Joey Archer
Joey Archer (born February 11, 1938 in New York City, New York) is a retired American boxer. Archer defeated Sugar Ray Robinson in Robinson's final fight in 1965 (by unaminous decision), and fought Hall of Fame boxers such as Emile Griffith and Dick Tiger.[1]
 | This biographical article related to an American boxer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
“Irish” Joey Archer began his career in 1956 at 18 years of age. He was a master boxer with excellent speed but lacked any semblance of power in his punches. Fighting mostly in various New York and Texas venues, he was a winner in his first 30 fights, with only 7 victories coming inside the distance. His most notable win was against the highly ranked Don Fullmer by a decision. This win earned Archer a date against tough Puerto Rican contender Jose “Monon” Gonzalez, who gave Archer his first defeat in a close, split decision.
Two months later Archer avenged the loss by beating Gonzalez in a clear, decisive decision. The victory propelled “Irish” Joey on a streak of 15 consecutive wins against some of the Middleweight division’s top fighters, including England’s Mick Leahy, Denny Moyer, Argentina’s Farid Salim, Canada’s Blair Richardson, Holley Mims, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and his most impressive career win, against the future Hall-of-Famer and three time World champion Dick Tiger of Nigeria.
The final win in the streak was against “Sugar” Ray Robinson in what would be the last fight of Robinson’s illustrious, Hall-of-Fame career. Having reached the top of the Middleweight division, Archer suffered an unexpected, close split decision loss to the ranked Don Fullmer.
Nevertheless, “Irish” Joey earned a title challenge against Middleweight champion Griffith based on his recent winning streak. The title fight against Virgin Islander Griffith in 1966 was a hard fought, close contest, and after 15 rounds of fighting, Emile Griffith won by a majority decision of the judges.
Archer’s dream of winning the prized Middleweight title went unfulfilled, as the referee ruled the contest a draw, with the other two judges voting in favor of the champion. Six months later, Archer would again fight Griffith for the Middleweight title, and would once again taste defeat in a very narrow, controversial decision.
“Irish” Joey Archer announced his retirement from boxing after the disappointment of these two bitter, close losses to Emile Griffith. He ended his career with a record of 45 victories (with 8 by KO) and only 4 defeats.
Although never having captured a world title, Archer’s boxing skills earned him induction into the “World Boxing Hall of Fame” in 2005. He is currently on the eligibility list of the “International Boxing Hall of Fame” making him eligible for induction into that organization.
http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=11396&cat=boxer
bouts
Lb St Kg date print
date Lb opponent Lb W-L-D last 6 location 1967-01-23 160 Emile Griffith 152 51-7-0 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States L UD 15 15 ~ referee: Arthur Mercante 6-8 | judge: Joe Eppy 6-8 | judge: Johnny Dran 7-8 ~
~ WBC middleweight title ~ ~ WBA middleweight title ~
1966-07-13 159½ Emile Griffith 152 50-7-0 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States L MD 15 15 ~ referee: Johnny LoBianco 7-7 | judge: Al Berl 7-8 | judge: Artie Aidala 5-9 ~
~ WBC middleweight title ~ ~ WBA middleweight title ~
1965-12-13 160 Don Fullmer 160 36-11-3 Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, United States L SD 12 12 ~ referee: Jimmy McCarron 117-115 | judge: Harry Sundberg 114-119 | judge: Alexander Scioli 114-117 ~
WBA American Middleweight Title
1965-11-10 159 Sugar Ray Robinson 160 173-18-6 Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States W UD 10 10 ~ referee: Buck McTiernan ~
This was Robinson's last fight. He was floored for a 9-count in round four, but had a good sixth round. It was a very good fight, held before 9,234 fans. Archer was the aggressor and the three officials scored it 49-40, 50-39, and 48-41 in his favor. Archer admitted afterward that it was only the second time he had knocked an opponent down.
1965-02-20 Johnny Torres 18-22-6 Market Street Armory, Paterson, New Jersey, United States W PTS 10 10 ~ referee: Harold Valan 6-4 ~
Referee Harald Valan scored it 6-4 for Archer, however "neither the crowd of over 1,800 nor Archer's rival was convinced of the New Yorker's right to the nod given to him.." (The Ring, June 1965, page 55)
1964-10-16 162½ Dick Tiger 160¼ 49-15-3 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W SD 10 10 ~ referee: Zach Clayton 6-3 | judge: Al Berl 5-4 | judge: Tony Castellano 4-5 ~ 1964-07-30 161 Gaylord Barnes 154 5-27-0 Wahconah Park, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States W PTS 10 10 1964-06-24 160 Willie Cadillac James 155 28-14-2 Wahconah Park, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, United States W TKO 9 10 1964-05-27 150 Gaylord Barnes 156 5-26-0 City Arena, Richmond, Virginia, United States W UD 10 10 1964-05-09 158 Johnny Torres 155½ 15-19-6 Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, United States W UD 10 10 1964-02-07 159½ Holley Mims 161 59-24-6 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W SD 10 10 ~ referee: Mark Conn 5-4 | judge: Johnny Dran 5-4 | judge: Tony Castellano 4-5 ~ 1963-10-25 161 Rubin Carter 158 17-3-0 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W SD 10 10 ~ referee: Arthur Mercante 5-4 | judge: Al Berl 4-5 | judge: Tony Castellano 6-4 ~ 1963-07-13 159¾ Farid Salim 161 38-3-3 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 10 10 ~ referee: Arthur Mercante 6-3 | judge: Johnny Dran 6-4 | judge: Leo Birnbaum 5-4 ~
Archer suffered a bad cut over his left eye that required 14 stitches.
