Just how good was Michael Moorer?

Moorer was a good fighter. I don`t know that he got the most out of his ability though. I thought his footwork was lazy and slow at least as a heavyweight.

His punching technique was nice. Loved his right hand from the Southpaw side. His jab and his right hook was his best power punch. Left hand was pretty sharp. Moorer`s KO of Cooper was vicious. One of the classic heavyweight brawls in history.

Moorer won the heavyweight title fair and square from a good Champion. He hit George Foreman with everything but the Kitchen Sink. Gotta give George credit for taking it and landing the big punches.

 

Foreman beat him and so did Tua but you rank him ahead of him DrMo? Funny stuff.

 

Also in the 90s who did Tyson beat to be ranked so high? Not saying he couldn't beat Moorer but all of Tyson's so called best wins came in the 80's no the 90's.

 

I liked Double M but that chin and his conditioning later on got that best of him. Also, dont forget I think as amateur G-Man KO'd him too so even at the lighter weights, if someone could have connected at 175 (Jones, McClellan,Nunn)he reign might have stalled anyway. He was very skilled and had pop with that left hook.

 

That fight was very,very close.

Despite knocking Moorer down Holyfield did not get a 10-8 round.........that would have made the difference.

Anyway, Holyfield made sure in the rematch that it would not go to the scorecards.

Moorer never had a true heavyweight chin.

 

He had a terrible chin. I can't stand fighters who go down with one punch to the face.

 

A middling heavyweight and a good lightheavy, not much or less than that. I say 'middling' heavyweight because although he won the title and had some good fights, he was always vulnerable as it later proved.
I don't regard him as any better than the string of fighters who passed the WBA title around in the 80's. In fact, he'd struggle to beat most of them.

 

Good point and I agree.

Here is the list of men who held the WBA between 1980 to 1987 before Tyson got a hold of it.

- John Tate
- Mike Weaver
- Michael Dokes
- Gerrie Coetzee
- Greg Page
- Tony Tubbs
- Tim Witherspoon
- James "bonecrusher" Smith

That is a list of 8 men from memory ( though I may have missed one or two ) who held the WBA in procession during that time. I wouldn't be surprised if he lost to most of those men.

 

Everything has been said above... but his fight with Cooper was a classic.

A fight between he and Morrison would have been fun, too. Throw out the scorecards cuz you won't need 'em.

 

He's the most accurate heavy I've seen. His punches just never seemed to miss.

And it's a good thing. If he was sloppy or off balance and fell in after punching, he would have been stopped numerous times due to his punch resistence and ability to absorb.

But he was a guy that had to fight weight problems. Use his feet. When he balloned up and became stationary, it subtracted a ton from his game.

But remember, before he came along there just weren't too many southpaws. I thinke the infulx of so many southpaws recently have seen the other heavies being able to cope with that aspect much better. So that surprise element MM had against Evander and Stewart and Cooper and all those guys is gone today.

So I think he was effective when he fought fighting the guys he did. You sure didn't want him in there with a Lewis or a Tyson or a Bowe. Or even a Klitschko. I think he would have been effective in the 80's--aside from Holmes and Tyson--fighting those win 2 and then lose 1 revolving door heavies. I think his accuracy and southpaw advatage would see vicories & defeats against the Thomas/Page/Dokes/Smith/Bey/Weave/ etc types.

He was on a tightrope act as a heavy and that's a minefield to negotiate.

 

He wasn't...

 

I've always thought Michael Moorer was very good. I'd say hes pretty even with Witherspoon and Norton. Clearly a contender and possible champ in any era. I'd always expect him to pick up wins against some of the very best in the division but at the same time hes vulnerable to being beat by lesser fighters.

 

I remember teddy atlas insulting him to death while in his corner.

 

Good heavy , skills ,power ,heart, i list him under lewis,bowe,tyson,holy even thoe i think holy was full time jucing i dont buy holyfield excuse 1st fight he was suffering from growth hormone abuse, i think the rematch ruined moorer but hes could of done some things had he not retired for 3 years.

 

He had good overall skills. Good strong jab, decent left hook. Where he falls short is in defence and chin. I remember watching him fighting Cooper and seeing him take a tremendous beating before knocking Cooper out. He then got KO'd by fat burger eating Foreman who in my opinion wasn't the huge puncher he used to be. Then Tua smashed him into obscurity. I think if he had fought the likes of Bowe, Tyson, Lewis or Ibeabuchi he would of gotten KO'd.