really used to assert himself when he did that. I definitely think Spinks has a live chance of stopping Moore purely based on power, but i doubt it materialises because i don't see Moore being taken out with one shot, he'd likely get hurt here, but i don't consider Spinks to have the pure finishing skills of say a Joe Louis or an Ezzard Charles (at 175), and i reckon that would be needed against a prime Moore.

Good post Sal, you've got me really thinking Moore could do this.

 

Tunney, Langford, and Charles would be my picks.

 

Tunney Langford and Charles were not LHW champs.

 

Moore could be ko'd, even in his prime, and I would pick Spinks to knock him out. I would also pick John Henry Lewis to beat him.

 

Patterson deserved the decision vs. Maxim btw. All 11 sportswriters at ringside scored for Patterson. Somehow one judge had Maxim winning 7 out of 8 rounds!

Patterson did stop Moore in 5 rounds in 1956 now didn't he? Not sure that a younger Patterson could have done that to a younger Moore but who really knows?

 

Patterson probablty would have been a better LH than HW, given the fact that he was so small. HW was where the money was, though.

 

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This should answer your question.

 

Thanks man, much appreciated. Impressive stuff. What strikes me most about him are his uncanny reflexes. He's rarely hit (I knew he was known as a defensive whiz) while not really running either. He does a lot of stuff not in the textbooks, like hands down (not really uncommon then, I know), pulling straight back at times from shots.......his athleticism gets him where he wants to be.

 

Glad to be of service. He's dealing with two radically different HOF opponents in a near peak Walker and young Braddock, these outings coming at the end of a 38 fight, four year unbeaten streak. Does successor Rosenbloom get near the title at 175 with Loughran in the way?

Known facts are that he was stopped once by a broken rib while still in his teens, then only by Sharkey and Hamas, and went on to avenge both defeats. After Hamas stopped him in two, Loughran immediately re-matched him twice, and got the win on the third try. (Imagine Norton going after Foreman like that!) Competed until age 34, and went out a winner. The 6'8" Ray Impellitiere lost seven times, always to very competent opposition. A late career Tommy was responsible for three of those defeats. Imagine out jabbing an 84 inch reach with one of 73 inches! Furthermore, he schooled and out jabbed 6'9" Victorio Campolo, himself with an 86 inch reach. The man was a sorcerer.

Max Baer literally had a restless evening of nightmares about Loughran's jab after Tommy schooled him. The next morning over breakfast, he complained to Grantland Rice and Dempsey (who refereed their bout) that, "I've been looking at left jabs all night. Lefts...lefts...lefts. That's all I've seen."

I like this British Pathe clip from November 1935. Maurice Strickland was a strong young heavyweight, 11 years Tommy's junior. Loughran's too cagey. Even after 15 years of competition, and what the announcer describes as over 200 fights, he remains a superb stylist.
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