Former two-weight world champ Michael Moorer was enshrined into The Hall of Fame over the weekend, with “Double M” joining a number of great fighters he himself faced during his successful, indeed history-making career. Moorer, the first southpaw heavyweight champion ever, faced a number of greats, including George Foreman, Evander Holyfield and others.
Moorer enjoyed great success as a light heavyweight and as a heavyweight, with Moorer bypassing the cruiserweight division. And Moorer sure displayed vicious punching power, at 175 pounds in particular. But when asked to name the hardest HE was ever hit, Moorer had a quick and firm answer. Speaking with The Ring, Moorer, who was world heavyweight champion from April of 1994 to November of 1994, with him winning the IBF belt in 1996, named a guy he fought after he had been champion.
“David Tua,” Moorer said when asked to name the hardest puncher he encountered. “There was a lot of big punchers. Francois Botha hit hard. Foreman hit hard – at that time (November of 1994) he caught me with a good punch. Holyfield hit hard. Anyone, if they get hit the right way, they will go. Tua knew how to deliver the power, being more flatfooted that being on his toes and being that he kept a fist. Most boxers keep their hands open, and he knew the way he came in – short, stocky – and he had a good chin, but he could do the hitting as well.”
Moorer was taken out inside a round by Tua in 2002, with Tua giving the former champ no time to feel his way into things. But Moorer this past weekend was being celebrated for his great wins, over Holyfield, over Bert Cooper (this a real heavyweight slugfest to remember!), over Alex Stewart, over Vassiliy Jirov. Moorer, who finished with a good 52-4-1(40) record in 2008, certainly added a whole lot to not one but two weight divisions.
The loss to Foreman might be the fight for which Moorer is best remembered, but it must also be remembered that “Double M” was winning that fight hands down before “Big George” caught him in that tenth round. There was almost a rematch but it didn’t happen. Moorer has plenty of other fight memories today, better, far more special memories.
Moorer absolutely deserves to be where he is: in The Hall of Fame.
