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| I want to thank Michael Moorer for taking time between training and your busy schedule to do this interview. Thanks Michael - Phil: You have accomplished what most fighters only dream of. You won the WBO Light Heavyweight Title and defended it successfully until you moved up to Heavyweight. Before long you were Heavyweight champion of the world, beating Burt Cooper and Evander Holyfield to capture your titles. Having experienced so much success in your career, what do you hope to accomplish by returning to boxing? What are your long and short-term goals for your career? Michael: My goal without a doubt is to win the Heavyweight title one more time. This time I'll actually retire with the belt. I’m more focused right now than I have been in my entire career. I think that has come with maturity. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my personal life through the years and I know that the door is closing. This is my last opportunity and I’m going to savor it. As far as my short-term goals, first get through this fight with (Crawford)Grimsley. Then either put together retirement match ups is what I’ve offered Evander Holyfields people. We would sign an agreement that the loser must retire from boxing. Not really to settle a score. More than anything to gain that respect again. Then I’d look forward to a championship fight either after or instead of that fight. Phil: Your first round knockout win against Cliff Couser proved that you still posses devastating punching power. Assuming that you find yourself in a fight that goes eight or ten rounds, are you confident that you will have the stamina to go the distance? Michael: Yes, without a doubt. In fact my new manager Adam Meyer has made some very positive changes. He has teamed me up with a brand new conditioning coach Billy Beck III. He’s basically a trainer for the stars. He works conditioning pro football players, he’s Dwayne Johnson’s personal trainer. I can tell you that I’ve never worked my body like this ever. Part of my workout is 30 minutes, ten straight rounds of non-stop cardio activity. My conditioning is really the least of my concerns right now. I believe that I actually have the advantage over fighters in their twenties when it comes to conditioning right now. Phil: How has your training regiment changed now that you are 39 years old as opposed to when you were……say 30 years old? Michael: If you noticed my weight last fight I was at 250. For my next fight I’m going to be at approximately 238 to 240. I’m comfortable. I know my body after this many years of boxing. I know my body. I know what weight feels good for me to fight at. I’m looking to be around the 235, 234 range, a championship physique a little bit leaner. The main difference between now and when I was thirty is metabolism. That’s why I’m on a very strict diet. I get up at 6 a.m. every morning and train until 7:30. Then I hit the boxing gym every afternoon. It’s twice a day now and my diet is completely different from when I was thirty years old. Phil: You have beaten Evander Holyfield and he has beaten you. Both of you are legendary fighters. Do you have any interest in fighting for a third time to settle the score? Michael: I’m a little different now than I was years ago obviously. I always welcomed the interview but I never really made predictions. I never put down any other boxers. This time around I have a little more of a chip on my shoulder. I don’t feel that I have ever gotten the respect that I deserve as one of the top heavyweights of all time. As far as Evander Holyfield there is nothing that I can say that is disrespectful of the man. He’s a warrior, he’s a champion, he is one of the greatest. But I can assure you that Evander Holyfield will never take this fight against me. If you look at the tapes from the first time we fought I think it’ pretty evident Evander Holyfield has never been hurt in a fight the way I hurt him. I just don’t see Him wanting to end his career by being punished by me one more time. Phil: Of the four current Heavyweight Champions: Wladimir Klitschko, Oleg Maskaev, Nicolay Valuev and Shannon Briggs who would you love to get a shot at? Who would give you the most problems and why? Michael: Well it’s funny because in my amateur days I fought a lot of Europeans. So I think that gives me Experience and an edge over most other American fighters. I have fought their style of fighting. Again with no disrespect intended Shannon Briggs would be the last fighter I’d be concerned about. I would probably fight him in my backyard. So Briggs is certainly not a fighter that would pose any risk to me. I have a lot of respect for Klitschko. I think he is one of the top three boxers right now. I’ve always had a mindset where I set a goal and take things one step at a time. This Michael Moorer will not back down from any fight. It doesn’t matter if my promoter, my manager or my conditioning coach says this isn’t the right fighter for you. This time, in order to achieve my goals I’m going to punish anybody that stands in the way. Phil: If you were writing a book about your career in boxing tell me how would the final chapter read? Michael: The final chapter would read that Michael Moorer did what the majority of people said couldn’t be done. It will read a man who has peace. I will retire with the belt. I will continue to be the type of father, friend and boyfriend that I am now. There won’t be anymore training for me. I won’t train any other boxers. That’s not in my future. It’s about retiring with my self respect and the respect other people will have for me. The only thing that I ask is that all the doubters don’t come over and be my friend after and congratulate me unless it’s with an apology attached. It never bothered me what people said about me in the press. I motivate myself, negativity doesn’t motivate me. But a lot of people are going to be wrong about Michael Moorer. Phil: Who do you like in the upcoming super fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.? How do you see the fight ending? Michael: I think the fight is going to go the distance. I think De La Hoya is going to win. It’s going to be a very good fight but I like Oscar in a decision. Phil: Who are the best three heavyweights in boxing right now? Michael: In order I’d say that the best three heavyweights right now are myself first, Samuel Peter second and Klitschko third. So you understand one of the main reasons that I decided to come back was that at the time when I made the decision to return no Americans held a belt. It was before Briggs had won. It bothered me. I think boxing as it has through the years go through that slippish stage where the interest and the level of boxers has gone down. I knew that this time for me that there would be no days off. There would be no resting. I think that back then because of my immaturity I had that sense of invincibility. I made mistakes and drank and you know it’s no secret the mistakes that I’ve made in the past. I have children who look up to me everyday and