This video features WBA junior middleweight champion Davey Moore…..who was another really good boxer during the golden age of boxing….for the boxing world never got to see the full development of his boxing talents because of his untimely and unexpected death at the height of his career.
As an amateur, Davey Moore won five New York golden gloves championships….a significant feat in its own right…..while one of Moore’s early professional wins was in June 1981 over Kevin Rooney….who would later train Mike Tyson…..as Moore entered the fight with a 6-0 record while Rooney was 15-0….and Moore won by a TKO in the seventh round of an eight round fight. After winning eight professional fights, five by knockout, the WBA named him their No.1 challenger….and in February 1982, he knocked out defending champion Tadashi Mihara in six….thus winning the WBA world junior middleweight title while having less than 10 professional fights. In April 1982 he defended his world title against Charlie Weir in Johannesburg, South Africa….taking five rounds to knock him out….then in July 1982 he fought former world champion Ayub Kalule…..stopping him in ten.
Moore started 1983 by beating challenger Gary Guiden by knockout in four…..as seen in this video herewith. Shortly afterwards, he was scheduled to fight Tony Ayala Jr…..but Ayala was convicted of burglary and rape and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Next, Moore defended against former two-division world champion Roberto Durán….as Moore appeared to be overconfident against an aging ‘Hands of Stone’ Duran….cuz Duran totally outclassed him and dished out vicious punishment, hammering shut one of Moore’s eyes and stopping him in eight brutal rounds at Madison Square Garden. The beating was so one-sided that Moore’s mother and girlfriend were both said to have fainted at ringside. Many knowledgeable observers believed that referee Ernesto Magana should have stopped the fight far earlier. This was proven to be correct by the fact that Moore was never the same fighter after this contest.
Moore won his next two fights….the second in Monte Carlo over Wilfred Benítez….but then he was disqualified in the ninth round against Louis Acaries in Paris….then In 1985, he won one more fight and was in line to challenge Carlos Santos for the IBF world junior middleweight title. That fight did not materialize, but eventually he did get to challenge for the IBF title against Buster Drayton in August 1986….which Moore lost by TKO in the tenth.
Moore would fight only 5 more times, winning 3 and losing 2….before being killed at his home in Holmdel, New Jersey….when his four-wheel drive vehicle began to roll down the driveway…..as Moore was caught off guard…..he attempted to stop the vehicle….but was dragged under and pinned there….so, when paramedics arrived to find him lifeless….the official cause of death was recorded as asphyxiation induced by a compressed chest. He left behind a wife and two young children including rapper son Brose Royce.
