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| Date | March 29, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Las Vegas Hilton, Winchester, Nevada, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | IBF Heavyweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moorer wins via majority decision (116–113, 115–113, 114–114) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michael Moorer vs. Vaughn Bean , billed as The March of Ides, was a professional boxing match contested on March 29, 1997, for the IBF heavyweight title. [1]
Michael Moorer, in his second reign as IBF heavyweight champion, was coming off a TKO victory over Francois Botha on the undercard of first Mike Tyson–Evander Holyfield fight on November 9, 1996. [2] Following his victory, Moorer was given the opportunity to headline his own pay-per-view by taking on the undefeated but little-known Vaughn Bean. Bean came in to the fight with a 27–0 record and was ranked by IBF as the number-five heavyweight contender, but had faced marginal competition up to that point and he was installed as sizeable 5–1 underdog. [3] Just before the fight, Moorer took ill with the common cold forcing him to no-show a pre-fight press conference the week of the fight, though his manager John Davimos dismissed the illness and insisted Moorer would be "100 percent" come fight time. Moorer had a lot riding on the fight as a victory over Bean all but insured him a chance to face the winner of the Holyfield–Tyson rematch originally scheduled to take place a month later in April, but later pushed back to June. Moorer, however, remained focused on his fight with Bean and refused to entertain the thought of a fight with Tyson, who was a slight favorite over Holyfield, stating "We can't talk about Tyson because if I don't beat Bean, then there's no fight." [4]
The fight, which took place on March 29, 1997, was originally scheduled to take place two week before that date on March 15, but problems within Moorer's camp, namely with his manager John Davimos, whom Moorer was looking to replace, and trainer Teddy Atlas, who vowed to leave Moorer should he part ways with Davimos, caused the fight to be pushed back. [5] Moorer ultimately retained both Davimos and Atlas' services.
Despite a lackluster effort, Moorer would nevertheless earn a close majority decision victory. Moorer fought an extremely cautious, defense-orientated style and despite pleas from Atlas for Moorer to press the action and fight more aggressively. Moorer ultimate did just enough as two judges scored the fight 116–113 (seven rounds to four, one round even) and 115–113 (seven rounds to five) while the third judge scored the fight even at 114–114, having had Moorer down four rounds going into the ninth before giving Moorer the final four rounds. [6]
After the bout Moorer would part ways with Atlas replacing him with Freddie Roach.
Confirmed bouts: [7]
| Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavyweight | 200+ lbs. | Michael Moorer (c) | def | Vaughn Bean | MD | 12/12 | Note 1 |
| Super Welterweight | 154 lbs. | Laurent Boudouani (c) | def | Carl Daniels | UD | 12/12 | Note 2 |
| Strawweight | 105 lbs. | Ricardo López (c) | def. | Mongkol Charoen | UD | 12/12 | Note 3 |
| Super Welterweight | 154 lbs. | Julio César Chávez | def. | Tony Martin | UD | 10/10 | |
| Mini Flyweight | 105 lbs. | Alex Sánchez (c) | def. | Víctor Burgos | UD | 12/12 | Note 4 |
| Middleweight | 160 lbs. | Julio César Green | def. | Bernice Barber | KO | 4/8 | |
| Lightweight | 135 lbs. | Laura Serrano | def. | Cheryl Nance | TKO | 3/4 | |
| Heavyweight | 200+ lbs. | Nate Jones | def. | Ricardo Phillips | UD | 4/4 |
^Note 1 For IBF heavyweight title
^Note 2 For WBA super welterweight title
^Note 3 For WBC strawweight title
^Note 4 For WBO mini flyweight title
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United States | Showtime |
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