Boxing’s Greats of the States | North Carolina: Rodney Moore

Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it.

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For someone who lost his first two fights and three of his first five, Rodney Moore certainly turned around his career. Moore challenged for a few world titles and defeated a few former world champions along the way, and even though he never captured gold himself, he put together a solid resume by the time he was finished.

Moore took his first swing at a world championship in 1993, when he fought Charles Murray for the vacant IBF super lightweight title and came up short in a 12-round unanimous decision. After rebounding with a seventh-round technical knockout against Pat Briceno, he challenged Frankie Randall for the WBA super lightweight belt. Randall stopped him in the seventh round of a terrific fight. Two years later, on Feb. 10, 1996, Moore found himself standing across the ring from the great Felix Trinidad. “Tito” took him out at the end of Round 4 to retain his IBF welterweight crown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

A Wilmington, North Carolina, native Moore retired with a 38-10-2 (20 KOs) record. Among his in-ring triumphs was a unanimous decision over former world champion Miguel Santana in 1989, a decision victory over onetime Olympic gold medalist Jerry Page in 1990 and a thrilling 10-round decision win over Livingston Bramble in 1993.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: James “Bonecrusher” Smith, Monte Barrett, Calvin Brock, Malcolm Tann