Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow - American light-heavyweights by Eric Armit Apr 29th 2008

In the latest part of his fascinating series, Eric Armit looks at the stars of yesterday, today and (perhaps) tomorrow. This issue - American light-heavyweights. Yesterday Archie Moore There has never been, and probably never will be again, a fighter such as Archie Moore (real name Archibald Lee Wright). Archie's career spanned more than 32 years, took in over 200 fights with close to 150 wins inside the distance, unique for a world champion he was floored himself nearly 50 times, and most remarkably he campaigned for 17 years before landing his first shot at a world title.  I say never will be again because both the world and boxing have moved on since Archie's day and neither the prejudice, which restricted his early career, nor the level of activity, which enabled him to fight so often, exists now. If a lot of the statistics quoted above are not exact then that is not surprising. Nothing about the early days of Archie is totally clear, apart from his birth name, and that he was born in Benoit, Mississippi. Some sources give the year as 1916 and some as 1913, although strangely they all agree on December 13. Even when he had his first fight is disputed, with some sources saying it was against Murray Allen in July 1936 and some including a September 1935 bout when he climbed out of the crowd to fight Billy Simms. He was a welterweight when he fought Allen but quickly moved up to middleweight. It would be impossible in the space available to cover his career in any detail. Suffice to say that he toured the stadiums and halls of America fighting whoever he was asked to fight and wherever a fight could be found. He often fought the same opponent three or four times as in some States mixed bouts between blacks and whites were not allowed so he and a collection of other tough black boxers were forced to fight each other to keep busy. Archie lost only a couple of bouts before fighting former world middleweight champion Teddy Yarosz in April 1939 and, although defeated on points, Archie impressed. In 1940 he took himself down to Australia where he twice beat the Australian and Commonwealth middleweight champion Ron Richards. Typical of the tough road Archie was following were two losses in 1944 when in January Eddie Booker had Archie down five times in an eighth round stoppage win and the unsung Charley Burley put Archie down four times in a points victory. Even Lloyd Marshall, who would go on to kayo Freddie Mills, had Archie down three times in their May 1945 bout, which Archie won on points. There was also his nemesis, Ezzard Charles, better know as a world heavyweight champion, but actually one of the best light-heavyweights of all time. Ezzard defeated Archie three times, once each in 1946, 1947 and 1948. Yet these losses were the exception as Archie beat top fighters such as Holman Williams, Curtis Sheppard, Jimmy Bivins, Ted Lowry, Henry Hall, Bob Satterfield, and in April 1949 won his first victory over another great light-heavyweight Harold Johnson. He popped down to South America in 1951 for a series of bouts where he drew with the outstanding Belgian heavyweight Karel Sys and kayoed Alberto Lovell. All the time his reputation was growing and when he won two out of three with Johnson in 1951 and early 1952, then beat Jimmy Slade in February 1952, who only two months before had floored Don Cockell five times on the way to a fourth round stoppage win, and outpointed Clarence Henry and Clinton Bacon he had cleaned up the light-heavyweights and earned a shot at Joey Maxim for the world title in December 1952. Maxim had won the world title from Freddie Mills in London in January 1950, taken Ezzard Charles the distance in a challenge for the heavyweight title in December 1951, and outlasted Sugar Ray Robinson in the heat of the Yankee Stadium lights in June 1952 to retain his title. If you take the September 1935 bout with Simms as the start of his career it had taken Archie over 17 years and approximately 170 fights to land the shot and he was either 36 or 39 years old. He used all of these years of experience to easily outpoint Maxim who himself was having his 103rd fight.  Archie then got into the weight see-saw that almost obsessed the boxing writers as he switched easily from beating heavyweights such as Nino Valdes, Bob Baker and Bob Whitehouse to retaining his light-heavyweight title with repeat points wins over Maxim in 1953 and 1954, stopping Johnson in August 1954 and kayoing future world middleweight champion Carl “Bobo” Olson in three rounds in June 1955. He claimed a version of the heavyweight title with that win over Valdes in Las Vegas in a bout refereed by former world heavyweight champion James J Braddock, but it was only recognised in Nevada. In September 1955 for one brief moment it looked as though Archie was about to achieve the impossible as he floored Rocky Marciano in the second round of a challenge for the real heavyweight title, but “The Rock” climbed right up and put Archie down five times on the way to a ninth round kayo. Archie came to London in June 1956 to stop Yolande Pompey in ten rounds in a title defence then it was back to heavyweight for a fight with Floyd Patterson for the vacant title in November 1956. Floyd was just too fast-handed for Archie and kayoed him in five rounds. An easy seventh round kayo win in a defence against Tony Anthony in September 1957 was followed by a life-and-death struggle against Canadian