Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Michael Lee Moorer (born November 12, 1967 near
Pittsburgh) is a former boxing|boxer who has been
a world champion in the light heavyweight and
heavyweight divisions. 

Moorer is a native of the Pittsburgh suburb of
Monessen, PA, but for most of his career, he
trained under the tutelage of International Boxing
Hall of Fame|hall of fame trainer Emanuel Steward
in Detroit, Michigan|Detroit. As a member of
Steward's Kronk Gym team, he was teamed up with
such boxers as Thomas Hearns and Gerald McClellan.

Moorer had a fast but steady rise through the
professional boxing ranks. He debuted on March 4,
1988, knocking out Adrian Riggs in the first
round. He spent the year taking on a rather
ambitious fight schedule, in terms of quantity if
nothing else.  Before the year's end, he was
undefeated in eleven bouts (winning all by way of
early round knockouts) and fighting for the world
title for the first time. He acquired the newly
created WBO world Light-Heavyweight title with a
five round knockout of Ramzi Hassan. 

In 1989, he retained the title six times, beating
Freddie Delgado, Frankie Swindell, Mike Sedillo
and former World Boxing Association|WBA world
champion Leslie Steward, among others.

In 1990, his relationship with Steward began to
suffer and eventually Moorer hired former Mike
Tyson cornerman Teddy Atlas to train him. He
retained the title three times before the end of
the year, beating Mario Melo and former Michael
Spinks challenger Jim McDonald, among others.

1991 saw Moorer commence his campaign at the
Heavyweight division. He rolled through the
competition en route to securing an opportunity to
fight for the vacant WBO world Heavyweight
championship the following year. He knocked out
former Evander Holyfield challenger Bert Cooper in
the fifth round, making him only the second man to
go directly from holding a world light heavyweight
title to holding a heavyweight title. That night,
he also became the first left-handed boxer in
history to become a world heavyweight champion.

He did not defend the WBO heavyweight belt.
Instead, he spent 1993 making a few preparation
bouts, training to challenge Holyfield, who was
considered the true world heavyweight champion,
for his International Boxing Federation|IBF and
WBA belts. On April 22, 1994, before a Pay Per
View audience, Moorer overcame a second round
knockdown and went on to win a majority decision
over Holyfield.

In his first defense of those belts, on November
10, 1994, Moorer was ahead on all three judges'
scorecards when he received a right hand to the
chin by George Foreman in round 10, getting
knocked out and losing the world championship. In
addition to the belts, he also lost his undefeated
record that night. 

The following year, Moorer re-grouped by winning
against fringe contender Melvin Foster. Meanwhile,
Foreman retained the title with a close and
controversial decision against Axel Schultz.
Because of the controversial nature of the
Foreman-Schultz bout, the IBF ordered Foreman to
travel to Germany for a rematch, but Foreman
refused, choosing to leave the IBF belt vacant
instead. South Africa|South African Frans Botha
travelled to Germany instead and beat Schultz with
another close decision to claim the title, but he
was stripped of it when he tested positive for
illegal substances shortly after. 

Moorer was then given the opportunity to fight
Schultz for the vacant crown in Berlin. On June
22, 1996, Moorer won the IBF heavyweight crown
once again, beating Schultz by a 12 round split
decision.

His first defense, against former world champion
Botha, came on November 9, 1996. It was, according
to Ring Magazine, one of the fights of the year.
Moorer recovered from a knockdown against him to
lead on two of the three scorcards going into the
12th and final round, then ended with a flourish,
knocking Botha out with just 18 seconds left in
the bout. 

In March of 1997, Moorer retained his belt with a
12 round decision over previously undefeated
Vaughn Bean before parting ways with trainer Teddy
Atlas, with whom he'd been experiencing an
increasing amount of tension since the beginning
of their professional relationship. He replaced
him with trainer Freddie Roach. On November 8 of
that year, Moorer visited the canvas five times in
his rematch with  Evander Holyfield before
ringside doctor Flip Homansky advised referee
Mitch Halpern to stop the bout in round eight. 

After this, he retired from boxing for three years
before returning with a knockout of journeyman
Lorenzo Boyd. He won three more fights, then
seemingly retired again when he was knocked out
only 30 seconds into round one by David Tua on
August 17, 2002. However, he returned to the ring
once again on March 29, 2003, beating journeyman
Otis Tisdale on points over 10 rounds. On August
23, 2003, he beat Brazil's Rodolfo Lobo by
knockout in only 64 seconds. 

After a layoff of almost one year, he returned on
July 3, 2004, losing a ten round unanimous
decision to Eliseo Castillo in Miami, Florida. In
December of that year, Moorer rallied from a
severe deficit on the scorecards to hand former
world Cruiserweight champion Vassily Jirov his
first knockout loss. The victory revitalized his
career and placed him back amongst the ranks of
contention for the world title. Following the
fight Moorer decided to be a trainer and retire
from boxing.

Moorer scored knockouts in each of his first 29
bouts, placing him in the exclusive list of boxers
who have won at least 20 fights in a row by
knockout, alongside such other fighters as
Foreman, Wilfredo Gomez, Carlos Zarate, John
Mugabi, Khaosai Galaxy and Aaron Pryor. 

As of April 2005, his professional ring record
stands at 47 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, with 37
wins by way of knockout.

start box
succession box |
  before= Evander Holyfield |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (WBA, IBF) |
  years= 1994 |
  after= George Foreman

succession box |
  before= Francois Botha |
  title= List of heavyweight boxing
champions|Heavyweight boxing champion (IBF) |
  years= 1996–1997 |
  after= Evander Holyfield

end box