(Editor’s note: The sound isn’t great but it’s all in the article)
One of the most exciting interviews I ever had a chance to do was to chat with the great Archie Moore at the Boxing Hall Of Fame in Canastota, New York sometime around 1992. We chatted about A.J. Liebling's fabulous "Ahab and Nemesis" article (which is attached) and Archie actually re-enacted what he remembered from the Marciano knockdown. Thanks for my friend Mark Fountain for his fine camera work. (I apologize that the audio isn’t better but I tried capture what he said.) To begin, I mentioned to Archie Moore that A.J. Liebling had written about Moore sending him a note calling himself “the most unappreciated fighter in the world.”
“He was one of the greatest. He took a liking to me. And Red Smith was absolutely great. Writing is based on skill like boxing is based on skill.”
I mentioned the famous Liebling article “Ahab and Nemesis” and you could see Archie smile. I mentioned Liebling’s line that Moore would handicapped by his active skeptical mind, trying to solve a raft of issues whereas Marciano was of one mind – destroy.
Archie laughed and said “When you’re fighting Marciano, you have to have that kind of a mind.” I suggested that the punch he floored Marciano with was devastating and Archie demurred.
“Well, I didn’t hit him the way I wanted to hit him,” he said. And I interjected, “If you did, he’d still be laying there.” And Moore, ever the precise speaker, corrected me. “No, I wouldn’t have killed him. You see, there was a lot of material people don’t know.”
He stands up. “I was badgering Rocky and he came out, I put this in his mind. I said, ‘Thought you come to fight.” And he spreads his arms “I KNOW he’s going out after me. And I’m waiting, and I see him coming and I’m counting his steps, and he started with the overhand right, boom, the uppercut.” Touches his forearm, “right here.” He continued, “and I went back just a tinch further than I should have and I did that” – demonstrates the uppercut – “under the chin. If I could have set myself” – again, he demonstrates how he could have put more into the punch “that punch might have knocked him out. Maybe. Because I had ko’ed a lot of guys and he fell” – mimics Marciano hitting the deck – “and he got up and walked over to the ropes – Moore is staggering like Rocky – “and excuse me folks, my fans, and he laid his hands on top ropes as if appealing to his fans as if allowing this guy, this old guy to knock me down.
“And then, here’s the referee (Harry Kessler), he’s out of his cottonpickin’ mind, and Moore mimics the count “One, two…” and then he grabbed Marciano’s gloves (he grabs my hands) and gives it a jolt “and tries to get me to a corner and all that kind of stuff and he might have awakened him. And my trainer is down on the floor ‘Hit him, Archie. Get him. Hit him.” And I went and I went over and that son of a b…stood in front of me and he grabbed Marciano’s hands snapped him out of the corner. He woke him up.”
And then the old warrior got the look. “And I thought ‘If I have to fight every son of a b… in this arena. They’ll have to kill me, that’s that I said. I wouldn’t have gived a damn if I died. Bleep him. And my a…trainer overtrained me and I couldn’t fight the way I wanted to fight. As the fight wore on, I began to weaken. And Marciano seemed to get stronger. And he finally knocked me out.
“What I just said, it’s OK. Print it, if you want.”