St. Louis has a long and magnificent track record of presenting some of the finest boxing talent the world has known. But what many do not realize is the caliber of genius that at one time or another called St. Louis home. Some of the city’s past champions and legends include Sonny Liston, Jack Armstrong and Archie Moore.
Before reviewing the historical contributions of these other almost mythical figures, let’s briefly examine the Spinks dynasty.
Cory Spinks, the current undisputed world welterweight champion, has a legacy in the fight game few can equal. He is the son of former heavyweight champ Leon Spinks and nephew of light heavyweight notable Michael Spinks. Both Leon and Michael won Gold Medals in the 1976 Olympic Boxing Games.
Leon Spinks, who became the world’s lightest heavyweight champion, was born on July 11, 1953 in St. Louis and was the first heavyweight boxer to beat Muhammad Ali on February 15, 1978.
Michael Spinks began his professional career in 1977 and in 1981 won the World Boxing Association light-heavyweight crown. He won a 15-round decision over Larry Holmes for the International Boxing Federation title but, in June 1988, lost a title fight to Mike Tyson.
Now, for the deeper history:
Henry Armstrong
Henry Armstrong became the first (and still the only) fighter to ever hold three world championships n the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight n simultaneously. Bert Sugar in his 100 Greatest Boxers of All Time rated Henry Armstrong as the second-greatest fighter in history behind “Sugar” Ray Robinson. “The 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years” in the 2002 Ring Annual (Vol. 2) also rated Armstrong second only to Robinson.
Armstrong, whose real name was Henry Jackson, moved to St. Louis from Mississippi when he was four. He had several nicknames n “Perpetual Motion,” “Homicide Hank,” the “Human Buzz Saw,” and “Hurricane Henry.”
Armstrong pressured his opponents from the gong of the first bell, because his plan of attack was designed to force his opponents into mistakes while he banged away with both hands to the head and body with a torrent of blows. After his retirement from the ring, he lived and worked here in St. Louis and later became an ordained Baptist minister.
Sonny Liston
A colorful, controversial figure who will forever be remembered in St. Louis is Charles “Sonny” Liston.
Liston was born in rural Arkansas. At about the age of thirteen, he moved to St. Louis to join his mother. In 1952, he became an amateur fighter, and in 1953 he won the National Golden Gloves title. Liston turned professional later in 1953 and won fourteen of his first fifteen fights.
Believed to be the victim of police harassment, he got into a fight with a St. Louis policeman and was sent to prison, where he groomed his pugilistic skills.
In 1962, Liston knocked out Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson in the first round in Comiskey Park in Chicago and repeated the feat against Patterson less than a year later. In February 1964, Muhammad Ali defeated Liston for the championship. Liston’s rematch with Ali in Lewiston, Maine the next year resulted in the same results, with Ali defeating Liston decisively.
Liston continued to fight for another six years. His seventeen-year career ended in 1970, when he died in his home in Las Vegas under suspicious circumstances. Officially, the cause of death was listed as lung congestion and heart failure. Unofficially, the death appeared to be the result of a heroin overdose. Some police officials and Liston associates believed that Liston was murdered.
Archie Moore
Nicknamed “The Old Mongoose,” Archie Moore fought for an incredible 27 years and knocked out 141 opponents. That is more than anyone else in the history of boxing. He became the light heavyweight champion at the age of 39 and is the only man to have fought both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali.
Moore, who turned pro in 1936, debuted in the world rankings as a middleweight in the early 1940s. In 1952, at the age of 39, Moore became the light heavyweight champion by defeating Joey Maxim in St. Louis. He held the title for eleven years.
In 1955, he fought and lost to Rocky Marciano. The next year, he met Floyd Patterson for the vacant heavyweight crown but was stopped in five rounds. He knocked out former Olympic heavyweight champion Pete Rademacher in 1961 and in 1962 fought and lost a bout with Muhammad Ali. He later lost a series of bouts against Ezzard Charles.
Moore went Hollywood to play the role of Jim, the runaway slave, in the 1960 movie The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Throughout the era, extending into the mid-’80s, Moore was a Hollywood regular, acting in movies and television.
Moore retired in 1963 with a record of 194 wins with 26 defeats and eight draws. He later helped train George Forman before his “Rumble in the Jungle” fight with Muhammad Ali in 1974 and was assistant coach of the Nigerian boxing team at the 1976 Olympics. In 1985, he was elected to the St. Louis Boxing Hall of Fame organized by the Gateway Classic Sports Foundation.
After departing from his life of fisticuffs, during the early and mid-’60s Moore spent many of his remaining years commuting between St. Louis and Hollywood, working as an actor and trainer and serving underprivileged children. He died on Dec. 9, 1998, at a hospice in San Diego after a lengthy illness.
Knowledge of the past supplies context, perspective and clarity in a diverse and changing world, and St. Louis has a very illustrious and important past. Perhaps a reminder of these heroes will make Black History Month in St. Louis a little brighter.
