If you can't make a articulate, intelligent post then get the **** out back to general. I'm more then a little disappointed with the slump classic has seen lately. Beyond that, thoughts?
Moore was a much more educated puncher, for sure. That said, despite Moorer's reputation, nothing he accomplished at Lt. Heavy, and certainly not Heavyweight, proves this repuation. He was obviously more a puncher than anything else, but given his very basic skill-set I don't think that's saying a whole lot. Moore KO'd much larger men on the regular, whereas Moorer was often the larger man in his cases, fighting either scrubs or has-beens prior to moving up in weight. He never really impressed me. While Moore had an abundance of technique in setting traps and picking his shots, it was also obvious from the quality of some of his KO's that he had tremendous power as well. I'd give him the edge here based on what we know. It's difficult not to.
To compare them, I looked at their heavyweight wins over," NAMES". Moorers best stoppages at heavyweight are over-------- Botha Cooper Stewart, but Botha was 38 ,Cooper 36, and Stewart, 38.So on the slide. Moore stopped------- Howard King age? Roger Rischer 23 Willie Besmanoff 27 Alejandro Lavorante 27 Bert Whitehurst 26 Jimmmy Bivins x 2, 32 A couple of these were top contenders ,the others fringe but usually durable , proven power at the heavier weight ,I think goes to Moore. He was also a more adept finisher, imo Archie takes it for me.
Have to consider Moorer badly rocked Holyfield in their second fight while fat, under trained and fresh off surgery.
i think it's a tougher question that it may appear to be on first glance. moorer certainly has a highlight reel of light heavyweight knockouts but, like moore, was not quite the same puncher at heavyweight i hate falling back on the easy answer but the sheer volume of moore knockouts and quality of opponents at 175 gives him the edge; having said that, if MM spent his career at 175 I have a sneaking suspicion he'd get the vote
I don't think Archie Moore at whatever weight would come back and destroy solid chinned mothers' like "Cooper and Stewart" in the manner Michael Moorer did...... Of course that was at heavyweight, but point being is, Moorer had good power above 200 pounds, Archie Moore never truly proved that against a solid 200+ pound mother****er...... OH! Alex Stewart never was KO'd by just a single shot..... Each time Stewart went down and out was from a volley of hard shots by bad-ass dude's.... That applies to Berton Cooper also........... WICKED shots received........ MR.BILLbbb:hat
Holyfield was rocked quite often throughout his career, though. His chin is overblown in my opinion. His durability was more a reflection of his mental strength than anything else.
good point about holy. i found when i started really watching boxing, i had this reputation of an iron chinned, unstoppable warrior of holyfield in my head quickly i found that he could and was hurt on more than one occasion. bert cooper nearly KO'd him and to be honest, another ref might have called that fight (not saying he should have but holy was badly hurt and drained). bowe rocked him CONSTANTLY in both the first and 3rd fights. foreman hurt himi on visibly on two occasions during that famous 7th round. tyson, despite losing both contests, had holyfield hurt most notably in the 3rd round of their first fight. ray mercer made him dig deep in their brawl. these were all very much in and around holyfields prime or at least JUST past it subsequently he's been knocked down by light hitting john ruiz and knocked both down and out by a fat middleweight in toney. holyfield was blessed with tremendous will, heart and recovery. his chin though is well and away overrated
Yeah, I recall that one. "The Giant" was pretty awful. Sad thing is, Moorer couldn't even put him away, and the guy was hardly unknockoutable, provided you could reach his chin.