Two southpaws with a big punch. How does The Magic Man handle the younger Moorer who went 22-0 (22 KOs) before moving up to HW?
While Tarver is more proven, i a going to go with the quicker Moorer to score a ko in an exciting back and forth fight.
Tarver was defensively sound and had an strong chin but I think he gets cracked by Moorer harder than he ever was before at some point. Moorer outgrew 175 pretty quickly but if Manny Steward thinks he was one of the greatest lightheavies ever than that is good enough for me.
I think Moorer gets a bit overrated at Light Heavyweight TBH. The division at that time wasn't the strongest especially when comparing it to the legendary era of the late 70s/early 80s. The best Light Heavyweights when Moorer was fighting at that weightlcass was Virgil Hill, Charles Williams, and he never fought either of them. His best win is against Leslie Stewart and he was having all kinds of trouble in that fight until he finally caught up to Stewart. I'm not overly sold on Moorer being this H2H monster at 175 like alot of people like to proclaim him as for me Moorer wasn't that proven at 175 in all honesty. Tarver is a big durable counter puncher and he has KO power in his left hand. Tarver can be outboxed as the Dawson, Hopkins, fights showed. But if you're coming straight at him aggressively you risk running into his devastating left hand counter punch. And Moorer wasn't the most durable at Heavyweight and that may also apply at Light Heavyweight aswell. Honestly it's a tough match up to predict because we really don't know what Moorer's ceiling actually was at 175. But i do feel Tarver does get a bit underrated here and for me he would give Moorer all he could handle and then some.
It's always the same argument when evaluating Moorer at 175. I agree he doesn't have the impressive wins there on paper so evaluating him is more of a projection. According to Manny, and I believe him, no one would go near him at 175. That combined with his natural size and ability, the jump to heavyweight made sense. I don't believe for a second that a guy that fought and beat the heavyweights that he did was scarred of anyone at 175. Regarding his durability at heavyweight, he was only knocked out by the two biggest punchers in the history of boxing and climbed up from numerous knockdowns against Holyfield and Cooper. The guy had tons of heart.
I'd favor Moorer. He does get rated quite a bit on hype at 175 but he stands a good chance of topping Tarver.
My issue is that the best opponent Moorer fought at 175 was Leslie Stewart and he hardly looked a H2H beast in that fight. I can't remember the fight exactly round by round but I'm pretty sure I had Moorer trailing up until the stoppage. If Moorer had fought and beaten one of the other notable co champions at the time like Hill, Williams, we'd of seen a bit more what his actual potential could've been at the weight. Obviously Moorer with his Southpaw style, power, is going to be a threat to most. But I do think his 175 run wasn't that impressive in regards to the names he fought and he's a bit overhyped I believe at that weight. Tarver is also a big Light Heavyweight himself with skills and durability he's alsk never been stopped. So Tarver is going to be significantly better than anyone else Moorer fought at 175. I'm not saying Moorer couldn't beat Tarver but again I wouldn't exactly make Moorer a huge favourite either. I have nothing against Moorer as you said he did have a heart and he was in some of my favourite Heavyweight dust ups. Moorer vs Cooper/Stewart/Botha. But he gets a bit overly flattered at 175 IMO.
Like I said, you are not wrong about his resume at 175. He was kind of like Benavidez was at 168. Everyone knows Benavidez was the best 168 pounder three years ago but Canelo wouldn't go near him. Moorer was that scary guy that no one at 175 wanted to go near. Evaluating him at 175 is all projection but based on what he did at heavyweight, I don't see anyone from his era beating him at 175.