Old Master of Boxing, Archie Moore, Recalls His Days as Pugilistic Artiste

Of late, I have become interested in the monthly boxing cards at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Now I am interviewing Archie Moore at his home in Southeast San Diego.

This is roughly equivalent to becoming interested in modern art and finding yourself (via time travel) with a chance to interview Picasso at the Salon D’Automne.

The entree or news hook for my visit is that Moore next week will lead a troupe of San Diego fight fans to Las Vegas for the Holyfield-Holmes match Friday night.

It’s a package put together by Sundance Tours and Travel in San Diego, with which Moore’s son, Archie Jr., is connected.

The merry band will roll along in an oversized motor coach, while Moore narrates films of his fights with Joey Maxim, Rocky Marciano and Yvon Durrell. Once in Las Vegas, the real partying begins.

There is, of course, symmetry to the idea of Moore taking an interest in Holyfield-Holmes.

At 42 years and 7 months, Larry Holmes will be the second oldest man ever to fight for the heavyweight championship. If you believe Ring magazine (“The Bible of Boxing”), Moore was the oldest: 42 years and 11 months when he encountered 21-year-old Floyd Patterson in 1956.

True to his custom, Archie Moore will neither confirm nor deny speculation about his age. Was he really 48 when he retired as the light heavyweight champ in 1962?

He thinks a minute. His eyes crinkle with delight and he says softly: “Whatever.”

He declines to pick a favorite between Holyfield and Holmes. A boxing contest to Moore is a creative endeavor and to prejudge its outcome would be presumptuous and aesthetically vulgar.

By Ring’s calculation, Moore is 78 years old. He moves slowly; he has a bum knee; he picks his words carefully.

He is gracious to a fault and happily springs to his feet to accommodate a request to demonstrate the short right-hand that floored Marciano (before Marciano arose and emerged victorious):

“It was a fast punch. It was a punch delivered from the side. Those punches are not in action anymore because there’s nobody to teach those tricks and traits anymore.”

Lack of artistry pains Moore, who had 234 fights in 26 years. He says there aren’t enough good trainers anymore: “You can’t teach what you don’t know.”

He talks of his playful joust three decades ago with George Plimpton, who sparred with Moore for a magazine story. Plimpton got a bit bloody; the two became friends.

“He was looking for some publicity. I gave him a stiff jab to the nose to make him earn it.”

He points to a yellowed picture on his wall of Juan and Eva Peron. He met them while fighting in Argentina; Juan Peron had been an amateur boxer.

“He was a light heavyweight, like me,” Moore says.

He is at ease these days in his brick house by Interstate 15 and an SDG&E; corporation yard. He was born in Mississippi and has lived in San Diego since 1938.

For several years, he was a youth counselor for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Los Angeles. His job was to preach the gospel of boxing and a drug-free life to street kids.

A year ago he was among those HUD employees eliminated in a budget cut. Given recent events in L.A., he wonders if Jack Kemp still feels that was a smart idea.

He thinks those who disdain boxing have missed a fundamental point:

“Fighting is a natural thing men do and men will always do as long as there are men.”

Finally, an All-Knowing Candidate

Words, words, words.

* Who says politics is godless?

North County bumper sticker: “Elect God President. Our Only Chance.”

Banner above the polling place at Pacific Beach Christian Church: “Please Pray For The Campaign. Reflect, Renew, Rejoice. Victory In Jesus.”

* Yes, the Red Robin restaurant in Encinitas has something called a “Just-in-Quesadilla” on the menu.

* The owners of Aardvark Books in downtown San Diego have put up a provocative window display: Ken and Barbie dolls digging through a miniature Dumpster.

* Big Brother and the phone book.

Cheryl Bassett notes that the 1993 phone book, in the section for county government, has a listing for Nosie Control, right under Narcotic Task Force.