Here is Part 2 of my top 5 Greatest Light Heavyweights of All Time article. I hope you enjoy it.
3. Gene Tunney
Professional Record: (According to Boxrec) 65-1-1 with 48 KO's
Credentials: He was almost unbeatable as a Light Heavyweight and he fought and beat several Hall of Fame caliber fighters.
Biggest wins: (As a Light Heavyweight) Battling Levinsky (UD 12) Harry Greb (UD 15) Georges Carpentier (TKO 15)
Now before I go on, I've only seen Tunney fight only a handful of times, but I've done my research on him and based on what he accomplished as a Light Heavyweight, he could have easily been ranked at the top of this list. Gene Tunney was a smooth boxer, who used lateral movement, an accurate jab, good right hand and he was a decent counter-puncher. He was a true technician who was also not afraid to mix it up with his opponents.
Born in New York, Tunney learned how to fight by getting into street fights when he was a young kid. He discovered boxing when he was in his teens and he turned pro in 1915 and he stopped Bobby Dawson in the 8th round.
After winning his first 36 fights, Tunney faced his first true test against future Hall of Famer, Battling Levinsky. Tunney passed this test with flying colors, as he outpointed Levinsky over 12 rounds.
A few months later, Tunney took on the dangerous buzz saw, Harry Greb. Tunney fought well early on, but as the fight progressed, Greb turned the fight into a pier six brawl, using his elbows and head as weapons, and Tunney sustained cuts over his eyes and his nose and mouth were also bleeding. Greb outworked Tunney in the late rounds and he won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Tunney.
Despite taking a vicious beating from Greb, Tunney wanted desperately to avenge his only defeat, but he also understood that he had to come up with a different strategy against the "Human Windmill" if he wanted to come out on top. The two would face each other a year later and this fight was much different than their first encounter.
Instead of mixing it up with Greb as he did in their first fight, Tunney counter-punched him and tried to beat him to the punch. Greb was as dangerous as always, applying constant pressure every second of every round, but he could not inflict the same damage to Tunney as he did in their first fight. Tunney won a controversial split decision over Greb and he avenged his only loss in his career. The two legends would fight 3 more times and Tunney got the upper hand, going 2-0-1 against Greb.
Tunney has also defeated other great fighters, such as Georges Carpentier (TKO 15) and Tommy Gibbons (KO 12). And just as Michael Spinks did many years later, Tunney moved from the Light Heavyweight division and won the World Heavyweight title, defeating a Hall of Fame Champion (Jack Dempsey). Tunney never won the official Light Heavyweight title, but he defeated several former and future World champions when he was fighting in that division. Tunney did not duck anyone in his entire career and he was a true champion inside and outside of the ring.
2. Archie Moore "The Old Mongoose"
Professional Record: *185-23-10 with 131 Knockouts *(According to Boxrec.com)
Credentials: Holds the record for most knockouts in a career, he fought 7 Hall of Famers and fought many of them more than once.
Biggest wins: Jimmy Bivins (KO 8) Joey Maxim (UD 15) Harold Johnson (TKO 14) Yvon Durelle (KO 11)
He might have been the greatest puncher in boxing history. He ruled the Light-Heavyweight division longer than anyone before him or since and didn't duck a soul. I could only be talking about Archibald Lee Wright, better known as "The Old Mongoose", Archie Moore.
Born on December 13th, 1916(according to Archie) in Benoit, Mississippi, Moore was a kid who often could not escape trouble and when he was a teen, he ended up being sent to an reformatory. After being released in 1934, Moore discovered boxing and turned pro a couple of years later.
Now before I go on, there are a few things you need to know about Archie Moore's career and his birth date. First off, there are so many different versions of when Archie Moore started boxing professionally. There are some people who say he fought under an assumed name for a couple of years ("The Fourth of July Kid) and then you have boxrec.com who say that Archie turned pro in 1935. No one really knows for sure, but for the purpose of writing this article, boxrec.com is where I got my information and I'm going to ride with that.
