A Boxing Memory: Moorer vs. Foreman

A Boxing Memory: Moorer vs. Foreman

“It happened! It happened!” Jim Lampley

The New York Times labelled it ‘a right hand thrown from about 1973 that enabled George Foreman to once again reclaim what was lost in Zaire twenty years previously.

Foreman wasn’t quite in retirement when that call came to fight the WBA and IBF heavyweight champion of the world Michael Moorer, but he was extremely close to it. Seventeen months of inactivity offered very little in the way of hope. Foreman was picked for a reason, and for nine largely one-sided rounds, we saw what that reason was.

Moorer had picked off Foreman at will. It looked as though the predetermined script was in no danger of needing a rewrite. But a punch from another era changed everything and made Foreman the oldest world heavyweight champion in boxing history and was the crowning moment of a truly remarkable comeback.

Michael Moorer was everything Foreman used to be. The moody, surly demeanour could have been moulded from the Foreman playbook of old. When the old champion made his unlikely comeback in 1987 after ten years away, Foreman was different. The uninspiring 4th round stoppage over Steve Zouski offered little hope that his unlikely comeback had any real life in it. But as Foreman dropped at least a few of the excess pounds accumulated in his religious induced hiatus from the sport, a new persona gradually revealed itself. The one-liners about his appearance and diet soon became his mantra. But the jovial nature of his second coming hid a fearsome desire to reclaim what Ali took away in the that famous Rumble in the Jungle in 1974.

Moorer was unbeaten in thirty-five fights going into the perceived safe defence against Foreman, who was in truth now in semi-retirement. Defeats to Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison seemed to indicate his comeback had run its natural course. Foreman had been inactive since Morrison turned in a career best performance to beat him on points more than a year ago with the then lightly-regarded WBO bauble on the line. Moorer vs. Foreman was, in truth, just another bit of shameful and cynical matchmaking that riddles the sport far too often. The WBA initially refused to sanction the fight. Foreman went court and argued his case on age discrimination. And won. Foreman also had to prove his mental sharpness in court. Another victory was secured. All he needed now was another where it mattered the most.

The reigning WBA and IBF champion was always a bit of a reluctant warrior. The way Teddy Atlas had to inspire his fighter to fight against Evander Holyfield the night he became the heavyweight champion of the world is right up there with any corner work in boxing history. Angelo Dundee, in Foreman’s corner, would have admired the work of the man who would be in direct competition in Las Vegas for what appeared to be the final dance for ‘Big’ George Foreman.

Moorer was only the slight betting favourite. Odds that still seem surprising all these years on. But Moorer had looked uninspired and lacklustre at times when he squeezed past Holyfield by majority decision in April 1994. But seven months later, against Foreman, a Moorer victory still looked like a formality. Foreman was 45, Moorer 19 years his junior. The Punching Preacher was seemingly in need of an unlikely miracle.

Foreman had minor success, I’m being kind, as the fight ploughed on in the one-sided manner that many thought we would see. It touched on the uncomfortable. An argument was made by some that Foreman was gradually breaking Moorer down. I’m far from convinced that that was actually the case. But Foreman would soon make everything that came before totally redundant.

After nine rounds, Moorer was up 88-83 on two of the official scorecards. The third tally only had Moorer up by a point. Which looked like a case of giving Foreman points just for marching forward and staying upright.

Foreman entered the ring to “If I Had a Hammer.” Now he needed to find one. Dundee told him at the start of the 10th round that he needed a knockout. Foreman took note. Teddy Atlas urged Moorer to move away from the right hand of Foreman. Moorer didn’t take note.

It is one of the most historic rounds in boxing history. Foreman found a little more urgency. Before that history-making right hand connected, Foreman appeared to stun the defending champion a couple of times. But the ending still came as an almighty surprise. It most certainly wasn’t a case that it had been coming. But that pivotal right-hand bomb eradicated all the previous good work from Moorer. When the champion crumpled to the canvas, there was little expectation that he would get back up before Joe Cortez had reached the critical number of ten. Foreman dropped to his knees, said a little prayer, and rose to the acclaim, his story quite rightfully deserved.

The talk of a rematch came to nothing. Moorer kept fighting and reclaimed the IBF bauble two years later. He defended it twice before Holyfield got his revenge over Moorer in 1997, and his career drifted along until he called time on his fighting life in 2008.

Foreman should have retired after the win over Moorer it was a night that couldn’t be replicated or topped. The WBA stripped Foreman for refusing to fight their top ranked contender Tony Tucker. He got a win on points over the average German heavyweight Axel Schulz that he didn’t deserve. The IBF then stripped Foreman because he wouldn’t give Schulz a rematch. Foreman then rode the Lineal heavyweight champion road and beat Crawford Grimsley in 1996 in Tokyo, and the following year, he got past Lou Savarese in a decent enough fight.

There was one final fight in 1997 for Foreman, but when his fellow American Shannon Briggs got a thoroughly undeserved decision over Foreman, the boxing career was all but over. He was now 48. There was talk of a fight with Larry Holmes in 1999, but maybe thankfully, we we were spared the ‘Birthday Bash’ when the negotiations ended without agreement and the planned fight was eventually cancelled.