Light heavyweight Moorer had a fast rise through the professional boxing ranks. He debuted on March 4, 1988, knocking out Adrian Riggs in the first round. Before the year's end, he was undefeated in eleven bouts (winning all by way of early round knockouts) and fighting for the world title for the first time. He acquired the newly created
WBO light heavyweight title with a five-round
knockout of Ramzi Hassan. In 1989, he retained the title six times, beating Freddie Delgado, Frankie Swindell, Mike Sedillo and former
WBA champion
Leslie Stewart, among others. In 1990, he retained the title three times before the end of the year, beating Mario Melo and former
Michael Spinks challenger Jim McDonald, among others.
Heavyweight 1991 saw Moorer move up to the heavyweight division. He rolled through the competition en route to securing an opportunity to fight for the vacant WBO heavyweight championship the following year against
Bert Cooper. Moorer stopped Cooper in the fifth round after both fighters were down and hurt during the bout. He did not defend the then-lesser regarded WBO heavyweight belt. Moorer and trainer
Emanuel Steward parted ways after the Cooper fight. Moorer eventually joined
Lou Duva's team, and was trained by Georgie Benton for three fights in 1993, including a 10-round decision win over former champion
James "Bonecrusher" Smith. Moorer then parted ways with the Duvas and Benton, and hired New York-based trainer
Teddy Atlas in late 1993. Moorer closed the year with a ten-round decision over Mike Evans.
Unified heavyweight champion On April 22, 1994, Moorer challenged
Evander Holyfield for the lineal,
IBF, and
WBA title belts. In round 2 Holyfield sent Moorer down on the canvas, but Moorer overcame and went on to win a majority decision. As a result, he became the first-ever
southpaw heavyweight champion. In his first defense of those belts, on November 5, 1994, Moorer faced 45-year-old
George Foreman, who lost his last fight for the vacant
WBO heavyweight title to
Tommy Morrison. For nine rounds, Moorer easily outboxed him, hitting and moving away, while Foreman moving forward, seemingly unable to "pull the trigger" on his punches. Moorer was ahead on all three judges' scorecards entering the 10th round, when Foreman hit him with a number of long-range jabs. Then, suddenly, a short right hand caught Moorer square on his chin, gashing open his bottom lip, and he collapsed to the canvas. Moorer was knocked out and lost the world championship. He also lost his undefeated record. Foreman, at age 45, became the oldest fighter ever to win the world heavyweight title. The following year, Moorer re-grouped by winning against fringe contender Melvin Foster. Meanwhile, Foreman retained the title with a close and controversial decision against
German fighter
Axel Schulz. Because of the controversial nature of the Foreman-Schulz bout, the IBF ordered Foreman to travel to
Germany for a rematch, but Foreman refused, choosing to leave the IBF belt vacant instead.
South African
Francois Botha travelled to Germany instead and beat Schulz with another close decision to claim the title, but he was stripped of it when he tested positive for illegal substances shortly after.
Third heavyweight title reign Moorer was then given the opportunity to fight Schulz for the vacant crown in Dortmund. On June 22, 1996, Moorer won the IBF heavyweight crown once again, beating Schulz by a 12-round split decision. He became a three-time heavyweight champion; WBO (1992), WBA/IBF (1994) and IBF (1996–1997). When Moorer held the WBO heavyweight title, it wasn't considered an authentic heavyweight title. Ironically, Moorer has always been recognized as a former light heavyweight champion despite only ever holding the WBO title at that weight. Moorer's first defense came against Botha on November 9, 1996. In a brutal one-sided bout, Moorer, leading on the cards going into the 12th, ended with a flourish, knocking Botha out 18 seconds into the final round. In March 1997, Moorer retained his belt with a 12-round decision over previously undefeated
Vaughn Bean before parting ways with trainer Teddy Atlas, with whom he'd been experiencing increasing tension since the beginning of their professional relationship. He replaced him with
Freddie Roach.
Holyfield vs. Moorer II On November 8, Moorer lost his IBF title in a unification match with WBA champion
Evander Holyfield. Moorer was knocked down five times before ringside doctor Flip Homansky advised referee Mitch Halpern to stop the bout in round eight.
Comeback After this, he retired from boxing for three years before returning with a knockout of journeyman Lorenzo Boyd. Moorer had begun drinking heavily and weighed 270 pounds. During his comeback, he won three more fights, then seemingly retired again when he was knocked out only 30 seconds into round one by
David Tua on August 17, 2002. However, he returned to the ring once again on March 29, 2003, beating Otis Tisdale on points over ten rounds. On August 23, 2003, he beat Brazil's Rodolfo Lobo by knockout in only 64 seconds. After a layoff of almost a year, he returned on July 3, 2004, losing a ten-round unanimous decision to
Eliseo Castillo in
Miami, Florida. In December of that year, Moorer rallied from a severe deficit on the scorecards to hand former cruiserweight champion
Vassiliy Jirov his first knockout loss. He continued fighting, winning all of his bouts against limited opposition. His last fight was a KO win over Shelby Gross in 2008. Following the fight, Moorer retired from professional boxing. ==Personal life==