Moorer Chases Shadow Some Contend Heavyweight’s Biggest Problems Are Fear And Himself
About the only things Michael Moorer has in common with Mike Tyson are their first name and occupation. And one thing Moorer has that Tyson doesn’t is a win over Evander Holyfield.
“It was the biggest moment of my life at the time,” Moorer said.
It’s also a moment Moorer thinks he doesn’t get enough credit for, especially from the man he beat on a narrow majority decision April 22, 1994, at Las Vegas.
Holyfield was hospitalized a few days later with what was then diagnosed as a heart problem and he later blamed a bad left shoulder for his performance. Even as he prepares to fight Moorer again Saturday night, Holyfield said Moorer won not because of what he did, but what Holyfield didn’t do.
“It took away from my victory,” Moorer said of Holyfield’s excuses. “People who know boxing know I’ve been cheated out of it. But I got the victory and I got some titles, so I’m not worried.”
While Holyfield, who knocked down Moorer in the second round of their first fight, went on to come back from a brief retirement to gain huge public stature with his two wins over Tyson, things haven’t gone as well for the 29-year-old Moorer.
The WBA and IBF titles he won from Holyfield were gone less than seven months later when George Foreman knocked out Moorer in the 10th round.
Some think Moorer never has recovered from the knockout, though he came back to win the vacated IBF title against Axel Schulz. In his first title defense, he looked mediocre in stopping Francois Botha in the 12th round, then looked terrible in winning a close decision over Vaughn Bean on March 29.
Through it all, he has appeared reluctant to fight, perhaps fearing what might happen if he exposed his chin again.
“That’s all people want to talk about. They want to talk about the George Foreman fight and me being knocked out by him,” said Moorer, 39-1 with 31 knockouts. “That’s all they remember Michael Moorer for. I’m a two-time champion and all they see is the negativity all the time.”
Moorer’s fight against Bean was so bad it cost him the services of his volatile trainer, Teddy Atlas. Atlas had taken to using such tricks as holding a cellular phone to Moorer’s ear during the fight to tell him his son was calling and was crying because his father was fighting so badly.
Atlas said he was attempting to motivate Moorer, just as he did when he sat on his stool between rounds of the first Holyfield fight, then threatened to stop the fight if Moorer did not show more aggression.
“Michael Moorer is the strangest kid you’ll meet in your life as far as mental makeup for a boxer,” said Emanuel Steward, who trained Moorer as a light heavyweight and early in his heavyweight career. “First, he doesn’t like boxing. And he’s totally preoccupied with physically not wanting to be hurt.”
Moorer offered a glimpse of that at Wednesday’s final prefight news conference, where he gave a brief statement, ending with a prayer that none of the fighters on Saturday’s card get hurt.