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Holyfield has Moor-er motivation
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Evander Holyfield's search for motivation in the wake of two mega fights against Mike Tyson didn't last long. He found it in the last 10 seconds of his first fight with Michael Moorer.It was then that Moorer raised his arms in victory three years ago and seemed to mock the proud Holyfield. It was then that Holyfield really wanted to fight -- something he admittedly didn't do much of during the previous 11-plus rounds.
"As bad as I felt that whole fight, the one time I got excited was when the match was almost over and he raised his hands," Holyfield recalled. "That made me angry. I couldn't believe he raised his hands after not doing anything in the fight. If I had only had one more minute with him."
Holyfield didn't have another minute, and in a few more minutes he didn't have the WBA and IBF heavyweight belts he had worn into the ring with him.
Fighting with a sore left shoulder, and soon to be beset by talk about heart problems, Holyfield had coasted through the fight hoping to win, only to come out on the losing end of a majority 12-round decision. Now he gets another chance in Saturday night's rematch with Moorer, and he can't wait.
"I felt bad because I did it to myself," Holyfield said. "I beat myself that last fight. If he wasn't doing anything in the ring, I did nothing. It never dawned in my head what I was doing, but I got frustrated because he was a guy who didn't come in to win."
The loss not only cost Holyfield the heavyweight titles he had won back in a bruising fight with Riddick Bowe in his previous fight, it appeared to end his career.
A few days later, he was in an Atlanta hospital diagnosed with heart problems and about to retire from boxing. The talk was that Holyfield got hit far too much and didn't have the reflexes left to compete.
Nevada boxing regulators were so concerned about Holyfield's health that they made him go to the Mayo Clinic, which found no evidence of heart trouble, before relicensing him to fight Tyson last November.
But what a difference a year can make in boxing.
Today, Holyfield is the conqueror or Tyson not once, but twice. He gained fame far beyond what he ever imagined when Tyson bit a chunk out of his right ear, then nibbled on his left ear for good measure before being disqualified in their second fight.
Now he's trying for revenge against the only fighter who has beaten him and he hasn't beaten. It's also a chance to add the IBF heavyweight title to the WBA title he won from Tyson as Holyfield tried to unify all three major titles before retiring.
"The difference in this fight compared to the first one is that I won't get lackadaisical," Holyfield said. "He didn't come to fight the first time and I let him win, even though I still thought I won the fight."
Holyfield is about a 12-5 favorite to win the rematch against Moorer, a crafty lefty who possesses good punching power but who many feel hasn't been the same since George Foreman knocked him out with one punch to take away his titles in November 1994.
Moorer came back to win the vacated IBF crown over Axel Schulz but has looked tentative and unwilling to mix it up since being stopped by Foreman.
"I get frustrated with guys who don't come in to win," Holyfield said. "If he gets aggressive like he says he will it's better for me. Guys who come to win I usually end up knocking them out."