06.03.2022
Wednesday's "Learn from the Fight" saw Archie Moore and Rocky Marciano fight rematches against two of their worthiest contenders in 1954.
Archie Moore versus Harold Johnson Undisputed World Light Heavyweight Championship 11.08.1954
After successfully defending his title for the second time against Joey Maxim earlier that year, Archie Moore took two non-title bouts against Bob Baker and Bert Whitehurst. He won them both by technical knockouts in the ninth and sixth rounds respectively. Come August he was signed to defend his world title against an opponent who wasn't Joey Maxim. However, he was still a familiar face for the Old Mongoose. Harold Johnson was a man he had met four times previously and who he had even lost on one occasion. He was considered to be amongst the more dangerous contenders in the light heavyweight division, eventually becoming inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame many decades later.
Harold "Hercules" Johnson was born in Manayunk, Philadelphia on 9th August 1928. His father was also a professional fighter, Phil Johnson whose most notable fight was his defeat at the hands of future world heavyweight champion Jersey Joe Walcott in 1936. Harold Johnson turned pro 10 years later after taking up boxing during his time serving in the Navy. Prior to this he had also been a semi-professional footballer. He became known as a technical counter-puncher with an "educated jab" who won all 24 (14 by knockout) of his first fights before facing Archie Moore in 1949. Moore was already a lot more experienced than Johnson and many consider him to be a breakout of the Black Murderer's Row of the '40s. Johnson lost on a unanimous decision. He then won his next five fights, including a unanimous decision over the great Jimmy Bivins the man declared to be the interim world light heavyweight and heavyweight champion when Joe Louis was undertaking military service. His next fight saw him lose to Jersey Joe Walcott, a rare example of a professional fighter losing to the same person who beat their father. However, the reason for the loss, ruled as a KO in the third round, wasn't as straightforward as it looked on Johnson's record. For a start, Johnson had taken the first round. Round two had seen Walcott knock Johnson down but not before some extremely spirited and even exchanges. In round three Johnson fell to the canvas in agony as he tried to pursue one of Walcott's trademark walkaways. He had suffered a serious injury to a disc in the small of his back. Walcott believed this was caused when Johnson twisted and landed awkwardly in round two after taking a left hook to the head.
Despite fears that he may never fight again, Johnson returned to the ring 10 months later with a second round knockout victory over Harry Daniels. This was followed by a fourth round knockout over Dusty Wilkerson. By the time Archie Moore gave him a rematch he had notched up five straight victories, four of which were stoppages. Moore again won a unanimous 10 round decision. However, like the first contest, it had been hotly contested and Johnson made it hard for Moore to close the distance. A third match-up was agreed upon, but this time Johnson took the unanimous decision over the Old Mongoose. Their fourth fight was signed a month and a half later. Moore won the 10 round decision again. From 24th September 1951 to 29th January 1952, Johnson and Moore had fought each other a total of three times.
Johnson's next fight was his first victory by split decision (all others had either been stoppages, unanimous decisions or decided by points). This was over Clarence Henry. He then immediately experienced his first loss by split decision. In fact, in the 40 professional fights he had fought it was his first loss to anyone other than Archie Moore or Jersey Joe Walcott. His vanquisher was the powerful slugger, Bob Satterfield. He'd correct the Satterfield defeat in short order, however, after knocking out Leonard Morrow in round three he tested Bob's notoriously weak chin and knocked him out in round two of their rematch. Morrow and Satterfield were just two of the 11 straight victories Johnson won before he challenged Archie Moore a fifth time. His victories included the Cuban heavyweight champion, Nino Valdes, vanquisher of several Murder Row fighters, Charley "Doc" Williams, and former undisputed world heavyweight champion, Ezzard Charles, on his comeback trail. Charles, it should be noted, had beaten Archie Moore in all three of their matches and the third time by way of a knockout.
The Light Heavyweight title bout was held at Madison Square Garden with Ruby Goldstein as the referee. Johnson stood at 5'10" with a 74" reach. He was 10 years younger than Moore. He weighed in at 172 lb to Moore's 173 lb. Moore had apparently struggled to make the weight, being 15 lbs over a week before the official weigh in and had taken to a strict meat diet, drinking water only when it was necessary. The contract stipulated that should Moore lose the bout, Johnson had to automatically grant him a rematch for the title within 90 days. Moore started out as the 3-1 betting favourite, but the odds changed to 8-5 on the day of the fight. This was first time Johnson had fought in a 15 round match and his biggest challenge had always been being able to cope with Moore's ability to eventually close in on him in later rounds, frequently resulting in knockdowns.
Johnson's record was 47-5. Moore's record was 146–19–8 with one no-contest.
Round 1 - Johnson was, by far the busier of the two. Not only wise to Moore's style, he was clearly more comfortable at his weight. This continued for the next three rounds with Johnson ahead on the score cards.
