Battle of the Generations - George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer

Battle of the Generations - George Foreman vs. Michael Moorer

One of the most memorable boxing matches of the last decade of the last century

George Foreman and Michael Moorer are two of the best heavyweight boxers in history. Despite being 18 years apart, they entered the ring in a dispute over two of the titles in the division on November 5th, 1994. The match has been defined as the clash of generations, the battle between two different eras. A match that offers the expected spectacle for everyone at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's the crowning glory of the evening, which sees two competitors with different guards, straight for Foreman and reverse for Moorer, dispute the championship belts of the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation.

The younger of the two, the 26-year-old Moorer enters the fight as the first heavyweight champion of the world to reverse guard. Earlier in 1994, he defeated Evander Holfield by decision to capture the titles. Foreman, although already 45, is determined to reach the prize for the last time in his career. The former absolute champion in the division has only four losses in his career, but at the same time 72 successes, 67 of them by knockout. Less than half are the matches of Double M, who, however, is still undefeated in 35 matches in the professional ring. Additionally, the Houston, Texas-born veteran is 5 inches taller, 193 vs. 188, and, logically, weighs 12 kilograms more. Double M's only advantage comes from his age. Of course, some pundits are of the opinion that he can also use his reverse guard as a weapon against Big George, and he is in the form of his life.

From the start of the match, the age difference showed and Moorer controlled the pace, winning round after round, but not by a huge margin. Still, the world champion manages to score quite a few straight punches in the face of his opponent and visibly swell him up. Over time, one of Foreman's eyes is even almost closed. Despite these issues, however, the larger of the two boxers remains on his feet and ready to be competitive. However, one must consider the fact that only one player managed to knock him out and his name is Muhammad Ali. In Foreman's long career, he fell twice more in the ring, but only by knockdown in matches with Jimmy Young and Ron Lyle.

After the ninth part, Moorer's lead was 88:83 according to two of the judges, when the third gave a smaller difference between them, but again in favor of the holder of the championship belts - 86:85. He also believed that Foreman had won two rounds more than his colleagues thought. Knowing this, the trainer in Foreman's corner tells him that he needs a knockout to get the win.

In Moorer's corner, they are aware that not everything is over and that the difficult minutes for him are yet to come. His trainer Teddy Atlas says "Big George" is known for saving his best shots for the end of matches, starting his combinations with a powerful right to break the champion's guard, then a right hook to take him down on the ground. So the advice to Double Em is to stay at a distance and have Foreman chase him around the ring.

The start of the tenth round was far from good for Moorer, however, as the title challenger rocked him badly with a powerful body kick. By the middle of the part, several successful combinations follow, with which George takes a visible lead and makes the match more and more complicated for his opponent. Moorer continues to stay close to Foreman despite his trainer's instructions, leading to a straight right to the chin of the champion. Double Em is on the ground and doesn't move until referee Joe Cortez makes it to seven. Moorer tries to stand up, but the count of ten is not enough and it brings the impressive success for George Foreman.

Immediately after the match, the winner shared that he had to regain his forgotten form from the match with Ali, called "Clash in the Jungle", held in the capital of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1973. Years after his fight with Moorer, "Big George" also reveals the exact strategy that the world champion's trainer guessed, but the boxer simply did not execute. Moorer's demeanor after the match was not the most sporting, as he shared that his opponent was just lucky.

Within a year, Michael Moorer rose unexpectedly to the top of the world, becoming the first reverse guard boxer to win the heavyweight title, but then suffered a heavy loss to a veteran who had retired years ago but had resumed in search of similar chance. The clash between George Foreman and Michael Moorer was another great boxing event in 1994.