You'll never be forgotten on this river, champ.

The Miramichi lost a legendary fighter and a great gentleman when Yvon
Durelle died Saturday in Moncton.
Yvon was 77-years-old.
Yvon, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, had a stroke on Christmas
Day.
He will be missed.
From a family of fourteen kids, Yvon grew up in Baie-Ste-Anne, his home
for
all his life. Like many others of his generation, he left school at an
early
age to work on a fishing boat.
But Yvon wasn't even 18 yet when he became a professional boxer in 1947.
He
went on to win the Canadian middleweight title in 1953 and the British
Empire title in 1957.
The Canadian Press said Durelle was considered one of the first truly
Canadian fighters of any stature, as he fought the majority of his
fights in
Eastern Canada. He is also in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and was
named
Acadian Athlete of the Century in 2000.
Yvon was listed as a 4-to-1 underdog when he stepped into the ring with
Archie "Ol' Mongoose" Moore in 1958 for what some fans to this very day
call
the greatest matchup in the history of boxing, a match that would put a
regular guy from Baie-Ste-Anne, New Brunswick within a hair's breadth of

becoming the light-heavyweight champion of the world.
Some of you who listened to your radios the night of Dec. 10, 1958 may
remember the excited voice of announcer Jack Dreese in the Montreal
Forum
commentating on a matchup that made Yvon a legend around the world.
"Moore is down again! He's hurt! Durelle goes to a neutral corner as
Moore
struggles to get up ... Moore is up now, and Durelle charges, throwing
bombs
from every angle, and Moore seems unable to defend himself. Moore goes
down
again -- for the third time! This fight could be over in the very first
round. Moore is badly hurt! Well ... Father Time has finally caught up
with
'The Ol' Mongoose.'"
But Father Time didn't get Moore that night.
Many swear the referee gave Moore a long count, the only reason he won
the
bout. Others say no, that Durelle stood over the prone form of Moore
watching him instead of going to a neutral corner, thus giving Moore a
precious few seconds more to recuperate.
Almost 50 years has gone by since that fight and you still hear the
arguments over it all along the river.
But it never really mattered here what happened anyway. Durelle was
always
the champion on this river.
Here's Moore's take on the match from an interview years ago.
"My fight against Yvon Durelle was my toughest.
"Durelle knocked me down three times in the first round, twice for
counts of
nine. Today, these weak-sister referees would have stopped that fight,"
Moore said.
"Durelle could hit like a mule's kick, and he dropped me again in the
5th. I
felt it was curtains for me, and yet I fought back to stop him in the
11th.
I had to call on every human resource to win.
"If I would have fought Durelle today I would have lost. They would have

stopped it in the first round."
The death of Moore in 1998 saddened Yvon.
"He was a nice guy, a hell of a nice guy," he told a newspaper when
interviewed about Moore's passing.
So were you, Yvon. You had courage, strength and gentleness, all the
attributes that make men great.
You made us proud, and you'll never be forgotten on this river, champ.