Then you have the issue with his age. According to Archie, he was born on December 13th, 1916, but there are others who said that he was born on the same day, but in 1913. Fellow Hall of Famer, Sonny Liston had this same problem years later, so this is nothing new.
Nevertheless, Moore started boxing professionally in the mid-1930's, and for the next 5 years, he fought mostly as a Middleweight, fighting all around the US and he also toured in Australia. Along the way he suffered a few setbacks, but for the most part Moore was developing into a solid fighter who was capable of knocking guys out with either hand. He was also a very good counter-puncher and his crab-like defense made it tough for his foes to land a solid shot on him.
After a brief retirement in 1941 due to stomach ulcers, Moore returned the following year and continued to fight often. Over the next 3 years, he took on future Hall of Famers Charley Burley and Jimmy Bivins. Moore lost to both of them, but he gained more experience and exposure in the process.
In 1946, Moore moved up to the Light-Heavyweight division and he won his first three fights relatively easy against mediocre opponents before stepping up and facing his first true test against an elite fighter. In his next fight, he faced Ezzard Charles in what would be the first of three fights. Moore suffered a knockdown in the 8th round and and went on to lose a clear decision over the future Hall of Famer.
But Moore would not be discouraged. He continued to fight elite opponents from that point on avenging his loss to Bivins, defeating Harold Johnson, Alabama Kid and many other top stars. He did lose to Charles on two more occasions, but by now it was clear that Moore deserved a shot at the Light-Heavyweight title.
Moore did everything possible to gain a title shot. He traveled around the world and campaigned in different towns, fighting local guys and after his fights, he would talk to reporters and issue a challenge to the champion, but for many years, champions ducked him.
But in 1952, Moore finally received his well-deserved title shot against then-champion Joey Maxim, who was fresh off of a big win over the GREAT Sugar Ray Robinson winning a 14th round technical knockout when Robinson could not continue fighting due to heat prostration. The 39 year old Moore took Maxim to school, hurting him several times with right hands and short, accurate punches. The fight went the distance and Moore won an easy decision and finally won the Light-Heavyweight championship.
Moore held on to the title for 10 years and he never lost his title in the ring, which is amazing considering he was 39 years old when he won the title. Yet like Bob Foster and so many other Light-Heavyweights, Moore also wanted to become the Heavyweight Champion of the world. In 1955, he took on Heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano in what turned out to be Marciano's last fight. The Old Mongoose managed to knock down the iron-jawed Marciano early in the fight with a beautiful, counter right hand, but Rocky recovered and went on to stop Moore in the 9th round.
A year later, Moore received another crack at the title when he took on Floyd Patterson for the vacant Heavyweight title (due to Marcaino retiring undefeated). Moore fought well early on, but the much younger Patterson was just too fast for Moore and he was knocked out in the 5th round. And despite suffering those setbacks, Moore still ruled the Light-Heavyweight division with an iron fist during those 10 years.
So why is Moore not the number one Light-Heavyweight of all time? Based on what he accomplished in that division,Moore was the greatest Light-Heavyweight "champion" of all time, there is no debate about that. But in this particular article, I ranked the greatest "Light-Heavyweights" of all time, meaning I'm basing this on who was the best fighter who ever fought in that division.
Archie Moore will go down in history as one of the hardest punchers of all time and one of the most craftiest technicians to ever lace them up. And while Bernard Hopkins is making a strong case, no one performed better after the age of 40 than the "Old Mongoose" Archie Moore.
1. Ezzard Charles "The Cincinnati Cobra"
Professional record: 93-25-1 with 52 KO's
Credentials: While he never challenged for the Light-Heavyweight title, he beat 4 Former Light-Heavyweight Champions.
Biggest wins: Teddy Yarosz (UD 10) Joey Maxim (UD 10) Archie Moore (KO 8) Jimmy Bivins (KO 4) Lloyd Marshall (KO 2)
Before I get started, I'm well aware of the fact that Ezzard Charles did not win the Light-Heavyweight title. So why is the the Greatest Light-Heavyweight of all-time? As I said earlier, this was a tough decision, but after doing the research, I could not vote any other way.
