I find Moorer to be one of the more curious HW champions of the modern era. I have often felt he does not receive the credit he deserves.
Stylistically, he was very tactically sound. He was a smaller HW, and had a reputation for being lazy.
He was brilliant as a LHW. I think its unfortunate that he was overshadowed by Teddy Atlas, and his win over Evander was discredited.
He looked outstanding vs Foreman until the end. Beat a tough Axel Schulz to reclaim a belt and lost to Holyfield in a rematch when I felt Evander was at his absolute peak. The KO loss late in his carer to Tua was embarrassing, but he seemed to string together some wins against lesser opponents after that.
Thoughts on Moorer? LHW title holder, 2x HW champ (no defenses first run, second run defended vs decent opposition (Botha and Vaughn Bean).
Seems to me he was an underachiever who could have been much better with the proper mental toughness.
Who would Moorer fair vs the following?
Mercer
Rahman
Oleg Maskiev
Shannon Briggs
John Ruiz
Moorer was a very good technical fighter. He was a converted orthodox fighter, so most of his power was in his jab/hook. As a LHW he was a really good puncher. When he rose to HW he didn't carry his punch with him. He also seemed to lose faith in his power and became more of a technical fighter the longer he competed at HW. I think he is actually a bit underrated. His biggest weakness was mental. I think against Foreman he broke down mentally when George kept coming forward. He wasn't heartless by any means, but he wasn't the strongest competitor mentally. He also had a poor capacity to absorb punches. There is nothing a fighter can do about their "chin." Michael couldn't take a good shot, which was by far his biggest weakness physically or technically.
I think other than Mercer- which I think would depend upon which Mercer came to fight(I'd say its an even money match up), Michael beats everyone else mentioned. He was a better technical fighter than all of them and would outbox them.
I say Mercer wins by being tougher. Rhaman and Maskiev are even money, (slight edge to Moorer vs Maskiev, Rahman at his best was as good as Moorer IMO). I think he'd dominate Briggs and Ruiz. Good assessment boxing wiz.
I must be doing something right then Martin. I have a lot of respect for your opinion, so I'm happy to hear that.
I just re-watched the second fight with Evander. I watched that fight live and I must say, that fight did not go the way I remembered it. Moorer was winning the first half of that fight convincingly. He was much more accurate than Evander early and even rocked Holyfield a few times. Holyfield made masterful adjustments in that fight. After Evander tagged him with a beautiful combination and decked him in the 5th (a round Moorer was winning until then) MM seemed to get frustrated and discouraged.
Some of my buddies used to work security for Michael when he was the champ. I didn't get to hang out with him then because they are older than me, but I've been around him a few times since.
He is a super cool dude. Wasn't in to boxing when he was fighting, but I've heard him break down fights. He still has a ton of knowledge and has good insights, but isn't doing with the game last I heard. In fact, the last thing I heard was that he was operating heavy machinery.
I actually think that Moorer could beat all of the names on that list. Mercer would lose a decision in my opinion.
Technically MM was a very good fighter. I thought he would make a decent trainer some day, and it looked like he was heading that way by being understudy to Freddie Roach. But then he got kicked out for offending one of the hanger ons in Pacquiao's entourage.
His mental makeup and personality issues were always a problem for him.
He had a great fight against Bert Cooper.
The fight against Cooper is an all time classic. Michael got dropped hard very early, and I really didn't think they would let it go on, but they did. It was a wild back and forth brawl from then on. This is definitely one of the forgotten classics.
I love that fight! Bert Cooper was a tough journeyman. His fight with Evander was also a classic. Tough bastard.
I wonder how good Cooper could have been. He got high on cocaine and went without sleep for 3 days before fighting Big George - that is insane.
Great jab, ultimately he suffered from laziness and lack of confidence at key times.
I still wish that Moorer would have stayed at light heavy and that the proposed tournament with him, Virgil Hill, Dennis Andries, and Prince Charles Williams would gave taken place. Moorer was very exciting to watch as a light heavyweight, but seemed to be a bit lazy as a heavyweight and never fought with the same passion or level of aggression as he did when he was a light heavy.
buddie - Who would Moorer fair vs the following?
Mercer
Rahman
Oleg Maskiev
Shannon Briggs
John Ruiz
i take moorer over briggs, ruiz, rahman. in shape mercer or maskaev were tough guys who wouldn't have let him take moments off and just use skills. he would have had to dig down to beat them and he could get casual in a fight. that being said he was a very good all around fighter, crushed guys with power at light heavy and boxed beautifully as a heavy weight. him being a surly prick really helped usher boxing in he 90's towards unpopularity. he was truly unlikeable guy. it was like he was the first of a generation of guys that held the heavyweight belt that the public didn't dig, him ruiz, byrd etc. none of them ever appealed to anyone