Twice heavyweight and light heavyweight title-holder Michael Moore will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame this week. He rose to become a 175-pound titleholder in the late 1980s, then skipped the cruiserweight division and made the jump to heavyweight in the 1990s.
Moorer recently told BoxingScene how he went from a small steel mill town outside Pittsburgh as a teenager to Emanuel Steward's Kronk Gym in Detroit, winning his first 26 bouts by knockout and becoming boxing's first southpaw heavyweight champion.
Boxing Scene: You were born in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Monessen, Pennsylvania. Monessen isn't that far from Pittsburgh. Did moving to a small town have any impact on you?
Mueller: Well, I don't really remember because I was a kid who left Brooklyn. But I grew up in Pennsylvania with my grandfather, my grandmother, my mother. … So it was a good transition. It was always a good benefit to have everybody together. My aunts and uncles would always get together and we'd all have meals together, barbecues, that sort of thing was always a plus. We don't do that anymore.
BS: You started out playing soccer, but what made you take up boxing?
Mueller: I was 10 years old. I was helping my grandfather with mowing the lawn, yard work, gardening, etc. He always came home at a certain time, but I was still working out in the yard. When I finished and went to look for him, he wasn't there. So the next weekend, when it was time to mow the lawn, I made sure to do it quickly, but all at once. I finished early, mowed the lawn, said “I'm done,” and went outside to show my grandfather. That was my first day at the gym. I was 10 years old, and I walked into the gym, and there were people sparring, and there was someone hitting the heavy bag. When I first walked into the gym, my grandfather was sitting and watching people. When the person hitting the heavy bag finished, I walked over and started hitting the heavy bag. My grandfather said he heard a “bang.” And the moment he heard that bang, my grandfather made a “bang.” Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock The rest, as they say, is history.
BS: What did your grandfather have to do with boxing?
Mueller: My grandfather told me he was a boxer during World War II, and that's where he did most of his fights, so he continued boxing after he came back from the war. [and eventually became a trainer at the nearby Charleroi Hilltop Athletic Club]There were other guys there too, George Humphreys and Jimmy George, who were his counterparts.
BS: Was it difficult to get noticed or find good sparring opportunities in Monessen?
Mueller: Well, Monessen is a little steel mill town, but it was a very fast-growing community in terms of the steel mill. But when the steel mill went under, people started to leave. And when people started to leave, everything shrank. The population decreased. But when I was growing up, it was a thriving town because the steel mill was still there. The steel mill was always busy.
BS: You are naturally right-handed but have fought as a southpaw. How did that come about?
Mueller: He asked me to show him how you fight, and I took a southpaw stance. It was unheard of to be a southpaw at that time. If you were a southpaw, you were forced to change your stance to be orthodox. He tried to do that, but I couldn't adapt. I was always in a left-handed southpaw stance. I was comfortable in that position. It felt good.
BS: Has that worked to your advantage?
Mueller: That's totally true. Nobody wanted to fight a southpaw back then. Everyone was bracing themselves to be orthodox, and a southpaw always had the advantage. Nobody was going to fight a southpaw, right? That helped me grow. [who I was] From the beginning.
BS: I eventually moved to Detroit and began training at Kronk Gym under the tutelage of Emmanuel Steward. How did you meet Steward?
Mueller: I met Emmanuel through a guy named Alex Shear. Alex Shear was Cronk's coach, the best coach in amateur boxing. He had a bunch of people, and he saw me at the Ohio State Fair and said, “That kid's going to be great.” We talked a lot, and he said, “Just let me do it.” [coach] You. So he told Emmanuel, and Emmanuel came and got me.
BS: So he turned pro at 18 and moved to Detroit just to train with Steward and Schear at Kronk, another bold move at a young age.
Mueller: I was 18, I think I was 19 when I got to Detroit, I was still a young guy, I had to go to Kronk and establish myself, because they let me in there. Raw dogWhen I got in the ring, I was the type of guy that wasn't going to let anybody step on me or trample me. I knew how to fight. And when I got to Kronk, Already knew I needed to show who and what I was, and I did that very well.
BS: His road to the light heavyweight title was short – 12 bouts – and then he made nine defenses before making a big jump to heavyweight in 1991, fighting Danny Stonewalker at 175 pounds and then Terry Davis four months later at 213 pounds. What was the reason behind that decision?
Mueller: The reason I decided to move up in weight is because at 175 pounds, light heavyweight, I was weighing around 206 to 210 pounds, and I plan on cutting down to 173 pounds. [to fight] – I was killing myself. I said, “Emmanuel, I don't want to lose weight anymore. I want to mature as a man and develop my body.” He said, “Okay, let's do it.” And I went up to heavyweight. I did natural training. I said, “If natural training helps me lose weight, it makes sense.” So I went up to heavyweight.
BS: We've seen Oleksandr Usyk's recent success, we know you've fought guys as heavy as 231 pounds, you beat Mike White at 275 pounds on points in 10 rounds, but how do you feel about fighting today's giant heavyweights like Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua?
