Review of "The Ageless Warrior"

Having heard many stories about Archie Moore from my grandfather, I was interested to learn more about this boxer who holds the record for most career knockouts.  This book was a very good source in order to do so.  So, for my last review before taking a break for a few days, here is the review of "The Ageless Warrior."

Title/Author:

“The Ageless Warrior: The Life of Boxing Legend Archie Moore” by Mike Fitzgerald, narrated by Gary Telles

 

Tags:

Boxing, biography, history, audio book

 

Publish date:

March 1, 2004

 

Length:

275 pages

 

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Archie Moore is a name that many boxing fans may recognize as he is considered to be one of the best boxers in the history of the sport.  He held the light heavyweight title, fought at a time when weekly bouts for a fighter were not uncommon and holds the record for the most knockouts in a career.  Between opponents and fighters he helped train, the time range that covers Moore’s career ran several decades.  His career is captured in this book by Mike Fitzgerald.

The writing about Archie’s career is very good as readers who know about the man but not many details (such as this reviewer) will learn a lot about just how good a boxer Moore was.  The book gets a little bogged down with the details, but this is balanced with many entertaining anecdotes about Moore and some of his quirks.  One of these that is mentioned several times is about his diet.  Dubbed the “Aborigine Diet” by Moore, he supposedly learned this diet when he was fighting in Australia.  He would chew meat, swallow the juices, but then spit out the meat.  This would allow the eater to gain all the benefits of the meat without forcing the body to digest the meat.  Whether or not this was effective, it was often used by Moore as making weight was a constant challenge for him.

 

The book also discusses other parts of Moore’s life, such as his five marriages, his frequent travels and his dedication to improving the lives of children, something that was his calling once his boxing career was over. This part of Moore is not described in as great of detail as his fighting was, but it is sufficient for the reader to get the full picture of what kind of man Archie was.

This is one example of the many stories that will keep the reader engaged with this book.  The narration of the audiobook was also noteworthy in that Telles never seemed to get too excited during action passages, nor too emotional during down times.  That was important to the overall enjoyment of this book as the book as a whole was very much pro-Moore and there were very few negative aspects about him mentioned, whether the discussion was his personal or professional life.  While that itself may not be bad, at times that can feel like simply a long promotional publication for the particular fighter.  Fortunately, this was not the case here and readers who wish to learn more about Archie Moore will find this book will contain a lot of good information. 

Book Format Read:

Audiobook