The story of Moorer v Holyfield 1

[Spicoli]

Moorer bored me to tears when I watched him box. He was exciting at light heavyweight and only exciting when pushed by his opponents at heavyweight. He looked bored and disinterested when he fought.

I distinctly remember he never fought a top 10 fighter to get his shot at the title when he fought Evander. The only reason he won was because Evander was worn out and jaded. I forgot how close the fight was until Spicoli mentioned the scoring. Any decent heavyweight would have beaten Evander on that night, he just could not pull the trigger and was frustrating to watch.

The fight is only really remembered because of Teddy Atlas over acting and reactions during his corner work trying to motivate Moorer to keep the pace up.

You're stuck mate. Yes Moorer was boorish and surly and tried to box more as he went up. I think the whole top 10 ranking thing blurs it. The wbo was in it's infancy and the 3 alphabet boys would have none of it..hence why Moorer dropped it to get at the others. But the fact that Moorer won a title as number 1 against Cooper who was ranked number 2 was there. The same Cooper who was only months removed from dragging Holyfield..who had just trained for Mike Tyson so assuming peak form.. to the very brink of catastrophe. Moorer was also ranked in The Rings top 4-5 for two years onto the Holyfield fight.

[Master]

I forgot Moorer won the IBF title against Schulz in Germany, defended it successfully against Botha and Vaughan Bean before losing it to Holyfield. Still think he was a poor champion and a fully fit Holyfield would have beaten him easily the first time if he was fit.

[X]

Moore was a decent fighter, but I don't think he was genuinely world class.

Maybe him becoming a 'world champ' was the result of the splintering of the title into multiple Alphabet Belts?

Personally, I rate him as high as I would rate Zora Folley, Roland LaStarza, Jerry Quarry and other top level contenders who never quite made it to become champs (and that's not an insult to them)

[Spicoli]

Moore was a decent fighter, but I don't think he was genuinely world class.

Maybe him becoming a 'world champ' was the result of the splintering of the title into multiple Alphabet Belts?

Personally, I rate him as high as I would rate Zora Folley, Roland LaStarza, Jerry Quarry and other top level contenders who never quite made it to become champs (and that's not an insult to them)

I'm a die hard Holyfield fan and was not big on Moorer when he came up. But regardless of trinkets..he beat 'the man' be it lineal and or owner of two belts. Not to mention winning the WBO when Mercer refused to fight him.

From what I know of Folley that may not be far off. Good comparison. Again I'd put a win over Holyfield above what is a pretty respectable record for Folley who also like Moorer could turn in a snoozer or two or get hammered in a couple of major step ups. Thinking about all 3, they clearly blow Moorer out of the water when it comes to longevity and viability in the ranks. I know LaStarza may have very well edged a pre title Marciano and had to wait 3 long years to get another crack. Within the same span Moorer had his 15 minutes of fame, got starched by Big George, had Teddy Atlas almost leave him during the ugly zzzz fight with Bean and after Holyfield II retired for another 3.

[ykdadamaja]

Moorer bored me to tears when I watched him box. He was exciting at light heavyweight and only exciting when pushed by his opponents at heavyweight. He looked bored and disinterested when he fought.

I distinctly remember he never fought a top 10 fighter to get his shot at the title when he fought Evander. The only reason he won was because Evander was worn out and jaded. I forgot how close the fight was until Spicoli mentioned the scoring. Any decent heavyweight would have beaten Evander on that night, he just could not pull the trigger and was frustrating to watch.

The fight is only really remembered because of Teddy Atlas over acting and reactions during his corner work trying to motivate Moorer to keep the pace up.

You're stuck mate. Yes Moorer was boorish and surly and tried to box more as he went up. I think the whole top 10 ranking thing blurs it. The wbo was in it's infancy and the 3 alphabet boys would have none of it..hence why Moorer dropped it to get at the others. But the fact that Moorer won a title as number 1 against Cooper who was ranked number 2 was there. The same Cooper who was only months removed from dragging Holyfield..who had just trained for Mike Tyson so assuming peak form.. to the very brink of catastrophe. Moorer was also ranked in The Rings top 4-5 for two years onto the Holyfield fight.

Thanks for this. This was what more of what I was looking for- what was the boxing world looking at when they made this match? Why Moorer for the title? Why did Holyfield take this over another contender like Morrison or Bruno?