There’s No Moorer Doubt : There Was Too Much Left to Do

If you can’t remember the name of the new heavyweight champion of the world, don’t worry. Try “Lefty.”

The outcome of this fight for the title Friday night was decided at birth. When Michael Moorer grabbed the rattle in his left fist, he had as much of an edge he would need to separate Evander Holyfield from his heavyweight championship at Caesar’s Palace.

You know, you never mention “rope” in the house of the hanged, and it might not be a good idea to mention the word “left” in the domicile of the Holyfields of Atlanta.

You know, too, old-time fight managers knew better than to let their charges fight left-handers.

Poor Holyfield didn’t know what he had done to himself. He might as well have been trying to fight an octopus. He had no clue.

Left-handed batters fear left-handers. Heavyweight champions should, too.

We all know how Holyfield makes his fight--like an oncoming train. He’s on rails.

He kept sliding off the tracks Friday. It wasn’t that Michael Moorer wasn’t there. It was simply that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

One result was, we saw Holyfield doing something he never does--run. Even then, he didn’t know which way to go. He looked like a guy standing in the rain wondering where everybody went. You had the feeling he wanted to stop and scream at Moorer, “Why don’t you stand up and fight like a man! Right-handed!”

Evander also did something he rarely does--bleed. His left eye looked like the Red Sea by the late rounds.

It isn’t as if we have a new Muhammad Ali or Joe Louis for champion. Moorer is not your basic Manassa Mauler or Aberdeen Assassin. Right-handed, he’s probably merely another main-eventer at the Olympic.

He won the fight by a total of five points out of 685 cast. It wasn’t his punches Holyfield couldn’t stand, it was his silhouette. Evander looked as if he wanted to turn him around all night so he could get comfortable. He looked like a guy bumping into a clothesline.

Holyfield went to the hospital with what appears to be a rotator cuff injury after the fight. That came from throwing punches all night where they ain’t--or at least where Moorer wasn’t.

Half the world is probably left-handed. But most have been at pains to conceal it. Particularly in the prize ring.

Moorer is a fine specimen. He’s 6 feet 2 and most of it is in prime condition. There is only about two inches directly under his lip that is not in the greatest of condition. In fact, you can see through it.

Holyfield found this spot in the second round. Moorer went down. The crowd thought it was the beginning of the end. But it was almost the last time Holyfield figured a way to hit this turned-around fighter.

Holyfield makes his fight a little bit like a mole anyway. He sort of smothers you. Nothing worked for him against Lefty. In a sense, he went out with his bat on his shoulder.

Moorer’s insolubility seemed to work best in the early rounds. By round 10, it was clear that Holyfield had to take control of the fight or become merely another ex-champ. He stepped up the pace as best he could fighting this left winger.

He was a picture of frustration. He still might have pulled it out if he had a smashing last round.

He didn’t. He was like a guy handcuffed by then. It was almost as if he had his back to Moorer. Michael cuffed him around the ring. Every judge gave Moorer the last round--and the championship.

“I beat the man!” gloated Moorer after the match.

So, he did. But he better be glad Mama or the teachers never said, “What are you picking up that fork with your off hand for, son? Eat right!”

He’s a champion today for the same reason Babe Ruth was. He could hit right-handers. Or, maybe for the same reason Koufax was--left-handers couldn’t hit him.

Evander Holyfield spent the night like a guy in a haunted house. Old-timers could have predicted it. Never fight a southpaw. Only fight a north paw.

“I guess I interrupted his plans,” the southpaw chortled Friday night. “He was going to fight Lennox Lewis, wasn’t he?”

In boxing, the left wing is the lunatic fringe. Moorer is the first lefty to win the title in the history of the fight game. Having the title is the only way for a southpaw to get a fight. Lewis had better not fight anybody for his share of the title until he sees him write.