Editing Archie Moore (section)

===The Atlantic Coast===
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In 1944, he had nine bouts, going 7–2. His last bout that year marked his debut on the Atlantic Coast, and the level of his opposition began to improve. He beat [[Jimmy Hayden]] by a knockout in five, lost to future Hall of Famer [[Charley Burley|Charlie Burley]] by a decision, and to Booker by a knockout in eight.<ref name="myref"/>

He won his first eight bouts of 1945, impressing Atlantic coast boxing experts and earning a fight with light heavyweight [[Jimmy Bivins]], a boxer that was not considered a hard puncher, who defeated Moore by a knockout in six at [[Cleveland]]. He returned to the Eastern Seaboard to fight five more times before that year was over. He met, among others, light heavyweight [[Holman Williams]] during that span, losing a ten-round decision, and knocking him out in eleven in the rematch.<ref name="myref"/>

By 1946, Moore had moved to the [[light heavyweight]] division and he went 5–2–1 that year, beating contender [[Curtis Sheppard]], but losing to future World [[Heavyweight]] Champion and Hall of Famer [[Ezzard Charles]] by a decision in ten, and drawing with old nemesis Chase.<ref name="myref"/> By then, Moore began complaining publicly that, according to him, none of boxing's world champions would risk their titles fighting him. 1947 was essentially a year of rematches for Moore. He went 7–1 that year, his one loss being to Charles. He beat Chase by a knockout in nine, Sheppard by a decision in ten and Bivins by a knockout in nine. He also defeated Burt Lytell, by a decision in ten.<ref name="myref"/>

On June 2, 1948, [[Leonard Morrow]] (12–2–1) KO’d Archie Moore (92–14–7) in the first round to win the California light heavyweight championship.<ref name="myref"/>

Years later when asked about the fight with Morrow, Archie would claim he had accidentally fouled Morrow and reached out his hand as a sign of an apology, but this wasn't what happened. He had also forgotten he had told the newspapers what had really happened while he was in California before his fight with Bob Dunlap, saying, “I never dreamed this kid could hurt me. I thought I’d spar a bit and see what he had. He hit me hard. I got up and he swarmed all over me. Never was I so humiliated.”

He fought a solid 14 fights in 1948, losing again to Charles by a knockout in nine, losing to [[Henry Hall (American boxer)|Henry Hall]] by a decision in ten and to Lloyd Gibson by a disqualification in four. But he also beat [[Ted Lowry]], by a decision in ten, and Hall in a rematch, also by decision.<ref name="myref"/>

In 1949, he had 13 bouts, going 12–1. He defeated the ''Alabama Kid'' twice; by knockout in four and by knockout in three, [[Bob Satterfield]] by a knockout in three, Bivins by a knockout in eight, future World Light Heavyweight Champion and IBHOF inductee [[Harold Johnson (boxer)|Harold Johnson]] by a decision, Bob Sikes by a knockout in three and Phil Muscato by a decision. He lost to Clinton Bacon by a disqualification in six.<ref name="myref"/> By Moore's standards, 1950 was a vacation year for him: he only had two fights, winning both, including a 10-round decision in a rematch with Lydell.

In 1951, Moore boxed 18 times, winning 16, losing one, and drawing one. He went on an [[Argentina|Argentinian]] tour, fighting seven times there, winning six and drawing one. In between those seven fights, he found time for a trip to [[Montevideo|Montevideo, Uruguay]], where he defeated Vicente Quiroz by a knockout in six. He knocked out Bivins in nine and split two decisions with Johnson.<ref name="myref"/>