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A tough sell: Holyfield too good; Moorer not bad enough
Most people are surprised to find out there was actually a Holyfield-Moorer I. It didn't make a lasting impression on the combatants, either.
"That is behind me," said Evander Holyfield, who lost. "I look forward to this fight."
"He's gotten better. I've gotten better," Michael Moorer said. "May the best man win."
Exchanges like those remind us what Sin City desperately lacks these days: a good dose of hate. Several thousand miles away, Mike Tyson generates more headlines and prime-time TV in one day by crashing a motorcycle than these two and their respective public relations armies have managed in a month.
There is so little passion between the fighters, so little public clamor for the fight, that the hypemeisters couldn't even come up with a title. And while it's true that classics like the "Thrilla in Manilla" or the "Rumble in the Jungle" come along only so often, this one hasn't inspired an unauthorized title; not even something along the lines of the "Geezers at Caesars."
Promoter Don King took his best shot at the final prefight news conference Wednesday, dubbing it "Return to Glory ... Challenge to Greatness." But halfway through the long-winded sales pitch, King's trademark enthusiasm failed him. Even he figured out any title requiring that much explanation wasn't going to catch on.
The problem with selling this fight comes down to the personalities involved: Holyfield is too good and Moorer is not bad enough.
In most of Holyfield's previous bouts, especially the last two against Tyson, bang for the buck was never in question. Holyfield is so honest and so fearless that if nothing else, he could always be counted on to get beat up - but good.
That's Holyfield's upside. The flip side is that somebody else has to bring the menace. And Moorer, despite owning a share of the heavyweight title and counting 31 KOs in his 39-1 ledger, isn't up to the task. He is either the most uninterested or the most uninteresting fighter working today. He is so lacking in charisma, some people wonder whether he could sell the pay-per-view in his own home.
"People who remember him," conceded Moorer's promoter, Dino Duva, "probably remember him for the wrong things. Either they remember him getting knocked cold by George Foreman in one of the most historic fights ever, or they remember his last (title) defense against Vaughn Bean, which was one of the most boring fights ever."
Actually, that may not be giving Moorer credit enough. Some fight fans, no doubt, remember him as being on the receiving end of several of the most bizarre motivational tricks ever perpetrated on a boxer.
Once, against Francois Botha, Moorer returned to his corner after a lackluster eighth round to find his trainer sitting on the stool, threatening to take his place in the ring as well. Against Bean, this time with the fighter on the stool, the trainer produced a cell phone and told Moorer his young son, Mikey, was on the other end, afraid his father was going to lose.
The perpetrator in both cases was Teddy Atlas, who no longer trains Moorer. Atlas apprenticed with Cus D'Amato, and in Moorer's case at least, carried D'Amato's philosophy of making his fighters confront their fears several steps too far. Atlas always justified his approach by arguing that it was the only way he could tap even half of Moorer's vast potential.
Freddie Roach, who has trained Moorer for this fight, took the opposite tack.
"After all those stories, how much did Mike really change?" Roach said. "I've gotten more out of Mike by being his friend than his enemy. All that stuff between rounds, the slapping, the screaming, the phones ... I'd rather have my guy calm, thinking about what comes next.
"I think," he added, "guys get in trouble precisely when they get swept up by emotion."
Maybe so. But without it, they're having a very tough time scaring up an audience.