Any Boy Can: The Archie Moore Story

by Archie Moore

This wonderful and historic Any Boy Can, is a gem. This is the Archie Moore Story. The dramatic story of one of the greatest boxers in history and today., a dedicated leader of the nation's underprivileged youths.

263 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

When people think of some of the best heavyweight boxers in the world Archie Moore doesn’t always come to mind. Mike Tyson kayoed 44 of his 50 wins. Archie kayoed 132 out of his 186 wins – the record for the highest number of knockouts in the marquis of Queensbury rules boxing history. His first fight was in 1935 – his last in 1963: almost 3 full decades later. The fact that he was able to last that long was due to a special / secret diet that he had discovered and due to the fact that a lot of his fights ended in knockout wins in his favour quite quickly. He was a lovely guy and this book written in 1960, a few years before his last loss to the great Muhammad Ali is incredibly easy to read and full of incredible insights. One of the challenges he had believe it or not was to get the right fights. He had to wait a long time before he was given a title shot. One of the reasons for this was that he looked too good in his sparring sessions. The boxing world is a small world and word spread. The best wanted to avoid him for a long time. He wishes in hindsight that he had curbed his enthusiasm in sparring sessions not to scare off other potential opponents. He toured around the world and once when in Australia he found one element of what was to become his secret diet. He noticed that aborigines were able to travel literally hundreds of miles with only a bag full of beef jerky that they would chew on relentlessly until the last remnants of “juice” was available from each individual morsel. He incorporated this into his diet regime. He had learnt to keep his weight down by chewing on dried meat but without swallowing the meat itself which would only add to his weight. The book also offers snippets of incredible social insight from Archie. He realised early on that the need to relax mentally and remain bitter-free for fighters was critical. He also saw around him a whole deluge of up and coming black men and women in all fields, not just in boxing, who on the one hand were foisted to respect the “backward philosophy” of their elders whilst on the other hand were finding it harder and harder to respect them. This caused a whole generation of blacks a huge amount of strife, friction and emotional tension. I have this challenge with myself and some members of my own sequacious extended family. Archie also developed his own crab defence style, where he would cross his arms in front of him which protected his body and chin – not totally dissimilar to what Joe Frazier would use years later. Some of his boxing other insights are incredible and pertinent today. “Floyd Patterson hurt me. I felt it and knew immediately I was off. Whenever I can feel punches acutely I know there is something wrong with me” – so true. Archie seemed to come across as a lovely hard hard working and disciplined guy. He loved fried chicken (don’t we all??!!! :) and later in his career went on to act and starred in Huckleberry Finn which was no small deal. Much respect Archie.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Archie Moore was just one of the guys who fought Muhammad Ali on his way to the top. Or so I always thought. I gave him no respect because I knew nothing about boxing and only followed heavyweights. But as I found out more about boxing, Archie Moore's name and reputation began to shine brighter and brighter. His career in the ring extended from the 30s to the 60s but I also noticed him in George Foreman's corner when he won the heavyweight title back. His life was truly amazing: fought both Marciano and Ali, 132 knockouts, 220 fights, and among the top five pound per pound best fighters. He's a bit of a ham and a goof but it only lends to his charm. I had to watch Huckleberry Finn recently to marvel at his portrayal of Jim. Such a fine man!