Prime Michael Moorer vs current Agit Kabayel

Counting a 175 pound WBO belt from 1990 is amusing.

 

Sorry, I misremembered. It was the WBO belt and the IBF belts that he picked up on separate occasions. WBO against Cooper and IBF against Schulz. (Both fights at heavyweight )

 

It doesn’t count.

 

I see. How does that make you feel?

 

Francois Botha was doing a number to Moorer's body and had him in a real fight until the end. Kabayel has a more well rounded body attack than Botha who relied to much on the right hand to the body. But with every body attack comes a commitment to get into position that would allow Moorer's quick hands and seamless combos to enter the equation. Dangerous strategy for Kabayel but one that could certainly turn the trick.

 

This sums up the fight. Kabayel, to me, looks on the vulnerable defensively side as he positions himself to throw those body shots. A guy like MM with those straight accurate punches is a different kettle of fish to be absorbing punches from as he attempts to plant those feet to get his work done.

The other big factor in the matchup I think are those MM uppercuts. Very accurate and not telegraphed like most heavyweight uppercuts. Both hands as well and a southpaw w/ a nice right uppercut is going to be very hard to train for.

I think in a 3 fight series it goes 2-1. Not sure who gets the 2 losses though.

 

takes in this thread have potential to age poorly lol. I rate Kabayel pretty highly for what he's shown us so far but I dont think hes had a match up close to Moorer style wise to say for certain how well he would favour against him. Maybe its recency bias but Kabayel's recent run of body shot KO's is really impressive and something I think Moorer would struggle to overcome.

 

How is picking up a belt vs journeyman Schulz some achievement to boast about? I wouldn't even put Schulz in the top 10. What does beating him or Cooper prove?

 

About the same as beating Makhmudov and maybe an injured Sanchez, I'd say.

It's not as if Moorer is this amazing juggernaut with a golden resume. It's just that he's currently more of a known quantity than Kabayel. (Who is a tough contender from what we know now, to be clear.)

 

Moorer didnt prove himself at heavyweight anymore than Kabayel has, other than showing he doesn't take a good punch. Kabayel would stop him in a good fight imo.

 

NoNeck said that Moorer didn't hold up well at heavyweight, and so I said, "Well, he's a 3x heavyweight champion, so I don't know about that".

Schulz wasn't top ten material, but he was competitive Akinwande, who was a constant main stay in the top 10 for the 90s, and many believe that he beat Francios Botha, who also wasn't exactly a slouch.

Cooper also was peaking at the time that Moorer faced him. The win over Orlin Norris, his wars with Mercer and Holyfield, and a stoppage over an early Joe Hipp.

These wins aren't ATG displays of skill, but they're not something to dismiss, especially when we're comparing Michael to a man very early on in his career right now.

 

Kabayel has two wins over guys widely viewed as top 10 heavyweights in Sanchez and Zhang as well as Chisora who is arguable. That already puts him ahead of Moorer in terms of top 10 opponents beaten who has only Holyfield who decisively won their rematch.

 

This is hard. Moorers SOS sins all his peers in the 90s are guilty of except Holyfield who went .500 fighting all the top guys. I think Moorer was unlucky to face Holyfield the best night of his career when everything was clicking for him. Botha and Bean were not terrible even though they just farmed winning streaks to get fights against guys they couldn't beat. Older Bean was doing good against prime Tony Thompson. But I'm very impressed with Kabayel.

Moorers the most successful LHW at HW since Archie Moore.

 

I'd favor Moorer from the 1st Holyfield fight to beat Kabayel, possibly even get a stoppage.

 

Kabayels actually not very early in his career. He won the EBU belt in late 2016 and is 32 years old an age when Moorer was in his 1st retirement. It feels like Kabayels early in his career cause he just got his 1st title shot.