Michael Moorer ...underrated...

As 175 lb champ, and i already got heat for saying this a few weeks ago here, I thought he was the scariest fighter I remembered seeing. Not saying he didn't look a little green at times, but plain menacing in attitude with scary power and he projected absolute confidence.

Maybe Hill or Prince Charles would have shown it all to be a facade in deep waters and maybe a Spinks or Foster would've wrecked him head to head, but I would have watched any Moorer fight at 175 with concern for the other guy's health.

He carried very little of these traits from 175 up to heavyweight despite the successes he had.

 

I am not sure I would consider him the Mike Tyson of Light Heavyweights, but I agree he was a darn good Light Heavyweight who could hit without a doubt. And he carried some of that power into the Heavyweight Division, has a win over Evander Holyfield and was winning the Foreman fight before Foreman caught him with that freakish power he still possessed. It is no shame to lose to Evander Holyfield in a rematch (Evander was a great Heavyweight).

All in all I agree that Michael Moorer had a very good career as a Light Heavyweight, and a good Heavyweight career as well. He was The Lineal Heavyweight Champion of the World. Very few Heavyweights could say that.

 

I think his best LHW opponent was Leslie Stewart, who rocked him pretty good at one point.

Moorer was fair. I think it is notable that he beat Holy when Holy was having a heart attack and organ failure, and still needed some creative scoring from the judges.

 

Doesn’t have a deep resume in either division.

 

At HW hes underrated his only unavenged loss at the time of his first retirement was the Foreman KO he was winning by a lot. Put up a good fight in the Holyfield rematch too one of the best fights of Holyfields career. Was the 2nd best HW during Foremans reign as everyone else lost. Despite being more consistant than Holyfield, Moorers narrow win is considered a fluke despite Moorer coming back from an early knockdown Holyfield contesting the whole fight. Unlike Holyfield Moorer never got a chance never mind two or three to prove otherwise.

At LHW Moorer looked incredible 22-0 with an 100% KO rate 2 fights more than Beterbiev but Moorer wasn't really a champ. When the WBO became a real belt is arbitrary. No one would argue this was long before that. Moorer beat 3 LHW contenders including ex champ Leslie Stewart but none of them really deserved title shots at that time. His first title defense was an 11-6 guy who Duran knocked down. A quick talented 6 ft 2 guy cutting down to 175 to fight middling competition is going to look amazing. And the new WBO provided the perfect platform for him to look amazing.

 

Does anyone get credit for beating Holyfield? Lol Moorer was solid, really good, could’ve been awesome at LHW but he was a “weight bully” - when he was at a more natural weight he was swimming with sharks and his style changed to suit it.

 

What I find interesting about the Holyfield thing is people are fine with taking away from Moorer because Holyfield wasn’t 100%, but then they seem to give Holyfield credit for his results knowing that he was a rampant & remorseless drug & in-ring cheat.

 

Was a pity he didn't stop off at cruiser weight and get some titles. The money at HW obviously swung it.

 

Lewis and Holyfield were fighting better opposition than Moorer

 

It was the 80s-90s everyone was roided out of there mind… Moorer beat Holyfield the first time fair and square - Holyfield beat Moorer the 2nd time 3? Years later that’s all there is to it IMO.

 

Very entertaining to watch.

 

I don't think he's underrated I think he gets fairly rated.

Most people recognise he was a very dangerous Light Heavyweight but his opposition was mostly forgettable so hard to rank him very highly historically based on that.

He had a decent run at Heavyweight but was chinny and his best win over Holyfield has a serious asterisk over it because of the condition Holyfield was in.

Overall I think he gets rated accordingly.

 

It's a fair point to discuss Holyfield and PED's ... while may guys may have used as well , he seems ro come across as an extreme with the weight gain and muscle mass .. not sure everyone engaged but it something to seriously consider ... to Evander's credit he had a terrific chin that allowed him to compete as well.