Born in Lawrenceville, Georgia on July 7th, 1921, Charles won several amateur championships, including two Golden Gloves titles in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions. Charles was a complete fighter, who could out-box you or fight flat-footed and brawl. Nicknamed the "Cincinnati Cobra" Ezzard turned professional in 1940 as a Middleweight and he won his first 15 fights before losing his first fight to the more experienced Ken Overlin.
Charles regrouped and continued to fight tough opposition. And keep in mind, this took place early in Ezzard's career. Most young fighters were brought along slowly, but not Ezzard Charles. After losing to Overlin, Charles won his next two fights before taking on Charley Burley. Even though Burley was much more experienced, Charles dominated him from the opening bell and he won a clear decision over the future Light-Heavyweight champion. They fought again a month later and once again the Cincinnati Cobra proved to be too much for Burley and he won another unanimous decision.
Charles kept fighting tough opponents, beating Joey Maxim twice, he lost to Jimmy Bivins and Lloyd Marshall in his next two fights but he continued on. After winning his next 7 fights, he took on the legendary Archie Moore on May 20th, 1946. Charles dropped Moore in the 8th round with a body shot and went on to win a lop-sided decision over the Old Mongoose.
Charles fought on and he avenged his losses to Lloyd Marshall and Jimmy Bivins, beating Marshall twice and Bivins on 4 different occasions. He also fought Moore two more times and won them both, stopping Moore in the 8th round in their third and final encounter. After disposing of Moore, Ezzard was at the top of his game, but nothing could prepare him for what was ahead of him in his next fight.
A month later, Charles fought a relatively unknown fighter named Sam Baroudi. For the first 5 rounds, Sam was very competitive but Charles took command of the fight in the middle rounds and went on to knock out Baroudi in the 10th round. Sadly, Baroudi died from injuries he sustained from his fight with Charles.
This tragedy devastated Charles and he considered retiring after this but after doing some soul searching, he continued fighting a few months later. After failing to receive a shot at the Light-Heavyweight title (Champions ducked him), he moved up to the Heavyweight division in 1948. A year later, he took on the crafty Jersey Joe Walcott for the vacant NBA Heavyweight title (The World title was vacated because Joe Louis retired as champion). Charles won a hard-fought decision over Walcott and finally won his first world title but many boxing fans did not consider him the true champion because Louis never lost his title in the ring.
A year later, Louis came out of retirement and challenged Charles for his title and the winner would be recognized as the true World Heavyweight champion. This fight was a total mismatch. Louis looked like a shell of his former self and Charles dominated from start to finish. Charles won a unanimous decision over Louis and was now recognized as the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world.
Charles went on to do more great things, but he was never quite the same fighter after the Baroudi tragedy. Before that unfortunate incident, Charles was a deadly puncher who always looked for the knockout when his opponents were in trouble, but after this tragedy Charles still had his share of knockouts, but he lost some of his ferociousness and he would often take it easy on guys once he hurt them (as he did with Louis).
So why did I rank Charles number one over Moore? As I mentioned earlier, this was a TOUGH decision but I had to look at both of their careers and compare them. Both Charles and Moore fought and beat several Hall of Fame fighters, some of which were the same opponents (Joey Maxim, Harold Johnson, Jimmy Bivins, Lloyd Marshall and others) and they fought them several times.
The one thing that Moore has over Charles is the fact that he won the Light-Heavyweight title and he held it for over many years, but let's be honest--Moore received his shot at the world title when he was 39 years old because the people who controlled boxing at that time (The MOB) did not believe Moore would win the title at that age and Ezzard Charles did not receive his title shot because champions flat out ducked him.
The tie-breaker for me came down to what happened when those two faced each other. Charles and Moore fought 3 times and Charles dominated him all three times and those fights took place when they were both young and in their prime. If Charles would not have moved up to Heavyweight in 1948, do you believe Archie Moore would have been champion for 10 years? I don't believe so. So with all that being said, I could not rank Moore or anyone else ahead of the Cincinnati Cobra, Ezzard Charles.
So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think. Let the debates begin!!
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