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Archie Moore (bornArchibald Lee Wright; December 18, 1916 - December 9, 1998) was an American professional boxer and the longest reigning Light Heavyweight World Champion of all time (December 1952 - May 1962). He had one of the longest professional careers in the history of the sport. Nicknamed "The Mongoose", and then "The Old Mongoose" in the latter half of his career, Moore holds the record for the most career knockouts (131) in boxing history. Moore was a highly strategical and defensive boxer, with a great chin and blundering power, he ranks #4 on The Ring's list of "100 greatest punchers of all time". Moore is rated by prominent boxing website BoxRec as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time. Moore was also a trainer for a short time after retirement. He trained boxers such as Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and James Tillis.

 

A native of Benoit, Mississippi, Moore was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. A victim of racism for much of his career, Moore was an important figure in the American black community, and became involved in African American causes once his days as a fighter were over. He also established himself as a successful character actor in television and film. Moore died in his adopted home of San Diego, California.

 

Early life

Born Archibald Lee Wright, the son of Thomas Wright, a farm laborer and drifter, and Lorena Wright. He always insisted that he was born in 1916 in Collinsville, Illinois, but his mother told reporters that he was actually born in 1913 in Benoit, Mississippi. His father abandoned the family when Archie was an infant. Unable to provide for him and his older sister, his mother game them into the care of an uncle and aunt, Cleveland and Willie Pearl Moore, who lived in St. Louis, Missouri. Archie later explained why he was given their surname: " It was less questions to be called Moore." He attended all-black schools in St. Louis, including Lincoln High School, although he never graduated. His uncle and aunt provided him with a stable upbringing, but after his uncle died in a freak accident around 1928, Moore began running with a street gang. One of his first thefts was a pair of oil lamps from his home, which he sold so that he would have money to buy boxing gloves. He later recalled of his stealing: "It was inevitable that I would be caught. I think I knew this even before I started, but somehow the urge to have a few cents in my pocket made me overlook this eventuality". After he was arrested for attempting to steal change from a motorman's box on a streetcar, he was sentenced to a three-year term at a reform school in Booneville, Missouri. He was released early from the school for good behavior after serving twenty two months.

 

Around 1933 Moore Joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, working for the forestry division at a camp in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Having determined to become a boxer, he decided to make his work at the camp a form of training. He later recalled that the other boys constantly kidded him about one daily exercise - standing upright in the bed of a truck as it drove along primitive forest roads, waiting until the last possible moment before ducking or weaving away from tree branches. The captain of the camp permitted him to organize a boxing team, which competed in Golden Gloves tournaments in southern Missouri and Illinois. Many of his fights occurred in a racially charged atmosphere; he later described one of them, against a white boxer named Bill Richardson in Poplar Bluff:

 

I knocked him down with a volley of head punches about one minute into round one. His brother . . . was the referee. He was furious at me and told me to keep my punches up. Since I had been hitting Bill in the head I would have missed him altogether if I threw my punches any higher. But the referee said I had fouled him. . . I got steamed at this and offered to fight (the referee), too. I resolved not to hit Bill any place but his head.... In the second round I dropped him with a left hook that spun his head like a top.... I heard a man ringside say, "For two cents I'd shoot that nigger."

 

After the bout, the boxing team was followed back to camp by a line of cars loaded with angry "townies." They dispersed only when the camp captain threatened them with a submachine gun.

 

Professional Boxing career

He turned professional in 1935 and boxed all but one of his 12 bouts that year in San Diego. Moore had eight bouts in 1939, going 5-2 during that span.