Round 4 - Johnson controlled the fight with his jab and then tied Moore up as the Old Mongoose closed in. Moore kept his high rear hand to defend. Johnson darted in and out, avoiding Moore's devastating inside fighting. Moore missed with a left hook that Johnson parried by pushing at his shoulder. This caused the champion to almost topple over in dramatic fashion. Moore then adopted his cross-arm guard and began to roll forward, probing Johnson's defences. Johnson was quick to retaliate and snapped out several jabs. They tied up and were separated only to resume a similar back and forth routine at long range.
Round 5 - This round was very similar. We saw more of Moore's cagey edging forward with his crossed-arm guard deflecting Johnson's very regular jab. He also showcased a sharp combination when he caught Johnson in the corner. For the most part, however, the fighter stayed in the centre of the ring where Johnson was most confident.
Round 7 - Up to this point, according to the reports, the match was very similar to what had occurred between the fighters during their previous four matchups. However, this round saw Moore pile on the pressure and land some damaging body blows. He kept him in the corner with a quick turn in the clinch and delivered a punishing combination. Johnson worked quickly and tied Moore up, wrestling him back to the centre of the ring. Moore kept pressuring him towards the different corners but Johnson used his slick footwork to get out of trouble whilst pumping jabs and hooks. Moore continued to deflect well with his high right hand and began to forge his way forward with his own more powerful hooks and jabs. He clearly felt the fight was beginning to his way at this point and began countering Johnson's jab by throwing an overhand right.
Round 10 was missing in our highlights, which was a shame as it was quite significant. By this stage, Moore had apparently taken control of the fight when Johnson let fly with a powerful right hook that caught him behind the ear. Ruby Goldstein had forgotten that at this time the mandatory 8-count knockdown rule had been waived for championship bouts and counted to six before the bell rang. Moore had risen by three.
Round 13 - Moore had jumped back on the offensive in rounds 11 and 12, but according to the reports Johnson was still ahead on the scorecards and the round 10 knockdown had not helped matters. Moore needed a knockout. Johnson was notably tired by this stage and Moore was exploiting it in the clinches by leaning on him. Johnson carried his hands low by this stage. The fourteenth round finished with Moore landing another right to the challenger's chin and this one visibly rocked him.
Round 14 - Between rounds, Moore told his manager "I'll knock him out in this round". With his guard now low and visibly tired, Johnson's style had been worked out by Moore who began getting his own jabs in setting up his right. The right detonated on Johnson's face and the challenger was clearly in trouble. Moore wasted no time in unloading a series of uppercuts, hooks and straight rights that sent his opponent down for the count. Johnson was up and Goldstein seemed to start giving him an eight count before remembering the rule and allowing the fight to continue. Moore jumped in again with the powerful right and continued to batter Johnson enough for Goldstein to step in and end the match. Archie Moore remained World Light Heavyweight Champion.
Rocky Marcianoversus Ezzard Charles Undisputed World Heavyweight Championship 17.09.1954
Both Marciano and Charles were keen to meet again after their first historic clash and the fight was set just three months later. However, it was postponed for three nights, which Marciano said really played on his nerves. The rematch would win Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year, an accolade that had also gone to Marciano's title defence against Roland LaStarza in '53 and the fight that won him the title against Jersey Joe Walcott in '52. Charles's knockout loss of the title in '51 against Walcott had also earned this award.
Charles came in the heaviest of his career at 192 lbs and a record of 85-11-1. Marciano was 187 lbs with a record of 46-0. The odds had Marciano as the 9-2 favourite. The fight was held at the Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York and refereed by Al Berl.
Round 1 - Charles took the first round and it would be the last time he was in front. After the first clinch, Charles scored with a left hook to Marciano's mid-section.
Round 2 - Marciano now took the fight to Charles in familiar fashion, although this clearly was not going to resemble the clinical exchange of their previous match-up. Early on in the round and upon his approach, Marciano was caught by a hard straight right. However, as was normally the case, the champion persisted and eventually got inside where they exchanged. Charles, although keen to match the aggressive pace, was mindful to tie up Marciano at this most dangerous of ranges. He was pushed away and eventually the solid overhand right he had been seeking found its target over Charles's jab, rocking the challenger. Marciano continued to throw rights and one got through, sending the former champion down. Charles was up in good time and Marciano moved in hope that he could finish the job. It turned out the Charles wasn't nearly as badly hurt as it looked and he freely engaged, first tying up his opponent and then winning a rally with a sharp left hook before the end of the round. By default this was the champion's round.
Round 3 - Perhaps the extra weight Charles had put on was intended to stand up to Marciano. Besides the odd rear uppercut, skillfully set up as any good out-boxer/boxer-puncher uses on swarmers like Marciano, most of the fight would take place at mid and close range. This totally suited the champion as did the ferocious pace. With Marciano lunging in and Charles getting into heated exchanges, the latter's interception skills were largely negated and so was his defensive jab.
