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Boxing's savior?
Beleaguered sport needs Holyfield win
Freddie Roach thought he spoke 51 minutes too long.
"Maybe he's looking for some help somewhere," said Roach, the new trainer of Michael Moorer. "This whole pre-fight thing is getting a bit odd. Evander says he has God in his corner. But Michael loves God, and doesn't God love everybody?
"To be honest, I think it's crazy to be doing what he's doing this close to the fight. I think he's taking this fight too lightly.
That's the best thing that can happen to us."
And the worst thing that can happen to boxing.
RESPECTABLE CHAMP
Evander Holyfield needs to beat Moorer tonight in their 12-round heavyweight unification fight because the sport needs him to do so. It needs a champion that people recognize. It needs a champion the world has regard for.
It doesn't need the disinterested Moorer to become champion again.
But there are questions on both sides as tonight's bout unfolds.
Roach is right when he questions how fight-ready Holyfield may be when he appears to be taking advantage of his new-found popularity. Holyfield has been more open, more visible, more accessible this week than in any of his previous major bouts.
He held an open workout yesterday, did an interview session on the day before the fight, something that just isn't regularly done. And the Thursday night prayer session at Cashman Field with more than 8,000 people on hand has never been done before.
How can he be up for fighting Moorer after the two Tyson fights?
How can he not see this as a comedown?
"You can worry about Evander," said Don Turner, his trainer. "But I don't. All these other things are just ways of filling up the day."
The questions about Moorer are many, beginning with his weight, carrying on with his fighting reluctance, a potentially sore shoulder, and a sometimes unwillingness to fight back.
There have been few fighters in history with his skill level and his lack of drive.
"But I love the frame of mind he's in," said Roach, who replaced the cantankerous Teddy Atlas as his trainer. "A lot of people say he is pudgy. But he fought his last bout at 214 and he said he had no strength."
The truth is, Moorer went to camp weighing 254 pounds and worked his way down to 223. Strength could again be an issue against Holyfield. So could conditioning if the fight goes the expected distance.
"You fight Evander and you're going to get a physical fight," Turner said. "What will happen in the seventh, eighth, ninth rounds if he's not in ideal shape?"
Moorer holds tightly to his first win over Holyfield, a disputed decision in his favor. The truth of the first fight: Neither fighter did enough to deserve the win. The MVP for Moorer that night was Atlas, who berated him and goaded him into not quitting in the middle rounds. Afterward, Holyfield was hospitalized with a supposed heart problem and later actually retired from boxing.
"This is what bothers Michael the most," Roach said. "He beat Evander and then the excuses started. A heart problem. A shoulder injury. He never says he was beaten.
"If Michael Moorer wins this fight, what can Evander Holyfield say about it?"
He can say there is a new heavyweight champion and boxing will the poorer for it.