Moorer to Take on Unknown Bean

For Michael Moorer, it remains a moment frozen in time, a right hand that was as beautiful in its simplicity as it was devastating to its recipient.

Unfortunately for Moorer, he was on the other end of the punch that made George Foreman the oldest heavyweight champion ever. And it may be some time before the punch ceases to define his boxing career.

“All they remember is the knockout,” Moorer said. “They don’t remember the nine or 10 rounds I was whipping his butt.”

Moorer has recovered enough from the Nov. 5, 1994, loss to come back and win the International Boxing Federation version of the heavyweight crown.

Some, though, think he might never again be the fighter he once was, even as he prepares to defend the title tonight against little-known Vaughn Bean at the Las Vegas Hilton.

“He [Moorer] doesn’t like to be pushed, doesn’t like pressure on him,” Bean’s promoter, Butch Lewis, said. “Moorer tends to fight to the level of his competition.”

If so, tonight’s fight might be closer than the prediction by the oddsmakers, who made Bean a 5-1 underdog. For the second defense of the title he regained by beating Axel Schulz last June, Moorer gets a fighter who has defeated only four boxers with winning records in amassing a 27-0 record. Moorer and Bean each weighed in Friday night at 212 pounds.

The main event, to be shown on pay-per-view, tops a 12-bout card that features two other title fights and a comeback bout by former champion Julio Cesar Chavez, against Tony Martin.

*

Friday night’s fight between Thomas Hearns and Leonardo Diaz at the Win-River Casino in Redding was canceled by the California State Athletic Commission.

The card, which was promoted by Global Sports Network and scheduled for closed circuit and pay-per-view broadcast, was unable to fulfill conditions regarding participants.