[Jack Robby]

THE SCENARIO: Before fighting his return bout with Charley Burley in June, Archie Moore agrees to defend his world middleweight title against California Middleweight Champion Eddie Booker on February 24, 1943, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Knowledgeable boxing fans in the Golden State are wondering what Archie was thinking, using a clever defensive fighter like Booker as a tune-up fight. But Moore appears confident he can beat Booker and set-up a bigger draw for his summer title defense against Burley. (In reality, Moore and Booker fought a draw on December 11, 1942 and Booker lost his California middleweight title to Jack Chase, another great black middleweight, on January 11, 1943. In this alternate universe, neither of those bouts takes place, having been supplanted by the title bout with Moore).

THE FIGHT: Moore starts out strong, hurting Booker with several punches in the opening round. Moore forces his way inside in the second, landing good body punches and trying to keep Booker on the ropes. Booker tries to keep the fighting at long range in the third, but Moore staggers him with a three-punch combination and later snaps his head back with a hard uppercut.

Moore continues to punish Booker with hard left and rights in the fourth. Booker does slightly better mixing it up in the fifth, but Moore opens a cut over the challenger’s right eye. Moore rocks Booker repeatedly in the sixth with right uppercuts and left hooks. Action slows in the seventh, Booker’s first chance for a breather. Booker begins to hold Moore off with his jab in the eighth, and it appears the cut over his eye has closed.

Moore tries to pick up the action in the ninth, but for the first Booker matches him punch for punch. In the tenth, however, Moore begins outscoring the challenger again with hard punches at long range as the challengers seems to be tiring. It is apparent now that Booker needs to do something to turn this fight around or face defeat. For the first time in the fight, both men slug it out toe-to-toe with each of them taken turns staggered their opponent and being staggered in turn.

In the twelfth, Moore tries to force his way inside while Booker attempts to keep the fighting at long range. The champion is somewhat more successful, but in return draws a warning from the referee for hitting on the break after one of their frequent clinches. Early in round thirteen, Moore lands a hard overhand right that drops Booker to one knee. He takes the opportunity to take an eight count and upon rising makes Moore miss several punches. Finally a barrage of blows to the head sends Booker down again. This time he rises at four, indicating that he had been hurt badly enough not to stay down for awhile and allow himself more time to recuperate. When Moore tries to finish him off, however, he is still able to defend himself and even begins to fight back near the end of the round.

Booker comes out swinging for the fourteenth, realizing he is far behind in points. However, Moore catches him with a terrific uppercut and drops him for a count of 4. Booker is wobbly as Moore rocks him repeatedly with shots to the head and body. Booker tries to hold on and Moore’s efforts to push himself free results in his being penalized a point for butting. Booker finishes the round in bad shape but still on his feet.

Booker gamely tries to fight back at the start of the fifteenth and final round, but Moore is equally eager to take the decision out of the hands of the judges. Perhaps too eager, as the referee once again takes a point away, this time for holding and hitting. Moore is undeterred, however, and midway through the round drops Booker again with a hard uppercut. Booker is up at four, but Moore maintains the attack, sending the challenger down again with a brutal body punch. Booker pulls himself up once more and braces himself for the onslaught. Booker is being battered from pillar to post as the bell sounds ending the fight.

Despite Moore losing a point in each of the last two rounds on fouls, the final decision wasn’t in doubt. Both judges scored the fight 71-59 for Moore, while Judge George Blake made it unanimous, scoring it 70-60.

THE AFTERMATH: Moore’s one-sided victory over Booker paves the way for a title defense in June, presumably a return match with Charley Burley. But Burley, not wanting to go stale from lack of action, has decided to take on the fast-rising young Puerto Rican middleweight Jose Basora. Meanwhile, Jake LaMotta, coming off three great bouts with welterweight phenom Sugar Ray Robinson (in which he lost the first, won the second, then dropped a close, highly-disputed decision in the third) agrees to take on Holman Williams, another top-ranked black middleweight from California. Fears that boxing would drop off the sports pages during the war due to induction of its headliners into the military seem more remote than ever.