Editing Michael Moorer (section)

===Unified heavyweight champion===
{{Main article|Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer|Michael Moorer vs. George Foreman}}
On April 22, 1994, Moorer challenged [[Evander Holyfield]] for the lineal, [[International Boxing Federation|IBF]], and [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] title belts. In round 2 Holyfield sent Moorer down on the canvas, but Moorer overcame and went on to win a majority decision. As a result, he became the first-ever [[Southpaw stance|southpaw]] heavyweight champion.

In his first defense of those belts, on November 5, 1994, Moorer faced 45-year-old [[George Foreman]], who lost his last fight for the vacant [[World Boxing Organization|WBO]] heavyweight title to [[Tommy Morrison]]. For nine rounds, Moorer easily outboxed him, hitting and moving away, while Foreman moving forward, seemingly unable to "pull the trigger" on his punches. Moorer was ahead on all three judges' scorecards entering the 10th round, when Foreman hit him with a number of long-range jabs. Then, suddenly, a short right hand caught Moorer square on his chin, gashing open his bottom lip, and he collapsed to the canvas. Moorer was knocked out and lost the world championship. He also lost his undefeated record. Foreman, at age 45, became the oldest fighter ever to win the world heavyweight title.

The following year, Moorer re-grouped by winning against fringe contender Melvin Foster. Meanwhile, Foreman retained the title with a close and controversial decision against [[Germans|German]] fighter [[Axel Schulz]].

Because of the controversial nature of the Foreman-Schulz bout, the IBF ordered Foreman to travel to [[Germany]] for a rematch, but Foreman refused, choosing to leave the IBF belt vacant instead. [[South Africa]]n [[Francois Botha]] travelled to Germany instead and beat Schulz with another close decision to claim the title, but he was stripped of it when he tested positive for illegal substances shortly after.