When Archie Moore, the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time, fought James J. Parker at Maple Leaf Gardens, they attracted 19,832 spectators and widespread press.
Even Sports Illustrated, which had launched in 1954, sent a writer. The winner of the bout would face Floyd Patterson for the world heavyweight championship. Parker was 17 years younger and almost 25 pounds heavier, but Moore, nicknamed “The Old Mongoose,” had the edge in technique, tactics, and pure power. He beat Parker to the punch over eight bloody rounds before stopping him. “Don’t believe all that stuff about Archie [Moore] being 43 years old,” Parker told reporters. “That’s malarkey. He can really step.” Ticket sales totaled $148,5000, the equivalent of $1.6 million today.
