SAW ARCHIE MOORE LETTERS NOW IN HALL OF FAME
Paint On Side Of Pacquiao Bus
San Francisco, CA– In the late 1980s, the late Godfather of boxing writers Jack Fiske showed me a number of handwritten letters from then light heavyweight challenger Archie Moore. “The Old Mongoose” eloquently penned letters to boxing journalists around the world before Joey Maxim was “pressured” by the media to defend against Moore who won the title with a UD 15 in 1952.
Archie Moore
ARCHIE (MANNY) BEING IGNORED BY MOB (MAYWEATHER)
Had Moore not taken the initiative, he would’ve never gotten the title shot regardless of who was champion. Moore wasn’t keen on the Mob (Blinky Palermo & Frankie Carbo) handling him. Knowing Moore was anti Mafia, Palermo and Carbo for years kept the title away from Moore who everybody knew was the uncrowned light heavyweight World champion. Archie kept winning and his being ignored continued until he got a pen and paper to write to journalists.
DESIGN A BUS WITH FLOYD’S KENTUCKY FRIED EMBLEM
With newspapers all but dead in today’s Internet driven media, that probably would not work for Pacquiao. But like Cassius Clay embarrassed Sonny Liston by driving his personalized bus up to Sonny’s house and throwing a bear trap on his lawn, following Sonny from here to there which annoyed Liston immensely as he had to answer to the media. Manny needs to think outside the box. The media was all over this and this helped Clay, later Ali, get the title fight that nobody thought he had a chance of winning.
LISTON GOT PISSED & THE FIGHT WAS MADE
Sonny was so taken aback and embarrassed that he agreed to fight the upstart loudmouth who called himself “The Greatest,” upset huge odds and the rest is sports history. When Manny Pacquiao said post fight Saturday that “The (telephone) line is open,” that was about as ineffective as a thermometer in hell.
MANNY DID NOT SOUND STRONG
There was no fire in his voice, no demands, no ridiculing Mayweather for avoiding the only fight the public wants to see him in. No, standing at the MGM Grand press gathering, Manny Pacquiao reminded me of Seinfeld’s George Costanza blowing his lines on a date by saying the most inopportune thing he could possibly muster. “The line is open” made Pacquiao sound weak and was a pathetic response considering the three years this fight has been bantered about.
MOORE, ALI, OTHERS HAVE GONE “OUTSIDE THE BOX”
If Manny wants to force Floyd into a fight, his tone Saturday lacked any real confidence, determination, in addition to being lame. Pacquiao needs to embarrass Floyd or he can forget about ever meeting Floyd Mayweather on anything but Skype.
Pedro Fernandez