Charles had knocked out 52 of his opponents and a good number of victories prior to his first Marciano matchup had come that way, but he was definitely far closer to the boxer side than the puncher side of his categorised boxing style. Furthermore, this was all very much in Marciano's domain whose chin had long since proven its worth having only been knocked down once so far. However, it should also be remembered that Charles's chin was pretty durable too. He had fought more than twice the number of fights than Marciano and only been stopped twice, of these stoppages only Jersey Joe Walcott had delivered a straight KO. When we add to the fact that he not only went the distance with Marciano, a rare feat, and the only fighter to last the full 15 rounds, prior to round two of this fight he was the only fighter not to be knocked down by the Brockton Blockbuster. The champion blamed the lack of knockdowns on being rusty having not fought in 10 months.
Round 4 - The round was a slower paced affair. Charles dug a good shovel hook into Marciano's mid-drift but failed to follow it up. However, for the most part, Marciano was dictated the fight and on the front foot.The champion was thrown off course a little by the challenger a little in the middle of this round. He then burrowed in and began to notice an opening in his opponent's guard. Marciano began landing some overhand rights whenever the opportunity arose. Marciano hit after the bell and an angered Charles struck back.
Round 5 - Another regular tactic of Charles's previously seen appeared early on in the round too: his single underhook. Marciano tried to negate it by dropping all his power into the free hand, landing uppercuts and shovel hooks with regularity into the challenger's body. He also kept his arms close to the body and dipped with his shoulder. This offered the added benefit of creating momentum to drive his punches on the inside. The challenger moved out of the clinches and Marciano pursued with his looping and hooking punches, constantly changing angles. A left hook clearly hurt Charles and he shied away from the champion's right. The bell rung and the left hook found its mark. An angered Charles hit his opponent back with short right.
Round 6 - A clash in the clinch revealed a split on the tip of Marciano's nose that gushed blood. At the time, a journalist claimed the clinch was directly responsible but it has also been speculated the wound came from Charles's retaliatory punch after the previous round. Marciano still led the charge and put the pressure on his opponent, winning yet another round.
Round 7 - Marciano emerged with - in his own words - "enough gauze to bandage an army... I look like Pinocchio". Whatever the split nose's origins, Charles went after it with vigour knowing that such a cut could result in a stoppage. In fact, by today's standards, this would probably have been the case although not at this particular point. The gauze went pretty quickly. This didn't stop Marciano from continuing to be the aggressor and running the fight. Charles, visibly tired, was in a more visibly counterpunch mode targeting the wound that brought the attention of the referee.
Round 8 - Charles's work on Marciano's nose was doing its job and time was running out for the champion despite being well ahead on the scorecards. His cornerman had confirmed that the blood could not be stopped. Furthermore, at the beginning of this round Charles's heat-seeking jabs had now opened up a cut above his opponent's left eye. Marciano's corner had been unable to stem the blood flow from the former wound and it looked like the fight was going to be stopped by Al Berl very soon. Marciano had to pile on the steam and he kept coming forward in a side-to-side fashion. Charles, now plodding and without his slick footwork, needed to defend and counter. However, he wasn't getting his timing in and just as he rolled under a left hook, he was caught by Marciano's vicious overhand right. Charles was up for the eight-count and intercepted Marciano with a low clinch. Marciano responded with shoulder shoves, intent on finishing the game this time. He kept to his hook/overhand right combination, knowing that Charles was still failing to keep his left up. By share volume the right found its mark, followed by a left, a right hit the top of the challenger's head and finally the left sent sent him down for the final time. Charles made it to his feet as Berl counted 10.
Ezzard Charles continued to fight for five more years but never got a shot at a world title again. Despite attempts to retire, financial problems forced him into the ring again and again. His remarkable record was severely tarnished after his last fight with Marciano. He lost 13 of 23 remaining fights and six of these were stoppages (two were straight KOs). Charles's overall record was 95 wins, 25 losses and one draw.
Marciano and Charles became close friends and, later on his life, he became a friendly neighbour to Muhammad Ali. Marciano later declared the Cincinnati Cobra to be the bravest man he ever fought. Muhammad Ali said, "Ezzard Charles was a truly great fighter and champion. He was the only heavyweight champion, other than a young Sonny Liston, who I think would have really troubled me at my best." Charles is regularly featured high in rankings for the best boxer of all time, often considered to be the greatest light heavyweight who ever fought. Lincoln Park Drive in Cincinnati had its name changed to Ezzard Charles Drive in honour of the great former champion and a commemorative stamp was created with his image and 1949, the year he won the world championship.
In 1968 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka motor neurone disease or Lou Gehrig's Disease). The disease affected his legs at first and then eventually left him completely disabled. Many of his former opponents rallied to his side in creating a fundraiser. Charles was even featured in a commercial to draw attention to the fight against the disease. He died in a nursing home in 1975.
https://clubbchimera.com/services/
Comments