On a card promoted by Peltz Boxing, County Arklow fighter James Moore joins Kassim Ouma and Tim Witherspoon Jr. I met and talked with James Moore a while back when he visited our gym for a sparring session along with countryman John Duddy.
Duddy's an amazing person in spite of a dangerous and worrisome tendency to get hit too much on his way to victory. James Moore is a lesser known fighter and, to my mind, one with greater potential. Moore and Duddy are very close friends but promotional concerns caused the two stablemates to follow different paths. Moore has a 16-1 record, his only loss coming against Gabriel Rosado of Brooklyn NY.
From the first time I looked at James Moore on television several years ago, I thought that this man wouldn't go too far in American boxing. He seemed too enthusiastic and too nice. "Wait until he meets up with our Philadelphia boys, out Bronx boys, our big city fight-a-day rumblers from some of our toughest neighborhoods. Well, he did. To my suprise, he began knocking them out one by one. Of his 16 fights, James Moore has 10 KOs on his record and then the setback against Rosado at a time he was expected to win.
Gabriel Rosado's the prototype bad-assed Philadelphia fighter with a 10 and 2 record, nearly all of his fights taking place in Philly against other tough Philly competition. Man, I don't mean to diss any cities because they're all tough up in the 'hood but I used to live in Philly and I saw plenty of street fights where the fighters could have gone the route to the whatever-weight championship if only they weren't so stupid as to be fighting on the street. Philadelphia PA is where it's at when it comes to boxing--not to be underestimated are the unknown club fighters who come out of nowhere to dump you on your _ss and then disappear to who knows what city turf or activity.
Anyway, James Moore doesn't have a big publicity machine working for him and he fights far from home. Pal John Duddy was very helpful in the publicity department when the two fought together, but now I wonder if this James Moore will be the same guy a talked with a while back. That guy was a puncher, moving forward relentlessly, and leaving many an opponent helpless and crumpled in a corner. Such a nice boy, too. At 30, his star has yet a few years to rise, or perhaps to fall in the witches caldron that is Philadelphia boxing.
