1959-08-19 Davey Moore w rtd 10 (15) Hogan Kid Bassey, Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, USA - WORLD

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1959-08-19 Davey Moore w rtd 10 (15) Hogan Kid Bassey, Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, USA - WORLD. Referee: Frankie Van. Having struggled to make the weight it was felt that Moore (126) might have some difficulty retaining his title against the man he won it from, but those fears ultimately proved unfounded. After the first seven rounds were closely contested, with both men having their successes, mid-way through the eighth Bassey (125) was hurt but came back well in the ninth before being knocked down by a long right to the head in the tenth. Ruled not to be a knockdown, after Bassey came right back and was punching away at the bell he was retired during the interval when asked by the referee whether he wanted to continue. With a bloody left eye which was beginning to close, and having damaged his right hand in the seventh, Bassey recognised he had missed his chance when making the decision to retire. He also retired from boxing then and there.

To find Moore’s next opponent, the British Empire champion, Percy Lewis, outpointed the European champion, Gracieux Lamperti, in a final eliminator over ten rounds at Olympia, Kensington, London, England on 26 January 1960. This was followed by Moore suffering a broken jaw when getting stopped inside seven rounds of a non-title fight by the local fighter, Carlos Hernandez, at the New Circus Bullring, Caracas, Venezuela on 14 March, and being put out of action for four months. Lewis then blew his chance of a title shot when he lost a return match on points over ten rounds against Lamperti at the Prado Arena, Marseilles, France on 30 April, which was followed by an announcement at the end of May that Moore had signed to meet Kazuo Takayama, the Japanese champion, in August following a couple of warm-up fights. Ranked at number nine by The Ring magazine, Takayama had lost six of his first 11 contests after turning pro in 1954, but had recently beaten Yukio Katsumata and Leo Espinosa.

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