Southpaw Sensation: Michael Moorer The First Heavyweight Left-Handed Champion

On April twenty seconds, nineteen ninety four, Michael Mauer defeats a Vander Holyfield to become the very first southpaul to ever win the heavyweight championship that dates back to eighteen eighty five. Here's the story behind how Michael Mauer made history today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Now. You've probably heard the term southball before, whether in boxing or in baseball or any other sport where a player is left handed. The term actually comes from baseball back in the late nineteenth century, where the diamonds were regularly set up so that right handed pictures would fit east, avoiding the sun, but a left handed picture would faced west and their throwing hand would then face south, giving them the name south paul. And the reason why it's used in boxing is for the same left handed abilities as in baseball and boxing. Being a south paul means you have your right hand leading in your left hand behind, giving the more powerful punch from your left hand, which is usually your more dominant hand. And it's a little bit more challenging as it's something they're not as used to facing as they are. Only roughly ten percent of boxers that are actually south paws. Michael Mauer growing up, he was an active kid and his mom got him involved in any sport she could, and at the age of ten, Mauer's grandfather, who was a former New York Gold Glove champion, took Mauer under his wing to teach him boxing, and he taught him the south paw strategy despite not being left handed, making a challenge for other fighters and giving him a stronger cross punch than many other competitors. And Michael quickly took to the training his grandfather was giving him and in nineteen eighty six became the national champion in the light middleweight class. And while he was still an amateur, he would train at Stuart Krunk's gym and he would continuously beat professionals while he was still an amateur, and he was able to get a bronze medal at the Goodwill Games and finish his amateur career with a forty eight and sixteen record, and when he turned eighteen, he was finally able to turn pro and he made his debut as a light heavyweight on March fourth, nineteen eighty eight when he knocked out Adrian Riggs in the very first round, and he wasn't done on his terror to start his career because before the end of his first year as a national boxer, he won eleven bouts, all by knockout, and the next year he would go on to fight for his first world title. In nineteen eighty nine, the WBO created their very first light heavyweight title and he went into a five round bout with Ramirez Hassan where he won his very first title, and he was able to retain this six more times, including beating former WBA champion Leslie Stewart, and into nineteen ninety He would retain that title three more times before the end of the year. But Michael struggled with his weight and struggled to make weight many times in his career, so he eventually made his way up to the heavyweight division, and in nineteen ninety one, he officially moved to the heavyweight division, facing much stronger and bigger competitors, and in doing so, he actually vacated his WBO light heavyweight championship as he was thought to be lesser than the WBA championships, and he made his way to fight Brett Cooper in his first fight for the heavyweight championship as the WBO heavyweight belt had been vacated, but in the fifth round, both fighters went down and got hurt in the bout and neither were awarded the belt, and he would continue to fight all the way up till April's twenty second nineteen ninety four, when he got his first chance at the WBA and the IBF heavyweight titles, facing a Vander Holyfield. At the time he came into the fight, he was thirty five and oh and evener of Holyfield came into the fight thirty and one and this was his first title defense as he had just won the title back in November of nineteen ninety three from Reddick Bow But the fight didn't go as expected. Coming in was the favorite and came in blasting maur and even sent him to the canvas two times during the match, but despite going down twice, Mauer took over the fight and his shocking upset decision was given the victory, and he had hurt holy Field so bad that he had to be hospitalized after the fight due to dehydration a rotator cuff injury. His kidneys were bruised, and there was a large amount of liquid in his lungs. Due to all the injuries, Holyfield actually announced his retirement after the fight, although he would return to boxing later. It just goes to show you how much Michael Mauer dominated if Anner Holyfield to become the first ever Southball to win the heavyweight title. The heavyweight title has been around since the eighteen eighties and it has never been won by a south But this victory sadly did not last very long, as Mauer took his next fight versus a legend, George Foreman, who at the time was forty five and had just come back out of retirement. And despite him continuously barging George Foreman with blow after blow after blow and round after round, Foreman came out in the tenth round and laid multiple Haymakers on maur with one getting him square on the chin, gashing his bottom lip open and having him collapse onto the canvas, knocking him out and losing his first defense of his world title and making George Foreman the oldest fighter to ever win a heavyweight title. But Mauer wasn't done. He continued to get back on track and by June and by June nineteen ninety six, he was able to win back the IBF heavyweight title and held that title until nineteen ninety seven, when he lost to Evander Holyfield, who he had beaten originally for the title. He continued to fight after this, never getting a chance at the heavyweight title again, but he did actually move up in weight class again as he did struggle with his weight, but he continued to have success and his final fight was on February eighth, two thousand and eight, where where he knocked out Shelby Gross, giving him a final boxing record of fifty two four and one. Michael Mauer will go down in history as being the first Southbaull to ever win the heavyweight title, and he actually became a heavyweight champion three times, which is a rare feat in the boxing world. His historic achievement as the first southball heavyweight champion is a testament to the power and perseverance of breaking down boundaries. Throughout his career, he faced out diversity head on, defying expectations and proving that greatness has no bounds. Just because something has never been done doesn't mean it can't be done now and If you thought this episode was great, please like and subscribe wherever you're listening so you don't miss another great episode of daily sports history.