Archie Moore

	FROM THE BOOKS
	"I was never angry at an opponent, I was angry only for having to earn my living in this manner and for being treated as a minority. So I used my fists in the prize ring to work out my anger against social injustice. But I never felt vicious toward an opponent." "It takes a great deal of skill to succeed in boxing, and skill comes only with practice and repetition. I was lucky to be endowed with those certain qualities needed in the ring: a quick brain, catlike reflexes, and courage. Even as a raw recruit, I sensed I had much more than the average fighter, such as naturally heavy hands, an astute mind, and fortitude. I started boxing professionally when I was nineteen. But I had had much experience before then. Actually, I had my first fight in Mississippi when I was only seven. I decided then and there I'd have to know how to fight to survive. Even then I was made aware that there was something wrong in the way blacks were treated in a white society. So the only escape, I felt, was with my fists."
	Archie Moore John D. McCallum's Encyclopedia Of World Boxing Champions