Yvon Durelle in December 1958. The tough Canadian had Archie on the floor three times in the first round and again in the fourth , but showing amazing powers of recovery for a man in his early/mid 40's, Archie fought back and put Durelle down four times and kayoed him in round eleven. Almost exactly a year later these two met again for the title and this time Archie floored Durelle four time and kayoed him in round three. The last defence of his light-heavyweight title was in June 1961 when outpointed Italian Guilio Rinaldi. He relinquished his world title in February 1962 and after that fought at heavyweight drawing with Willie Pastrano in May 1962 and then in November 1962, at the age of either 45 or 48, he was halted in four rounds by Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali. He had one more bout in March 1963 against a wrestler and came back for an exhibition in 1965 but that was it. His nicknames were “Ageless” because he would never reveal his real age, and “The Old Mongoose” for his crafty skills. Archie used a curious cross armed defence which served him well in later years. He had a great left jab and was a thunderous puncher with either hand, but as his numerous floorings shows was not invulnerable. He put his ability to lose weight so comfortably down to chewing his food but never swallowing, which I doubt and don't even want to think about. He learned his business in small and large halls throughout the USA and against all types of opponents. It is unlikely it would have taken him 17 years to get to the top if he had been white. Tremendously popular outside the ring, Archie appeared in films and was interested in working with young people, having spent 22 months in a reformatory school as a youngster. He was rewarded for his work with an invitation to the Whitehouse by President Eisenhower. Archie died in San Diego hospice on December 9,1998. The record I will go with is: Record: 220 fights, won 185 (131 by stoppage or KO), lost 23, drew 11, 1 no contest Today Chad Dawson Still only 25, “Bad” Chad Dawson has already made three defences of his WBC light-heavyweight title. He is 6'3" tall southpaw and at various times has been trained by both Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Floyd Mayweather Sr. Born in Hartsville, South Carolina on July 13, 1982, the family moved to Connecticut when he was young and Chad was introduced to boxing by his father who fought as a pro in the 1980‘s. Almost lost to boxing when he took a basketball scholarship, Chad found the combination of study work and basketball a tough route and eventually returned to boxing. He won a silver medal in the 1998 American National Junior Olympics at welterweight, losing to Dumont Welliver in the final. The following year he had to settle for a bronze medal, again at welterweight, in the US Under-19 championships, being disqualified against Rudy Cisneros in the semi-finals. In 2000 he moved up to middleweight(165lbs) and won a gold medal in the US Under-19's which earned him a place at the World Junior championships in Budapest. He was unlucky to meet the Cuban favourite in the semi-finals and took the silver medal after losing on points. He had his first pro fight in August 2001 at the age of 19 and was a “Casino Rat“, having 11 of his first 12 fights in Casinos. He ended the career of veteran Brett Lally with a stoppage win in August 2003 and gained revenge over Welliver with an eighth round stoppage in October 2003. A fight which won him the WBC Youth middleweight title. His next fight , a points win over Aundalen Sloan, was later changed to a no contest after Chad tested positive for a banned substance. He moved up a division in November 2005 to win the NABO super-middleweight title by halting Canadian Ian Gardner in eleven rounds and in June 2006 added the NABF light-heavyweight title, climbing off the floor to decision Eric Harding. That win earned him a shot at the WBC champion Tomasz Adamek, who had won all of his 31 fights. In their February 2007 fight again Chad had to climb off the floor, but won a wide, unanimous decision over a very tough champion. Inside the distance wins in defences against Jesus Ruiz in June 2007 and Epifano Mendoza in September have been followed by a much more controversial, although unanimous, verdict over Glen Johnson on April 12 this year. Johnson has shown before just how hard he is to beat. Chad is a stylish boxer with a good right jab and a power punch in his straight right and at 25 he is still developing. Record: 27 fights, won 26 (17 by stoppage or KO), 1 no contest. Tomorrow Tavoris Cloud A 26-year-old from Tallahassee, Florida. He currently holds the USBA, NABA and NABO light-heavyweight titles. As an amateur he was a team mate of Dawson's at the 2000 Worlds Juniors (178lbs) but lost by a single point to Italian star Clemente Russo in the preliminary rounds. Again, as with Dawson, he was a gold medallist at the 2000 US Under-19 championships, but also won a silver medal in the 2002 US Championships, losing in the final to Curtis Stevens. He turned pro in April 2004 and has won his 18 fights, 17 inside the distance. The 5'10” Floridian has fast hands and can punch but the reservation is that the opposition has been poor as it has all been on the Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina circuit, which is notoriously weak. He needs better opposition if we are to establish his real potential. Record: 18 fights, 18 wins (17 by stoppage or KO).

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