Moorer fighting for respect

Dean Juipe

Monday, Nov. 3, 1997 | 8:47 a.m.

Throw Michael Moorer's name out in a word-association game and one response immediately surfaces.

Indifferent.

Despite being a two-time heavyweight world champion, he's perceived as uninterested, uncaring and lacking any passion for his craft. It's believed he's a boxer with talent yet one inclined to simply go through the motions while collecting millions of dollars.

If it's a fault, it's one Moorer indirectly acknowledges.

"I know people think my style isn't crowd pleasing," he said. "My fights aren't crowd pleasing by any means. But I do what I have to do."

What he does is win, coming out ahead in 39 of his 40 professional fights and winning 31 of those by knockout. That sterling record will be on the line Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center when Moorer, the IBF heavyweight champion, takes on WBA champion Evander Holyfield in the rematch of a 1994 fight at Caesars Palace that Moorer won by decision.

A repeat performance and Moorer may get the respect he feels is long overdue.

"People who know boxing know I've been cheated (out of respect)," he said. "It amazes me that some people always want to focus on fights I looked s----y in. They always want to look for negativity."

As a result of his sometimes-drowsy showings, his one-punch knockout loss to George Foreman and his occasional out-of-the-ring problems with the law, Moorer is not besieged with endorsement opportunities or held in particularly high regard by those on the periphery of the boxing community.

"I'm a real person and (marketing executives) don't like that," he said. "They know I've been in trouble with the police before and they know I'm going to speak my mind."

The only possible solution to his public-relations woes: Defeat Holyfield again.

"I beat him before and I know I've improved since then," Moorer said. "To be honest, I don't know if he has changed any (since 1994)."

If Holyfield has changed, Moorer said, it's in the self-confidence department. And, he added, that could be a detriment for this fight.

"He's overlooking me due to the fact he's beaten Mike Tyson twice," Moorer said. "Now he's supposed to be the man. Years ago Tyson used to blow through the division and Evander put a stop to all of that.

"I don't necessarily know if he's looking past me or not. But the way it sounds, I think he is."

If Holyfield is guilty of taking Moorer for granted, perhaps he should watch the replay of their 1994 fight -- or even the final few seconds when Moorer all but quit fighting to grandstand, feeling as if victory had been secured.

"Holyfield was a beaten fighter, everyone saw that," Moorer recalled. "I remember him saying I didn't beat him even though I got the decision, but his face was swollen from my jab.

"I have a lot of respect for him, but I beat him. No matter where he thinks his place in boxing history is, we both know what happened in the ring that night."

Yet there may be a little animosity between the combatants as a result of how that 1994 bout ended.

"I don't think Evander likes me," the left-handed Moorer said. "He thinks I showed him up the last 20 seconds. But that's not true -- I was just celebrating. When you're in there you always know if you won or lost, and I thought I won the fight."

He says he'll do it again, that he's better with new trainer Freddie Roach and that his health has improved after having surgery on his right shoulder following his lackluster March 29 victory over Vaughn Bean at the Las Vegas Hilton.

"I'm ready," Moorer said. "I'd say there are some strong boxers in the heavyweight division and I'm one of them. I'm hungry, or I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing."

He's a +200 underdog in most sports books in town and perhaps he has to overcome the distraction of having had his grandfather file a lawsuit against him last month, claiming the fighter breached a 1986 contract. Henry Smith maintains he's entitled to 25 percent of Moorer's career earnings as a result of the managerial contract they entered into two years before Moorer turned pro.

Moorer, who arrived in Las Vegas late Saturday and will be working out at The Mirage this week, said his grandfather's lawsuit isn't an issue. More importantly, he feels the playing field is perfectly level as he steps in with a man who maintains God is on his side.

"Evander exposes it so everybody can hear about it and embrace him," Moorer, in an emphatic tone, said of Holyfield's public pronouncements and missionary zeal. "But God loves more than just Evander Holyfield."

For that brief moment at least, indifference was nowhere to be found.