Mayweather, Pacquaio, Tyson, Frazer, Liston, Ali. These are the names that most of the modern world are familiar with in boxing. These are the all-time greats that are clearly legends of the boxing world. They have accumulated some incredible achievements during their career but there is one boxer not named in this list that has a record they all envy. A record that may never be broken. Archie Lee Wright holds the records for the most knockouts in history. He has knocked out at least 141 opponents in his professional career.
Archie Moore, known as “The Old Mongoose” started boxing at the age of 15 but had to wait until he was 39 years old to get his first title challenge. Moore won the fight by decision but those who have seen the contest say it was barely a contest at all as Moore beat his opponent senseless in each round. Moore went on to hold the heavyweight title for 11 years, eventually being stripped of the belt for ignoring the challenge of one fighter.
While his knockout stats are the most impressive his other stats are equally incredible. Moore won a total of 196 fights in his career, he only lost 26 times and drew 8. To have fought over 200 fights in his career and only lost 26 times is incredible. While Today’s Mayweather is regarded by many as the greatest pound for pound boxer of all time as he remains undefeated, has only fought 50 times and only has 27 wins by knockout. Ali the most legendary boxer of all time has only fought 61 times, won 56 and recorded 37 knockouts. The Old Mongoose stands head and shoulders above the rest.
It is not just his stats that are incredible, he has left behind a reputation of a boxer with strength and flair. He was the creator of the criss-cross defense, something that he taught to Ali who coined the term rope a dope to describe the incredible movement. This defense is something that only incredible talents try to emulate and many still don’t come close to the abilities of the Old Mongoose.
You may think that this fighter was lucky or fought during a different era of boxing but this isn’t true either. Moore fought during the 50s and 60s, a time when boxing was an incredibly tough sport and boxers were less protected than they are today. Moore famously fought Rocky Marciano, a boxer famous for his ability to take punches and for being impossible to knockdown. Rocky Marciano was only knocked down twice in his career, once by Archie Moore.
This incredible fighter shows that there are some heroic stories out there that are still to be told. While Moore doesn’t have a movie about him (yet) he does have his name etched in history with all the greats. What he achieved may never be repeated.