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November 1997
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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IT'S A TOSS-UP
GRAHAM HOUSTON discovers that the men in the know are split down the middle as to whether it will be Holyfield or Moorer |
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THE CONTESTANTS AND KING: no wonder the promoter is grinning - he has both
champs under contract and knows that the fight should excite
- Get Big Pic "There aren't too many heavyweights out there like Holyfield. Some guys fight to get money, and when they get money they don't fight up to their full potential. But Holyfield fights hard every fight. Moorer will just have to fight harder or he'll get beat up bad. "I think Holyfield should stop Moorer. This is the guy that beat him, and he's up for it. He wants to avenge the defeat, and I think he'll be higher for this fight than he was for Tyson. I'm not trying to snatch the glory from Moorer, the judges said that Moorer won the last time. But I knew there was something wrong with Evander when he had Moorer down and didn't finish him. Moorer being a southpaw won't be a factor. It's more psychological than reality. People tend to think that because a guy's a southpaw it makes him more difficult. I don't. Moorer is methodical and he's not hard to hit. He doesn't push you around. He's more of a boxer. Evander's job is to back him up. All Evander has to do is fight the way he's capable of fighting and he won't have no problems." FREDDIE ROACH (Moorer's trainer): "I'm trying to get more punches out of Michael, more combinations. He has the perfect style to beat Holyfield. Holyfield loves a war and I don't plan on trading with him all night long, but it's going to happen so we've got to prepare for that also. The thing is, Holyfield doesn't fight southpaws well and there are a couple of little things that Michael can control him on, [such as] the footwork. If we can do that, we're going to be in good shape. "I was pleased that he's very confident that he can beat this guy again. But I think Michael has to go out there and beat him even better this time to get the nod. Holyfield's got a very good image, the public loves him, so Michael's going to have to win decisively, I think. "Michael's jab is the key to the fight, I believe. His best weapon is the right jab. In the last fight he landed a beautiful jab and a right hook, and we're going to work on that combination a lot more. His right hand is very, very strong. "What I have to do is get inside his head as well as prepare him for the fight, let him know that I'm there a hundred per cent for him, and I expect a hundred per cent back. If I can motivate him in the gym it will carry over to the fight. "But I've had pretty good success getting inside fighters' heads. I know how fighters think. That's the advantage I have, I think, over some trainers. "Holyfield's riding high right now. I think the early rounds are critical. I think Holyfield's going to come out and try to do what Roy Jones did to Montell Griffin - and I hope he does, because we're going to be good and warmed up and ready to go. "I've watched the tape of the first fight every night. There's a lot I can see in there. Michael can do a lot more. Hopefully, if we keep drilling it into him, over and over, it will become second nature to him and he can pull the shots out. "Holyfield is so tough, we're planning on winning a 12-round decision. Inside the distance will be a terrific bonus. Michael has the power to knock anyone out, but Evander is one game guy." TEDDY ATLAS (Moorer's former trainer): "One of the things I miss is not the money so much but more the chance to come full circle and fulfil my destiny and Michael's destiny, which I thought was meant to finish up by beating the guy we beat to start this whole journey. That was probably the hardest thing for me to walk away from. "I feel Michael can win the fight, and I feel he's in a real good spot although obviously he's going to have to be in good shape physically and mentally. I had in mind a fight plan very specific for the fight. I think it's a very winnable fight. Contrary to what most people believe I don't think Holyfield's at his best. People think he's on a roll now, and I guess he is, but they forget - and that's how we are - how much of it was that Holyfield was great, and how much was Tyson overrated? That has to be thought of a little bit. And I don't take anything away from Holyfield; I have the most respect for Holyfield in the world. "I'm just going by facts and being very cold about it. Holyfield exposed a guy who I always thought was a front runner, a guy who came up short the couple of times he was tested, when he couldn't overpower or intimidate his opponent. You've got to remember that this was the same Holyfield who before he fought Tyson looked very poor against Bobby Czyz and obviously against Riddick Bowe - so poor that some people didn't even think he should be allowed to fight Tyson. But he looked terrific with Tyson. "I think that this is a guy who's capable of looking bad again, because he's a guy who's in his 30s, who's been in a lot of hard fights, a guy who's accomplished so much and who mostly has to be up for a fight to perform well at this point, and he was very up for the