Archie Moore versus Rocky Marciano-A Critical Analysis of Rounds One and Two
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
Henry Armstrong, Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore were among those blacks who were victims of the prejudice of the times. The boxing establishment of long ago did not want black or minority fighters to take the boxing titles which whites possessed. After Jack Johnson, sadly, few blacks got a chance, with great fighters like Charley Burley and Sam Langford never receiving their due.
Black fighters got the short end of the purse, had to travel, and got tough matchups. There is so much to be said for the courage and heart of Archie Moore from a historical perspective. On this occasion, what will be addressed is why Archie hated referee Harry Kessler for so many years, and why he told George Foreman he was sorry for that hatred near the end of his life.
To understand why Archie was upset about Harry Kessler, we need to go to the bout which defined his career in part, Archie’s bout against Rocky Marciano at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York, on September 21, 1955. For purposes of analysis in brief we will look at only the first two rounds, and the source of Archie’s discontent.
Rounds One and Two of Rocky Marciano versus Archie Moore on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VeLZwmdZWY
The first round was pretty much a cautious round on the part of both fighters. Rocky landed a few meaningless short lefts here and then, and Moore landed one good right. In my evaluation it was an even round which showcased the talent and seriousness of both fighters as the best fighters in the world at that moment in time.
For Marciano, fighting the light heavyweight champion in defense of his heavyweight title was all which was left for him. Floyd Patterson, Cassius Clay, Sonny Liston, Ingemar Johansson, George Chuvalo, Ernie Terrell, Cleveland Williams, Jerry Quarry and Joe Frazier were not yet on the scene. In truth, for Marciano, Moore was the last challenge. Manager Al Weill had a fight lined up for Rocky with Nino Valdes after Moore. Turns out the Old Mongoose, Archie Moore, very much wanted a rematch after the fact, and even wrote to Rocky telling him so.
The second round was a shocker, as very early old Archie dropped Rocky with a short power left on the inside walking in. Rocky was up at two, and the count reached four. Archie’s discontent stemmed from the fact that referee Harry Kessler shook Rocky’s left wrist to walk him up and bring him back to his senses. Archie felt he had Rocky out and Rocky was ready to go, and referee Kessler had unfairly assisted Rocky. Many versions of the fight cut out the time between the knockdown and Rocky resuming fighting, so it is hard to tell if referee Kessler played favorites.
The above black and white version of rounds one and two of Rocky Marciano versus Archie Moore clearly shows after the knockdown Kessler held Rocky’s wrist briefly, but there does not appear to be any significant incident involved in which Kessler assisted Marciano. Rocky was back on his feet right away. Archie did bloody Marciano’s nose and landed enough shots to make one of Rocky’s eyes turn puffy. Scored on the old ’rounds system’, all three judges gave Archie the second round. One judge gave Archie three rounds, one judge gave Archie two rounds, and a third judge gave Archie only one round.
Moore clearly faded after the first two rounds. Much like Rocky III, for Moore to win, based on the weight gain he had to transition to, the kind of fight preparation he had to do, the work rate he had to have in the ring and the pace he had to set, Moore had five, maybe six rounds to compete with Rocky. To win, Archie really had to win early. The point of the knockdown was his only real chance. Walcott had Rocky down early, and now did Archie. By the fourth round, Moore was beginning to fade, because Rocky was landing too many arm shots and head shots and inside shots nonstop without running out of enthusiasm or gas. Less of question of age, more a question of game plan. More had not trained for 15 rounds with Rocky going toe-to-toe in the later rounds. Once Rocky established his game plan from the third round on, Moore had to fight it out with Rocky and count not get out of range. Rocky applied the pressure and Moore could not escape. Moore was doomed.
Marciano ended his career by knocking out Moore for good at 1:19 at the ninth round. Archie stated after the fight, “He put me on queer street. He (Rocky) punches hard with both hands.” Bruised, battered and getting hit too much, Moore could not beat the ten count. For the record, light heavyweight champions from Bob Foster to Michael Spinks, from Dwight Muhammad Qawi to Roy Jones Jr. have tried the heavyweight jump. Moore gave it a shot against Marciano and Floyd Patterson. Since Moore beat Joey Maxim, and Floyd lost to Joey Maxim, Archie figured he would beat Floyd Patterson. He did not.
On the occasion of Archie’s fight with Rocky Marciano, the incident in the second round wound haunt him for the rest of his life. The footage clearly tells the story.
Referee Harry Kessler did not assist Marciano. Despite Archie claims to the contrary, Rocky Marciano beat Archie Moore fair and square, and that’s it.
After the bout, Archie seemed more concerned in the post fight interview with how well the television viewers enjoyed the show. Boxing did well on television back in the day, thanks to great fights like Marciano versus Charles, until Emile Griffith knocked out Benny Paret at Madison Square Garden and Paret passed away. Years passed before boxing became popular once again on color television. Archie, later the trainer of George Foreman, would note much later the reason Foreman lost to Muhammad Ali in Zaire in ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ was due to improper tactics.
Archie should then have recognized to let Rocky Marciano inside on him would be a grave mistake, and he had no tactic to counter Rocky once he did, the real truth.
SportsCentury has a great documentary on Archie Moore on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk-r0G1_zV8
Rare Archie Moore Interview on YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpbo90o7BWw&NR=1&feature=endscreen
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