Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II was finally announced. Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer II was a professional boxing match contested November 8, 1997 for the WBA and IBF Heavyweight championships. After Riddick Bowe vacated the WBC Heavyweight title in 1992 followed by George Foreman being stripped of both the WBA and IBF Heavyweight titles in 1995, the heavyweight boxing division was in limbo as three different men laid claim to each of the three major heavyweight championships in 1997. Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer held the WBA and IBF Heavyweight titles respectively, while Lennox Lewis held the WBC version
Boxing in the 1950s many television networks began to feature fights live during the weekends, and the "Gillette Friday Night Fights" proved to be one of the most popular boxing television series in American history. The dawn of the jet airplane era in 1958 also helped boxing expand worldwide: with airplanes flying faster and more frequently between cities far away from each other, more and more world title fights began to be fought outside the United States. Vic Toweel became South Africa's first world boxing champion, Jimmy Carruthers did the same for Australia, Pascual Pérez was the first from Argentina, Yoshio Shirai (who was