By Chris Robinson
It can be an uneasy feeling when you are distanced from something that you love.
The truth is that some fighters in the sport of boxing are so embedded with the day-to-day rigors that come with their job that it’s either all they know about or simply all they want to do with their lives.
Don Moore training in the Mayweather Boxing Club in April 2012 Photo credit: Chris Robinson
For St. Louis, Missouri’s Don Moore, he is days away from ending a four-year inactive spell and you can hear in his voice how much his next scheduled fight means to him. Moore has compiled a 15-0 record with 12 knockouts during his thirteen years as a professional and over the past few months he has been spotted at the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, Nevada training rigorously with high hopes about his next ring appearance.
Scheduled to fight at the Celebrity Theatre on Saturday night in Phoenix, Arizona, I caught up with Moore earlier this week after one of his training sessions to pick his brain and get a better sense of his history and aspiring future in the sport.
Having moved to Gary, Indiana from St. Louis, Moore was just eleven years old when he tagged along with his older brother one day and soon found himself fascinated by the science of boxing.
“My brother, his name was Warren,” Moore would state. “He was an amateur boxer and then he turned pro. He was boxing and then he said ‘You want to come to the gym?’ and he just took me one day. I was looking at him hit the bag and I was like ‘I could do that’ and when I first started, they put me in the ring with a quick, little fast guy. And he beat me up.”
“From then on, I wanted to whoop him and only him. I took like one week for me to beat him and then coach was like ‘You want to spar anybody else?’ Once I passed that level he perfected my skills as far as my jab, right hand, and left hooks. Anybody can throw punches but as a boxer you need to perfect that punch,” continued Moore, who also worked with John Taylor as an amateur.
Finding himself hooked on boxing, Moore took everything in that the amateur system had to offer, from traveling, competing in different tournaments, and interacting with people he would have never crossed paths with otherwise.
More than anything, remembers Moore, he could see firsthand that he was on the right path by looking at select people close to him.
“Staying out of trouble,” Moore reflected. “Seeing that I’m in the gym training and my other friends are out stealing and getting into mischief. It was a blessing. Even from a younger age, I believed in God, and he’s been protecting me.”
Moore’s professional debut took place on March 27th, 1999, as he scored a 2nd round TKO over Jimmy Holloway, and it signaled a new chapter in his life.
“I was able to provide for my family,” an emotional Moore continued. “So now I’m starting to get money, now I’m not getting trophies and medals, I’m getting recognition and I’m getting money. So that’s my job from a day to day basis. From my first pro fight I was so excited because I was able to get money. Now I can pay rent to mother. From then on, every fight after that, I just wanted to keep winning. I got winning on my brain, I got winning in my heart, I wake up and eat, sleep, drink winning.”
As previously mentioned, it’s been over four years since Moore has fought professionally, as promotional and managerial issues as well as an unwillingness from prospective opponents to get in the ring with him helped to sidetrack his ambitions.
Now working with one of the most renowned trainers in the sport, the outspoken Roger Mayweather, Moore touched on how exactly he landed in the position he is in now.
“I was in Gary, Indiana and I was just training in the gym,” Moore said. “I had a clip up on Youtube. I think Floyd was training for the Mosley fight and they called me to come out here. Bob Ware, him and [Cornelius] Boza Edwards, they set it up for me to come out here and spar Floyd. So I sparred Floyd for the Mosley fight.
“After that, I was just hitting the bag and Roger came up to me like ‘Where you from’ and I’m like ‘I’m from the Midwest’. He said the best fighters came out of the Midwest and he just acknowledged my hard work and dedication and my talent. Even Floyd acknowledged that. And I’ve been in the camp ever since,” Moore said, beaming with a slight bit of pride.
With two stretches of inactivity nestled in between his undefeated run as a professional, it could have been very easy for Moore to lose hope. But the 32-year old is anything but discouraged at this point, as he instead remains upbeat while eyeing another push towards everything he feels he is capable of achieving.
“It means a lot,” said Moore of his return. “Because I’ve been training hard and I’ve been dedicating myself and I’ve been sacrificing. I just want to be active, and with Roger Mayweather training me, he believes in me. I’ve got Bob Ware, my strength and conditioning coach. And just my heart and desire, and my love for boxing, to be able to fight and to get paid for something I love is a blessing. I’m just thankful to be in this position.”
Chris Robinson of the Las Vegas Boxing Examiner can be reached at Trimond@aol.com and www.Twitter.com/CRHarmony
