Why did Michael Moorer move up to HW?

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He was clearly a superb LHW, and i guess he saw Holyfield as someone he could beat, but the rest of the big guys, im not so sure

Which always makes me wonder why he moved up, i think a fit Holyfield would have starched him, but he seems extremely arrogant with his attitude and had struggles with nearly every HW he fought that could fight.
 
Money and the fact that he was a genuinely big LHW who was only going to have a harder and harder time sweating down to the weight as he got older.
 
Money. Plus he was 22-0 with 22 KO's or something like that; he had nothing left to do there.
 
Money. Plus he was 22-0 with 22 KO's or something like that; he had nothing left to do there.

I suppose he could have tried to unify, but there really wasn't much going on at LHW at that time (hell, there wasn't much going on at LHW until nearly half a decade after Moorer went up).
 
in boxing the answer is always money my four eyed friend. to me, it's still ironic that lighheavy's went up after a century or so of lightheavys losing to heavy's as little as 10 pounds bigger, it's ironic that when the average heavy probably weighted about 220, light heavy's started having success.
 
and ya, he was uncommonly arrogant for a boxer, i always thought he was a dick, apparently, the stint as a trainer with freddie roach ended because no one liked him. He must have not had an impoverished childhood, he seems more like a frat boy than a child of the ghetto. either way, he did quite well at the weight.
 
Money and the fact that he was a genuinely big LHW who was only going to have a harder and harder time sweating down to the weight as he got older.

^This.

He was going to have to move up eventually, and the CW division got almost no press during the 90s. I can't even remember off hand if there were any HBO or Showtime cards headlined by CWs after Holyfield moved up.
 
I don't think Moorer was much more than an advanced prospect who achieved contender status at light heavy. The only guy he beat of note was Leslie Stewart, but Stewart was also outworking him and boxing him up for the first 7 rounds before Moorer's power bailed him out. Stewart was also a bit past his best at the time, and wasn't anything special to begin with. Not sure where this "clearly a superb LHW" distinction comes form. He had the potential to be had he not moved up, I suppose. But don't you have to do a lot more than struggle to beat a shopworn Leslie Stewart to earn that praise?
 
i don't think i saw too many of his lhw fights but he got a lot of press, in that era, everyone thought it was cool to be like tyson, talking about violence, brutality, moorer was like that in interviews, talking about how he liked watching violent movies. so, i didn't watch any of his lhw fights, just read about him. he had a good run at hw, he got lucky with evander, vander wasn't a killer especially at that weight, and he tended to fight uninspired when he was the top dog. So, i guess, by winning any title he did ok.
 
Maybe because he wanted to prove himself as the best in the world, without the p4p nonsense.
 
I don't think Moorer was much more than an advanced prospect who achieved contender status at light heavy. The only guy he beat of note was Leslie Stewart, but Stewart was also outworking him and boxing him up for the first 7 rounds before Moorer's power bailed him out. Stewart was also a bit past his best at the time, and wasn't anything special to begin with. Not sure where this "clearly a superb LHW" distinction comes form. He had the potential to be had he not moved up, I suppose. But don't you have to do a lot more than struggle to beat a shopworn Leslie Stewart to earn that praise?
today i watched a great fight i'd never seen, mugabi/Green, it was somewhat like you describe, one guy with all the skills but losing to the more powerful puncher, that power is a great equalizer. Green was doing so much more as far as skills and even shook up mugabi but the power difference as well as the height/reach difference was too much for him.
 
Maybe because he wanted to prove himself as the best in the world, without the p4p nonsense.
there might be the added incentive of being able to eat more too.
 
Money as the obvious answer mentioned, but I remember Moorer being a massive weight-cutter also. I'd like to support the idea that he didn't do all that much at 175 either. He got glowing press for not doing much of anything but keeping his stats impressive on paper. And, yes, very impressive on the face of it. But it's almost as if people think he achieved like Spinks or something and I don't think he came anywhere near to proving a great light heavyweight. That isn't to say he couldn't have. I'm not sure how long he could've made the weight without falling off the rails though. Long enough to even see what he was capable of with a reasonably deep list of quality names there? I don't know.
 
today i watched a great fight i'd never seen, mugabi/Green, it was somewhat like you describe, one guy with all the skills but losing to the more powerful puncher, that power is a great equalizer. Green was doing so much more as far as skills and even shook up mugabi but the power difference as well as the height/reach difference was too much for him.

I have a vague memory of watching that fight live, Moz. Probably on NBC since Mugabi was on of their guys at the time when he was coming up and the network was putting a lot of their focus on the up-and-comers of the middle divisions at the time, as well as some fringe contender types who made for good entertaining fights (Fletcher, Green, Parker, etc). Thanks for mentioning it. I'll have to watch it again soon if it was as good as you say it was.
 
I suppose he could have tried to unify, but there really wasn't much going on at LHW at that time (hell, there wasn't much going on at LHW until nearly half a decade after Moorer went up).
He never fought the other big names at LHW.
 
Went through Moorer’s career last year.

Who were the other elites at LHW during his time?
 
Went through Moorer’s career last year.

Who were the other elites at LHW during his time?

Off the top of my head:

Virgil Hill
Prince Charles Williams
Jeff Harding
 
I have a vague memory of watching that fight live, Moz. Probably on NBC since Mugabi was on of their guys at the time when he was coming up and the network was putting a lot of their focus on the up-and-comers of the middle divisions at the time, as well as some fringe contender types who made for good entertaining fights (Fletcher, Green, Parker, etc). Thanks for mentioning it. I'll have to watch it again soon if it was as good as you say it was.
it was pretty good, people deride me for being a good old days guy but those fights were just a lot more passionate, skillful and interesting to me. I don't see why everyone can't see the difference between the fights of this era and earlier ones. It's like guys really try to win by not fighting today. Neither guy wants to really sacrifice.
 
He never fought the other big names at LHW.

You're right, but LHW went through a big drought in talent and name value arguably from Spinks to Jones Jr.. Hearns or Hill were there, I guess.
 
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