Tyson fights. I don't know if he gave himself enough time after those two hugely emotional fights to recuperate and regenerate before going in with Moorer. "The first time he fought us it was very similar, he was coming off a big upset of Riddick Bowe when nobody thought he had a chance. He came back, he beat Bowe, and then he fought Moorer, and it was hard for him - without taking anything away from Moorer, who had to go in and win - to mentally and emotionally get up. And I think it's going to be hard for him to get up [again] even though he's fighting a guy who beat him. "Most people have said he wasn't at his best, that he could have won [the first Moorer fight], and he's moved on and done such tremendous things since then that I don't know if it's [beating Moorer] the most pressing thing in his life, although it's important to him. "And at this level, when a lot of things are comparable - talent's comparable, and guys have had the ability to accomplish certain things - styles have a lot to do with the outcome. Moorer's style has given Holyfield trouble in the past, and you couldn't find a more opposite style of Tyson than Moorer. Tyson's flaws worked into Holyfield's strengths. Holyfield's always been a strong guy mentally. Tyson's always been a weak guy mentally - at least in my estimation. So once Holyfield wasn't overcome physically, what did Tyson have left? "Moorer's not that kind of guy [like Tyson]. As much as people think Moorer's a weak guy mentally, he's the kinda guy where what you think are his weaknesses are his strengths. He won't go in there and try to knock you out like Tyson will, he'll go in there knowing that he's looking to outpoint you, outmanoeuvre you, go the rounds if he has to. So he's prepared to face that. Tyson wasn't prepared to face that. So in some ways Moorer's stronger [mentally]. "What Holyfield had to deal with mentally, physically and technically [against Tyson] was easier than what he has to deal with [against] Moorer. Tyson comes at you with wide punches, one at a time, two at a time once in a while, not much of a jab. Holyfield was able to deal with that, with a guy coming right at him. Tyson was one-dimensional. Holyfield had the style and ability to deal with that and it was almost easy. "Moorer's style is not going to lend itself to Holyfield as much as Tyson's style did. Moorer's going to be coming from the southpaw side, he's going to be looking to jab and not run into counters, he's going to be looking to counter, he's going to fight an outside fight and on the inside he'll do the things he has to do to survive. He's going to present a whole different package, and what Holyfield's going to be allowed to do will be a lot different to what he was allowed to do with Tyson. I'm not sure Holyfield will look that good in this fight, that he's not going to slip back suddenly. If Moorer gets himself in shape, he can give him a lot more problems [than Tyson did] and can win the fight." EDDIE FUTCH (who was in Riddick Bowe's corner for the three fights with Holyfield): "I think we'll see a sharper Holyfield than in the first fight with Moorer. I think he'll be in better shape and more serious. Also, after the two Tyson fights he will want to maintain that acclaim. With Moorer, he's on and he's off, you can't tell which Moorer will show up. Sometimes he doesn't seem to care. I see a 12-round fight, though: I don't think Holyfield will be able to stop him." EMANUEL STEWARD (who trained Moorer for much of his career and also coached Holyfield to victory in the second fight with Riddick Bowe): "I think it's going to be very competitive, spirited, much more fast-paced than the first fight. In the first fight Holyfield was not really motivated and not prepared - I don't think - strategy-wise or condition-wise, while Moorer did not have enough confidence in himself; even though he won, he was not really aggressive. It was a fight where neither guy showed any real fire. But this fight's going to be totally different. "Holyfield now is on an emotional high and it's almost intoxicating. And Moorer, based on all the bad media he's received lately and the embarrassment when Teddy Atlas walked out, I think it's changed him a lot. I spoke to him recently and I know he's on a whole different emotional wavelength for this fight. He wanted me to train him real badly. He said he wants to go back to his old Kronk style of fighting now, and I've always felt that he, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson are the only true punchers in the heavyweight division. "In recent fights he's not been knocking anyone out, but they [other trainers] didn't know how to motivate him. You can't motivate Michael between rounds because he'll totally blank you out and will not hear anything. In everyday life, every day, he has to be motivated. Michael's a very moody guy but this time he seems kinda sensitive to words from the media. So I think he's going to come out as a puncher in this fight, and he and Holyfield are going to put on a much better fight than anyone ever expected. "Moorer's the bigger puncher if he goes back to his old style of fighting, but Holyfield's got the experience, the stamina and the diehard-type mentality that always makes him dangerous. The outcome? I have it a toss-up." |
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