1963-05-18 161 Victor Zalazar 161 31-9-2 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 10 10 ~ referee: Johnny LoBianco 6-3 | judge: Bill Recht 6-3 | judge: Artie Aidala 6-4 ~ 1963-02-16 Blair Richardson 36-3-1 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 10 10 1963-01-05 159½ Denny Moyer 159 34-8-0 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 10 10 ~ referee: Jimmy Devlin 8-2 | judge: Jimmy Riccio 8-2 | judge: Leo Birnbaum 6-3 ~ 1962-11-10 159½ Mick Leahy 155½ 41-11-6 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 10 10 ~ referee: Jimmy Devlin 7-3 | judge: Al Berl 8-2 | judge: Frank Forbes 9-1 ~
Leahy was knocked down twice in the 7th round.
1962-08-25 158¼ Jose Monon Gonzalez 158½ 21-6-1 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 10 10 ~ referee: Arthur Mercante 7-2 | judge: Tony Rossi 7-3 | judge: Frank Forbes 6-3 ~ 1962-06-23 158 Jose Monon Gonzalez 157½ 20-6-1 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States L SD 10 10 ~ referee: Jimmy Devlin 6-4 | judge: Leo Birnbaum 4-6 | judge: Frank Forbes 4-6 ~
Archer was cut over the right eye in the 4th by a headbutt.
1961-02-04 160¼ Don Fullmer 157¾ 25-3-1 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W MD 10 10 ~ referee: Jimmy Devlin 7-3 | judge: Frank Forbes 8-2 | judge: Leo Birnbaum 5-5 ~ 1960-10-24 161 Joe Rubino 160 12-4-0 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 8 8 1960-06-16 Cheffy Reyna 9-15-0 Pensacola, Florida, United States W KO 2 8 1960-01-19 163 Babe Vance 168 29-15-7 Sports Arena, Amarillo, Texas, United States W UD 8 8 ~ referee: Charles Sackett 5-0 | judge: Garford Wilkinson 7-1 | judge: Jinks Mode 8-0 ~
Vance was knocked down once in the 4th and 7th rounds.
1959-11-24 162 Aman Peck 152 17-31-3 Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, Texas, United States W PTS 8 8 1959-11-09 Henry Burton 3-9-0 Tyler, Texas, United States W PTS 10 10 1959-07-04 Ralph Lucas 0-3-0 Bandera, Texas, United States W TKO 4 8 1959-05-12 158 Tony Dupas 157 33-13-0 Houston, Texas, United States W PTS 10 10 1959-03-10 158 Tony Dupas 155 33-12-0 City Auditorium, Houston, Texas, United States W TD 7 10 ~ 5-1 | 3-2 | 2-3 ~
Archer suffered a bad cut from a headbutt, and was unable to continue.
1959-02-11 155 Ken Biggs 158 0-0-0 Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, United States W TKO 5 6 1958-12-09 Ruben Flores 2-2-0 Houston, Texas, United States W PTS 4 4 1958-12-01 Willie Estes 2-5-0 Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas, United States W KO 1 6 1958-11-25 Willie Estes 2-4-0 City Auditorium, Houston, Texas, United States W PTS 4 4 1958-11-05 Ray Sheppard 4-4-6 Exhibition Hall, Miami Beach, Florida, United States W PTS 8 8 1958-07-28 154½ Bernie Raines 146 8-5-1 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 6 6 1958-06-02 156 Julie Jamison 151¾ 7-10-1 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 6 6 1958-03-17 155 Joe Lissy 154½ 14-17-9 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W UD 6 6 1958-02-14 153 Eddie Prince 149 13-18-4 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 6 6 1957-12-20 150½ Joe Lissy 152½ 13-16-8 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W UD 6 6 1957-11-11 152 Paul Griffin 150 11-14-1 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W UD 6 6 1957-09-30 151½ Jimmy Landron 151½ 2-2-0 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W TKO 4 4 ~ time: 2:23 ~ 1957-09-09 153½ Danny Jones 152 3-13-0 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W TKO 4 4 1957-08-02 148¾ Johnny Lissy 146½ 9-7-2 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 4 4 1957-07-08 149 Bernie Raines 145 6-1-1 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W UD 4 4 1957-05-13 151 Hiram Vale 155¼ 1-2-0 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 4 4 1957-04-29 150 Silby Ford 146 0-4-0 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 4 4 1957-04-08 149 Silby Ford 144½ 0-2-0 St. Nicholas Arena, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 4 4 1957-03-08 151 Whitey Porr 148¼ 1-1-0 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W TKO 4 4 1956-12-21 150 Danny Jones 151 2-8-0 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, United States W PTS 4 4 1956-11-08 148½ Danny Jones 151 2-7-0 Sunnyside Garden, Sunnyside, Queens, New York, United States W PTS 4 4 This was Joey Archer's professional debut (see The Ring, January 1957, page 54). He did not fight Donald Bibbs in Philadelphia, 10/7/56, as shown in The Ring Record Book.