Mueller: I don't talk about what-ifs. Someone can bring that up and say I can beat anybody. I don't know. So I never talk about that. It's an assumption. A big assumption. I'm a southpaw, so I always knew I had an advantage. I knew that automatically. Because when that punch comes from a different angle than me, with that advantage, I can beat anybody.
BS: Speaking of actual fighters, you fought Evander Holyfield twice now, and you've spoken highly of him. I think you said he was the best guy you ever fought.
Mueller: Evander is the best fighter I've ever fought. Second timeThe first time I fought him, my southpaw stance was different for him. The second time he fought me, he knew how to adapt, he knew what to do. His mental thinking was completely different. For someone who can do that, he is an exceptional boxer. Evander is the only one who can do that. That's why he always fought him the second time and usually won. Yes, he knew how to adapt, he knew how to train, he knew how to do it the right way.
BS: Outside of your fight with Holyfield (1-1) and your stoppage of Bert Cooper in 1992, your biggest fight was probably your loss to George Foreman in 1994. I remember thinking you were dominating him the whole fight, but then that straight right jab in the 10th round seemed to come out of nowhere. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Mueller: Well, you can always say I would do something different, but it doesn't matter. It happened. I was winning the fight, but I got caught and I couldn't get up. That's the beauty of boxing. It's not that I didn't do anything. I was just riding high. I felt good. I was just breezing through. Maybe I could have done something differently, maybe I should have. But that's part of life.
BS: How have you kept busy since retiring in 2008? What are you doing now?
Mueller: I'm from South Florida and I've been a private investigator for 23 or 24 years, I'm a firearms instructor, I do pistols, I do bodyguard work, it's just normal work.
BS: That's more than a normal job! Why did you take that job?
Mueller: Your body is going to age. How did that happen? I always wanted to be a cop. I took the Michigan State Police exam and I passed with a 96. I took the Florida Highway Patrol exam and I got a 98. I got in the high 90s on all my police exams. But there was one problem: I smoke marijuana. To be honest with you, the reason I smoke marijuana is because I can't taste it or smell it. I've been smoking it for 16 years. It's just the way I live. [boost] I have no appetite. I have absolutely no appetite. I can't taste or smell anything.
BS: That's amazing. And does that affect your weight and your health?
Mueller: Ah, yes. I'm 208 pounds, so I have zero appetite, and it deprives my body of food. Sometimes when I smoke marijuana, I'm hungry, sometimes I'm not. But I'm never hungry. [without it]I went three and a half days without eating anything. Yeah, that felt really weird. strange.
BS: Is this symptom due to your time in boxing or an injury?
Mueller: No, they said it was sinusitis. I had a bad sinus infection here in Florida that left me with no sense of smell or taste.
And I've never done marijuana or drugs. I don't drink alcohol. I don't smoke. All I do is smoke if I have to eat. I could probably smoke all day and it wouldn't bother me.
BS: That seems unfair considering you wanted to go into law enforcement, especially with so many of the laws and drug classifications for marijuana changing recently. Do you have any opinions on policy?
Mueller: I heard the president talk about declassifying marijuana, but nobody seems to understand that because marijuana is a drug and it's often used to get high. But marijuana increases your appetite, helps you sleep. There are so many benefits and a lot of people overlook that. They don't want to understand because it's marijuana. They don't want to do marijuana, but they take OxyContin, they take Xanax, they take other drugs that make them feel crazy.
I tried marijuana once, when I was 16. dieI ran home. It felt like I was moving in slow motion. When I got home and got into bed, I prayed, “God, I'm never going to do this again. please “Please wake me up.'' I woke up, and never did that again until many years later.
BS: So what changed? When you lost your sense of taste and smell, did your doctor talk to you about it as an option or did it just happen on your own?
Mueller: I went alone because they said they had synthetic marijuana, but I don't want to put that fake stuff in my body. I'm not that kind of guy.
BS: Have you ever taken up boxing?
Mueller: I've been boxing. I always try to pave the way for kids. When I'm training, I give them boxing tips. I talk to kids at school and stuff like that. I'm the type of person that if I see a kid doing something wrong in the gym, I just walk over and correct him and make him see the other side. That's it. Just the simple little things.
BS: Heading into this weekend, what are you most looking forward to about Hall of Fame Weekend?
Mueller: That's what I'm looking forward to, is having my kids together. I have four kids: Michael, Morgan, Makai and Mackenzie. Mackenzie has a dance competition and can't attend. [at the Hall ceremonies]Her mother has to take her to the dance, but she's also taking her three other children there.
BS: Do you have any special plans?
Mueller: I just want to be with my kids. My kids are everything. As a father, I mean, I thought I was a great father, but I want my kids to grow up and benefit. … I was the type of person to talk to my kids and teach them instead of hitting them, because they're too young to understand that. Yeah. I thank God that I was blessed with good kids.
Jason Langendorff is the former boxing editor of ESPN.com and a contributor to Ringside Seat and Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. X and LinkedInPlease contact us at dorf2112@hotmail.com.