count on me. I live my life in a way that hard work and doing things the right way, being an honest person is what gets you to the top. I’ve never worked so hard to accomplish this goal. Like I said you saw me at 250 the last fight. You’ll see me now at 238, 240 and by the time the third fight comes along you won’t believe how different of a man I’m going to look. Phil: You stepped away from the sport for three years (1997-2000). You came back and fought well compiling an 8-2-1 (7KO) record. You took another two years off between 2004 and 2006 before returning to the ring for your latest fight, when you destroyed Cliff Couser. What is it about boxing that makes it so hard for you to walk away and stay away? Michael: I think more than anything it’s the competition. I look at the competition and I miss it. I went about things the wrong way the last few times. There is no greater sense of urgency than realizing that there is no tomorrow. Years ago I could mess up. You saw the tapes before the Castillo fight that I lost. I came in heavy, I upset people at Showtime. I felt like yeah there’s always tomorrow. My focus wasn’t there. Like I said there is no sense of urgency like knowing there is no tomorrow. I’m not doing this for the money anymore. I not doing it for people top say oh Michael Moorer you’re the best. I’m doing it because I know that when I set my mind to doing something I will do this. This isn’t hype. I don’t know how to hype things. I don’t know how to sell fights. All I know how to do is get myself ready to be victorious. And I will do so. Phil: You have fought against some great competition and your record is very impressive 48-4-1 (38 KO). You began your career with an incredible 26 straight wins all by way of knockout. Without a doubt you will one day be immortalized in The Boxing Hall of Fame. What, if anything, do you feel that you have left to prove in the ring? Michael: Listen I’m not deaf. I hear the television when they talk about the greatest boxers of all time. My name is not mentioned. People seem to forget that I gave up my Light Heavyweight belt to move up to the Heavyweight division. I have to prove that if you ask anybody, even yourself doing the interview if you had to bet will Michael Moorer be able to win the Heavyweight title the answer around the country would be no. This really is to get me the belt and to retire with the belt. Unless someone makes me an offer of 20 million or above to fight again, I’m going to retire with the belt. Phil: If for some reason you are unable to capture a world title will you consider your comeback a failure? Michael: That’s a good question. The way I raise my children is that if you give something 100 percent and you work hard at it and there is no cheating, there is no looking for the short cuts. Even if you don’t win it doesn’t necessarily mean you failed. To me losing and failing are two different things. In this case anything short of winning the Heavyweight title would be a disappointment but I don’t think that I would ever consider myself a failure. Not as hard as I work. I challenge anybody to go through 7 days of the workouts that I’m going through right now. I don’t think 99 percent of boxers today could finish my workouts. I wouldn’t consider it a failure I’d consider it a disappointment. Not to sound arrogant because that is the furthest thing from what I am but if you read the articles about me people have called me passionless because I don’t stand over an opponent, because I don’t go into a press conference and talk about the guys family or put him down. Don’t confuse my kindness for weakness. This is a different Michael Moorer. I pity anybody who steps in the way of me capturing my goal this time. Because it’s me that sweating everyday and working my ass off and I’m not going to let anyone take that away from me this time. Phil: Your TKO win against Francois Botha is still one of the best fights that I have ever seen. Is there one moment in your career that you feel optimizes who you are as a fighter? Michael: It’s definitely the win against Holyfield to win the belt. Certainly that was my defining moment to me as a boxer. It confirmed to me that everything that I thought I could do I was able to do. The only regret that I really have is that I didn’t cherish it enough. This time around it will be a different story. Phil: What will the world be saying about Michael Moorer at the end of 2007? Michael: That Michael Moorer showed the world that you can mature, you learn from your mistakes. If you set your goals no matter how hard the road seems or how impossible the task seems if you believe it, not anybody else, if you truly believe it you can do it. I think in the end people are going to say that Michael Moorer was a man who never got the respect that he deserved and it’s time we give it to him. Phil: What are some things that enjoy doing in your free time away from boxing? Michael: I love fishing. Fishing gives me a real sense of tranquility. I like going to gun range, I like to shoot. I’d still love a career in law enforcement. That is still a future goal of mine. And of course I love being with my children. One thing I want to tell you is the major difference between now and a few years ago and part of why I came back is the people in my corner. There is such a huge difference when you have people who are there for you and who believe in you. My manager Adam Meyer, he’s gone to the gym with me a 6:00 in the morning. He’s got me with the right conditioning coach, he’s helped with my financial affairs. You know to have people around you that believe in you it gives you such an added incentive to do it. Not only for yourself but for the people who believed you could do it. That was the difference. I’ve had people in my corner before who were back stabbers, or talked negatively. The people in my corner now make a huge difference to me. Phil: Is there anything that you would like to say to your fans? Michael: Thank you for the ups and the downs. I know there have been times where you’ve read things and you have possibly been disappointed. But the loyalty that you have shown to me is something that I cherish. At the end of the Cliff Couser fight to the people that stuck around and wanted to congratulate me and say hello to me stick by me now because I’m about to put on a show over the next twelve months. We want to wish Michael Moorer the best of luck in his pursuit of another world title. We’ll be pulling for you. Michael will be fighting Crawford Grimsley on March 16th, 2007 Live at the Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. I also want to thank Adam Meyer for making this interview possible. Phil Santos Overhandright.com Boxing News & Interviews Phil@Overhandright.com 2-28-07 |
| MICHAEL MOORER EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW |
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| Writers & Contributors: Phil Santos Jim Amato John Martinez Ted Sares Bill Calogero Photographers: Barry Arpin Barry Chew Stacey Santos |
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