Heavyweight Dreamer

Michael Moorer is one of the those fighters whose career seems to have progressed fairly successfully without ever capturing the public's imagination. Moorer appeared on the boxing scene in the late eighties as an aggressive, hard punching light heavyweight. Moorer was one of a batch of quality fighters developed by Emmanuel Steward at the Kronk Gym in Detroit on the back of Tommy Hearn's fame. The image of Hearns as a ring warrior attracted the toughest kids to the Kronk Gym. Among Moorer's contemporaries were the tragic Gerald McClellan and Dennis Andries the British Light Heavyweight who won the WBC title three times during the late eighties and was renowned for his toughness.

Like his Kronk spar mates Moorer projected an image as hard, no holds barred fighter. As a light heavyweight he progressed quickly winning the lightly regarded WBO title in December 1988 in his twelth pro fight, just nine months after turning professional. His opponent Ramzi Hassan a Jordanian had a reputation for durability and had been a pro for six years the last two spent campaigning at world class. Moorer stopped him in five rounds, his twelth straight KO win. Moorer made nine defences of the WBO title before deciding in December 1990 after beating Danny Stonewalker that he would be more comfortable as a Heavyweight. At 6'2" Moorer was tall for a light heavy and had to work hard to keep his weight below 175 pounds.

In April 1991 he fought Terry Davis at heavyweight, Michael weighed 213lbs and looked in reasonable shape despite being almost forty pounds heavier than he had been in his last outing. Davis was despatched in two rounds. Moorer racked up five more easy wins against journeymen before he challenged for the vacant WBO Heavyweight title against Bert Cooper in 1992, who had recently been stopped by Evander Holyfield in a World Heavyweight title bout. Moorer put Bert away in five rounds and began to campaign actively for a fight with Holyfield. In the meantime Holyfield lost the title to Riddick Bowe and then won it back a year later in November 1993.

Michael carried on bowling over journeymen and veterans and demanding a title shot in the press. It is significant that before he fought Holyfield the toughest heavyweights Michael had fought were Bert Cooper and former Alphabet champ Bonecrusher Smith who was at least six years past his prime.

In April 1994 Michael's prayers were answered when Evander selected him as the first challenger of his second reign as champion. Michael was a big underdog pre fight. The fight itself was a dull affair Evander floored Moorer in the second before drifting out of the fight for periods. Moorer won a close decision and became the World Heavyweight Champion. Post fight medical tests suggesting that Holyfield had suffered a heart problem during the fight and it was Holyfield's name that dominated the media coverage. Moorer the first southpaw to become World Heavyweight Champion was denied the acclaim a new champ expects.

In an attempt to raise their man's profile and earn a massive purse Moorer's people selected George Foreman for his first defence in November 1994. Foreman's comeback had been derailed somewhat by his defeat to Holyfield in 1991. He had continued fighting but had lost his last fight to Tommy Morrison June 1993 for the WBO heavyweight title Moorer had given up to pursue Holyfield. Morrison had won comfortably on points so Moorer's team saw George as an easy win. For nine and a half rounds Michael hit George at will and racked up a huge lead on points.

A single right hand from probably the hardest hitter in boxing history changed everything. Michael collapsed to the canvas and was counted out. Foreman's legend had been enhanced and Moorer's place in history had been secured but not how he had intended.

To his credit Michael reacted fairly well to the loss of his unbeaten record by managing a successful return to the ring six months later in May 1995. He got a shot at the vacant IBF title against Axel Shultz when that organisation stripped their title from Foreman for refusing to agree to a re-match with Shultz in Germany. In June 1996 in Dortmund, Michael won a close split decision against Shultz and became an Alphabet Champ again. Foreman remained the World Champion.

By this point it was clear that though Michael had been a devastating puncher at Light Heavyweight he simply didn't hit hard enough to put the top heavyweights away. As a light heavy he had racked up 22 straight KOs, since moving up to heavyweight his record showed 8 KOs, 7 points wins and a KO defeat. Life as a heavyweight was proving to be hard work.

As IBF champ he successfully defended against Francois Botha in November 1996 winning on a final round stoppage. In March 1997 he outpointed Vaughan Bean, an unbeaten contender. It looked as if the Moorer bandwagon was back on track. He then signed to fight the comebacking Holyfield who had spectacularly revived his career by beating Mike Tyson twice in the previous year.

In November 1997 Moorer entered the ring hoping to stake his claim as the top heavyweight in the world. Foreman was still the World Champ but had been frozen out of the mainstream by promoter Don King. Foreman would lose his title to the lightly regarded Shannon Briggs two weeks after Moorer faced Holyfield.

For Moorer the Holyfield rematch was a disaster. Evander knocked him down five times before the Ringside Doctor intervened in the eighth round and recommended that the fight be stopped. Revenge for Holyfield and a one way ticket to "palookaville" for Moorer.

Moorer retired after the Holyfield fight. Unfortunately he couldn't stay retired and in November 2000 Michael returned to the ring and racked up five wins against journeymen before in August 2002 he took on up and coming contender David Tua, a stocky Tysonesque New Zealander. At a career heaviest 243lbs Michael was in poor shape for this fight. Tua took full advantage and crushed Michael within thirty seconds of the opening bell. A humiliating defeat for a once proud champion.

Undeterred Moorer returned to the ring in 2003 and bowled over three nobodies before losing a points decision in Miami to Eliseo Castillo, a Cuban heavyweight. With his glory days seemingly far behind him Michael signed to fight Vasiliy Jirov, a former IBF Cruiserweight champ, in December 2004. Michael stopped Jirov in nine rounds. He has not fought since and we can only hope that he has retired for good before he gets hurt.

How good was Michael Moorer? Well to be honest he was average, he wasn't a heavy puncher and in a tougher era he probably would never have got a title shot at all. He managed to win the World Title and lose it in his first defence and also hold a couple of Alphabet titles, achievements which rather exceed his abilities.

The sad truth is that the only tough heavy he beat was an unfit Holyfield. He lost the rematch to Holyfield and was KOd by Foreman and Tua. He never came close to meeting any of the other dangermen operating in the nineties such as Lewis, Bowe, Tyson, Tucker, McCall, Tommy Morrison, Seldon or even Frank Bruno. A clear sign that his management were not that confident in their man's abilities.