Who was the more destructive 175 WBO belt holder?

-Cleverly never faced Bernard Hopkins or someone like that, but he was proven against top 10 guys in the division like Murat and Bellew, and recognized as a top fighter in the division for the past couple of years. Better scalp than anyone Moorer claimed at 175.

-Yeah, but they were all pretty subpar fighters or on the way out. Cleverly and Campillo were genuine top 10 fighters at the time of the fights. Simakov was an equally regarded prospect.
Darnel Boone who lasted 8 rounds was an experienced journeyman who claimed a victory over the future LHW Champion Stevenson, and would KOed early in the rematch.

-The eye test is fair, I think Moorer was a more rounded fighter.

 

This is my line of thinking as well.

Could Moorer have knocked out the other top guys? Potentially.

As for how it actually did turn out, I edge Kovalev on competition and brutality.

 

No. Im saying Moorer was a massive 175 pounder and not having to drain helped him become stronger and take a better punch at heavyweight.

Most importantly, I'm saying you cannot take higher weight achievements and physical attributes and assume they match up the same at the other weight.

It just doesn't work like that. You dont get to move higher weight accomplishments down to a weightclass so far removed from where they occurred.

 

Steward claimed Moorer's walking weight was 206. That's quite a drain to make 175. So very valid point.

 

Kovalev

 

Something nobody has considered is how much more rampant PED's were back then. I do not believe they tested back then either and when they did start it was only select commissions and it was a one time post fight test with a very limited panel and an extremely liberal TEST ratio.

If you do not think Moorer was a big PED user then you are kidding yourself. All things being equal, Kovalev is the better fighter.


In addition: Hats of to Aquamarine. He did a great job in this thread. Which according to the current poll results has blown up in the OP's face.

 

You don't have any proof of anything concerning Moorer and PED use at 175 lbs. The question is self explanatory. There is no definite answer. Just give us your opinion.

 

Nobody is saying Moorer was better at 175, just more destructive.

 

Difference between a guy who needs to boil down to LHW (Moorer) and one who needed to bulk up to compete at HW (Foster). Bob could never crack 190 on weigh-in's for any of his heavyweight bouts. Moorer had to drain himself to continue making light heavyweight, which is why he had no problems whatsoever putting on nearly 40 pounds in 5 months when he moved up from 175.

 

And if we're talking sheer destructiveness, I think Kovalev has even more brutal knockouts at the weight than Moorer did (and Moorer was a beast at the weight, too).

Swindell I was actually a pretty crappy stoppage in what was turning out to become more of a competitive fight. Check out 18:25 for the 6th round.

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The Stewart, Sedillo, and Thompson fights are also on youtube. Good knockouts (Stewart was on the ropes when the ref stepped in, but had been knocked down twice- good stoppage).

From what I've seen, Kovalev's knockouts are a step above from a violence and brutality perspective and look to do more physical damage. I'm not calling him Bob Foster, but the opponent reactions to the punches are the most dramatic I've seen since Foster in that division. Moorer had more of a smoothness where the punches that would put people down may not even look that deadly at the time. The power was legit, but I don't cringe as much watching Moorer nail some of these cats as when I see Kovalev unload on them.

 

What about DM?