Prove to me that Usyk>>>>>Michael Moorer

I mean, Moorer lost to a 45 year old man. And Eliseo Castillo. His signature win against Holyfield came primarily because Holy was having organ failure, and he still needed some dodgy judging.

He wasn't even a real southpaw, by the way. They did the converted orthodox thing because...well...he really didn't have that great a package of skills. He had a bit above average power at heavy, his southpaw gimmick and a good variety of punches. Hi chin was shaky, he lacked concentration, and he was no defensive master.

I mean, could you see Usyk losing to Castillo? Going life and death with Cooper? Getting starched by Tua in 1? I can't.

 

I like MM a lot but he is nowhere near as talented as Usyk is. I would say the only trait that MM has over Uysk is power but Uysk is far more versatile, skillful and athletically gifted.

 

This implys you put some level of thought into this beforehand. Which might be giving yourself too much credit.

 

Well, everything is subject to change as Usyk is still active. And I was never much of a Michael Moorer fan at all.

But, for the sake of argument, at this moment in time, Michael Moorer has a decent case.

Moorer came up from light heavyweight (175), which was a much lighter weight class than Usyk's (200-pound) cruiserweight division.

Michael Moorer took the "world" heavyweight title from a first-ballot Hall of Fame heavyweight, Evander Holyfield.

Moorer has nearly three times as many fights and twice as many knockouts (from light heavy to heavyweight) as Usyk has wins.

To date, Moorer beat more and arguably better heavyweights - Evander Holyfield, Bonecrusher Smith, Frans Botha, Axel Shulz, Alex Stewart ... not to mention former champs Vassily Jirov (who was coming off a fight where he gave top-rated heavyweight Joe Mesi brain damage) and Leslie Stewart (both of whom were good fighters).

Regarding his losses, Moorer was miles ahead of all-time-great Foreman when he got caught. And David Tua knocked out four heavyweight champions in his career (Moorer, Ruiz, Rahman and Maskaev), so Moorer wasn't alone.

Also, historically, former light heavy champs don't do so well against massive heavyweight punchers - see John Henry Lewis, Bob Foster, Michael Spinks, etc. And Tua and Foreman didn't exactly "suck" as punchers.

Usyk has the benefit of actually participating in a cruiserweight unification. There was supposed to be a light heavyweight unification for several years. Bob Arum claimed to have been working on it. All the light heavyweight champs even got together on the USA network when Moorer and Charles Williams fought one night (Virgil Hill and Dennis Andries joined them on the broadcast). All seemed willing. But no tournament ever transpired because of money issues. Moorer was clearly the guy most saw as the most dangerous of that bunch. Hill wanted a million or so if he was going to face him.

Considering what a huge puncher Michael Moorer was at 175, I can't see any of those guys (Williams, Andries or Hill) beating him.

Usyk has also successfully defended his heavyweight title once, which Moorer failed to do the first time around. Although Moorer did defend it twice when he regained it against Shulz.

At heavyweight, Moorer has accomplished more so far. In their lighter weight class, Usyk accomplished much more.

I know people have been incredibly high on Usyk the last couple years. But how he finishes up will go a long way in how he's remembered. If he loses Saturday, it won't be good, let's put it that way. (Unless Dubois turns out to be the next Joe Louis).

Because Moorer was only the second light heavyweight champ to win the heavyweight title, and despite that and also the fact he beat a Hall of Famer to win the title and lost his title twice to Hall of Famers, he isn't in the Hall of Fame (and he's been eligible for a while now).

Usyk is like the fourth cruiserweight champ to win a heavyweight belt (Holyfield, Haye, Toney). I don't know if Usyk beat any cruiserweights who are Hall of Famers. And no cruiserweights are in the Hall of Fame just for winning cruiserweight titles.

I've seen a lot of top fighters over the last 50 years or so really fizzle out at the end and ruin a lot of the work they put in earlier in their careers.

So as odd as it sounds now, Usyk probably shouldn't lose to anyone at heavyweight who isn't headed to Canastota someday.

Long story short, there's a lot on the table Saturday in Poland.

 

I understand what you're saying other than the "southpaw gimmick". Do you know how many southpaws are actually right handed in boxing? Winky, Crawford, Hagler etc.......

And no I don't see Usyk ever losing to Castillo or that "tainted" version of Evander, but I think Bert Cooper would have Usyk in hell for at least 5-6 rounds. Other than Foreman and Bowe, Bert almost always gave a good accounting of himself in fights until he gassed and Usyk while being a beatiful boxer ain't gonna starch someone like Cooper.

 

Very good post regarding Moorer's career. He should hire you to advocate for his hall of fame induction--lol. I truly believe the guy is hall of fame worthy. With that said, Uysk is just phenomenal to watch. It's a shame that he is a part of this shitty era.

 

Resume

 

Moorer had better power, but Usyk has better defense, footwork, and conditioning. In a bout between the two, Usyk likely would win a decision. Usyk isn't the most offense-minded guy, is cautious, and not a big puncher, but he is one of those guys who does enough to win rounds, and possibly might stop some guys late by attrition.

 

The thin is though, it became a thing AFTER AND BECAUSE OF Moorer. At the time, it was more a thing to convert southpaws to orthodox, ala Jerry Cooney.

Yeah, Haglar was the only person at the time that they could compare Moorer to, and he was genuinely ambidextrous.

 

Usyk has a far superior resume at Cruiserweight than Moorer's resume at Light Heavyweight, Moorer fought in a division that was quite weak at the time and the best opponent he fought was Leslie Stewart.

Moorer has a bit more filler at Heavyweight with wins over Cooper, Holyfield, Botha, Schulz, Bonecrusher, Stewart. But Moorer's win over Holyfield has a bit of asterisks over it with the health problems Holyfield was having.

And whilst some might say Joshua hasn't been quite the same since the Ruiz loss, Usyk still beat a healthy still decent version of Joshua pretty convincingly x2.