Moorer Enters Big Time Surrounded by Questions : Pro boxing: Will toughest training camp help challenger overcome pressure and troubling lulls against battle-tested Holyfield?

He’s relatively unknown, undersized, untested, understated, possibly under-appreciated and definitely under more scrutiny than he has ever previously endured.

He got the fight only through the intervention of the World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation, and achieved a No. 1 ranking in two world bodies without having fought any other top contender.

Is Michael Moorer ready to meet the moment tonight in the Caesars Palace outdoor pavilion (televised on pay-per-view) against time-tested, battle-scarred champion Evander Holyfield, as Moorer seeks to become the first left-handed heavyweight champion in history?

No one, including Moorer, really seems to know.

Nobody doubts that Moorer (34-0, 30 knockouts) is far more talented and far more dangerous than the legion of wobbly journeymen given unlikely title shots in the recent past.

“When Michael hits you, it’s like a mountain dropping on your head,” said Everett (Bigfoot) Martin, who lost to Moorer in 1992 and was a sparring partner the last few months. “Real power.”

As a left-hander, Moorer presents problems for Holyfield, who has fought only one other southpaw--he knocked out Jesse Shelby in the third-round eight years ago--in his 31-fight career (30-1-0, 22 KOs). In fact, Moorer is only the third left-hander to challenge for the title.

Several trainers have pointed out that Holyfield, who matches Moorer at 6 feet 2 and 214 pounds, has a tendency during exchanges to drift to his left, leaving his right side open for Moorer’s swift left hook and uppercut.

“People talk about the power,” Moorer said. “The power is there. But you don’t go into the fight thinking about the power. You have to go into the ring mentally and physically fit, and when the opportunity comes, the power will be displayed.”

But Moorer, 26, has never fought a fight of anywhere near this significance. He was knocked down not only by Martin but also by Burt Cooper. This will be Holyfield’s seventh heavyweight title fight.

“I guess we can safely say that Evander Holyfield is cooler under fire than Michael Moorer,” said Holyfield’s new trainer, Don Turner. “He hasn’t been down as much as Michael Moorer. He’s fought a better caliber of opponents than Michael Moorer.”

Will Moorer, who has appeared tentative several times during the early stages of fights and has been in deep trouble because of it, have the emotional wherewithal to stand up against a champion who has proven his mettle in big fights?

“Pressure can get to anybody,” said Moorer’s manager, John Davimos. “I don’t think you can ever know 100% until that time comes.”

Teddy Atlas, Moorer’s trainer, said he recognizes and has dealt with the possibility that Moorer begins to feel overburdened by his chance at history. Moorer, never known for his dedication, went through the hardest and longest training camp in his career for this fight. He sparred 130 rounds in seven weeks.

“What I’ve done is try to make him face things, to have the discipline and have as much confidence as he needs to deal with the moment,” Atlas said. “When the moment is far away, you can avoid it. When the moment comes, you start to search, ‘Why didn’t I do this? Why didn’t I do that?’

“That’s all been done now. He’s very confident. He’s nervous, but he feels very sure about himself now.”

For the Moorer camp, the circumstances of this fight give them as much hope as the relative talents of the fighters.

First, they point out that Holyfield’s style of inside brawling perfectly suits Moorer, who is more comfortable when his opponent takes the fight to him and has looked bad when he has had to chase people--including his most recent fight, a 10-round decision over Mike Evans last December.

Second, Holyfield, whose take of as much as $15 million tonight will make him the first fighter in history to top $100 million in purse earnings, is coming off the fight of his life, in which he took the WBA and IBF titles from Riddick Bowe. Moorer is scheduled to earn about $5 million tonight.

Holyfield originally wanted to skip this mandatory fight against Moorer and move on to a unification fight against World Boxing Council champion Lennox Lewis. But the IBF and WBA would not allow Moorer to be bypassed. So, for Holyfield, Moorer is something of a nuisance, something to get past en route to bigger, better things.

“I don’t look past Michael Moorer,” Holyfield said. “I look through him. One step at a time.”

But if the Moorer camp believes Holyfield will be lured into an awkward slugfest, Holyfield said that, with the help of trainer Turner, he will prove them incorrect.

“I’m more of a thinker now,” said Holyfield, who blames his defeat in the first Bowe fight on his stubborn desire to prove he could mix it up with the far heavier Bowe. “Don says I fight too hard, I make fights tougher than I need to--that I fight just because I like fighting.

“If he stands there right in front of me, yeah, I’ll go toe to toe with him. For a while. And if he’s getting the best of it, I’ll be smart enough to move outside, where I know I’m better than he is.”

IBF junior-lightweight champion John John Molina defends his title against Gregorio Vargas on the undercard.

* FAN MAN LANDS IN JAIL

The man who flew his paraglider into the ring during the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe bout begins an eight-day jail term. C12