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Moorer returns to ring Thursday
Coming off a surprising unanimous decision loss to relative unknown Eliseo Castillo in July at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla., Moorer (46-4-1) will be facing Vassiliy Jiirov (33-2) in a 12-round bout for the WBA North America and WBC Continental Americas heavyweight championships.
The fight will be televised live at 8 p.m. on Fox Sports Network's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
Moorer has never suffered two straight losses in his pro boxing career, which started in 1988 at the age of 20.
The 37-year-old Moorer went 35-0 before being dropped from the unbeaten ranks with a 10th round knockout loss to George Foreman in 1994 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles on the line.
Moorer rebounded from his initial defeat with a unanimous decision six months later over Melvin Foster at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif.
Moorer's second loss didn't come until 1997 when he was knocked out by Evander Holyfield in the eight round at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in the WBA and IBF title fight.
After taking a three-year break from the ring, Moorer returned with a fourth round TKO over Lorenzo Boyd in the Burlington, Iowa.
Moorer's third loss came in 2002 when he lasted only 30 seconds against David Tua at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City.
Seven months later, Moorer was a winner with a unanimous decision over Otis Tisdale at the Seminole Casino in Florida's Coconut Creek.
Moorer became boxing's first southpaw heavyweight champ when he won a 12 round decision over Holyfield in 1994 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and regained the crown with a decision over Axel Schulz two years later in Germany.
Jirov, meanwhile, comes into the fight with some impressive credentials.
Now making his home in Arizona after being born in the Soviet Union, Jirov was the 1996 Olympic gold medalist for Kazakhstan and won the prestigious Val Barker Cup as the Atlanta Games' outstanding boxer.
Also a southpaw, Jirov ruled the cruiser weight division as world champion from 1999 to 2002.
He was 31-0 before losing for the first time to James Toney in 2003 on a unanimous decision and then moved up to the heavyweight division.
Jirov started out with a pair of TKO wins as a heavyweight before a controversial one point loss to highly-touted Joe Mesi in Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay in March despite scoring three knockdowns of the unbeaten contender.
