Michael Moorer, a former two-time heavyweight titleholder and light heavyweight titlist, will this week be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His rapid rise to 175-pound titleholder in the late 1980s was followed by a full leap over the cruiserweight division and into the heavyweight waters in the 1990s.

Moorer recently spoke to BoxingScene about making his way as a teenager from a small steel mill town outside Pittsburgh to Emanuel Steward’s Kronk Gym in Detroit, launching a career in which he won his first 26 fights by knockout and went on to become boxing’s first southpaw heavyweight champion.

BoxingScene: You were born in Brooklyn, New York, but raised in Monessen, Pennsylvania. Monessen isn’t too far from Pittsburgh, but did moving to a smaller town have any effect on you?

Moorer: Well, as a young kid leaving Brooklyn, I don't remember it all that well. But I grew up in Pennsylvania with my grandfather, grandmother, my mom. … So it was a good transition. That was always a good benefit, just to have everybody together. That was always a plus – aunts and uncles, always get-togethers, people eating, cookouts, stuff like that. They don't do things like that no more.

BS: You started out playing football. How did you pick up boxing?

Moorer: I was 10 years old. I used to help my grandfather cut the grass and do yard work, gardening and stuff like that. So he would always leave at a certain time, when I was still working out in the yard. When I got done and went looking for my grandfather, he was always gone. So the next weekend, when it was time to cut the grass, I made sure I did it quick and fast, but I made sure I did everything. I finished early, cut that grass, said, “I’m done.” And I went out and I showed him. That's the first day I went to the gym. I was 10 years old, I walked in the gym, there was somebody sparring and someone hitting the heavy bag. When we first walked in, my grandfather sat down to watch people. Once the guy hitting the heavy bag finished, I just walked over and started hitting it. My grandfather said he heard “thumps.” And once he heard those thumps, thumps – as they say, the rest is history.

BS: And what were your grandfather’s ties to boxing?

Moorer: My grandfather's story was that back in World War II, he was a boxer. That's where he did most of his fighting. So when he came home from the war, he kept boxing [and eventually became a trainer at the nearby Charleroi Hilltop Athletic Club]. There was other people there: George Humphries and Jimmy George. They were his counterparts.

BS: Was it difficult to get noticed or find good sparring in Monessen?

Moorer: Well, Monessen is a small steel mill town, but it was a community that was very rapid and growing as far as the mill was concerned. Once the mill fell apart, though, people started to move away. And once they started to move away, you know, everything just shrunk. The population shrunk. But it was a booming city back when I was growing up, because it still had the mill. The mill was always packed.

BS: You're a natural righthander, but you fought southpaw. How did that come about?

Moorer: My grandfather, he had asked me, “Let’s see how you fight,” and I stood in a southpaw stance. At that time, being southpaw was unheard of. If you were a southpaw, they would switch you around to make you orthodox. My grandfather tried, but I could never adapt to it. I always stayed with the left-hand southpaw stance – I just felt comfortable standing that way. I just felt good. Felt great.

BS: Did that turn out to be an advantage for you?

Moorer: Absolutely. Because back in those days, no one wanted to fight a southpaw. They all switched everybody around to make them orthodox, and if you were a southpaw, you always had the upper hand. People never fought a southpaw, right? And so it was something that helped make me [who I was] from the very beginning.

BS: You eventually moved to Detroit, started training at Kronk Gym under Emanuel Steward. How were you originally introduced to Steward?

Moorer: How I met Emanuel was through a guy by the name of Alex Shear. Alex Shear was a Kronk coach – he was the best amateur boxing coach there was. He had a lot of people, so he saw me at the Ohio State Fair, and he was like, “Oh, that kid's gonna be great.” We talked – blah, blah, blah – and then he was like, let me [coach] you. So he told Emanuel, and then Emanuel came and got me.

BS: So you’re 18 years old, you turn pro and you move to Detroit solely to work out of the Kronk with Steward and Shear. That’s another bold move at a young age.

Moorer: I was 18 … I think I got to Detroit at 19, I was a young man. I had to go to Kronk and establish myself, because they put me in there with raw dogs. And when I got in the ring, I was that type of guy that I’m not gonna let nobody walk all over me or step on me. I knew how to fight. And I knew once I got to Kronk, I knew I had to show who I was and what I am. And I did a very good job of that.

BS: It was a short trip to a light heavyweight title – 12 fights – and then you made nine defenses before making a huge leap to heavyweight in 1991. You fought at 175 pounds against Danny Stonewalker and then 213 against Terry Davis four months later. What was behind that decision?

Moorer: I made that decision to jump up in weight because, as a light heavyweight, which is 175 pounds, I'm walking around at 206, 210 pounds. And then I'm getting down to 173 [to fight] – I was killing myself. I said, “Emanuel, I don't want to lose no more weight. I want my body to mature into being a man and let my body grow.” He said, “OK, man, let’s go for it.” And I went up to heavyweight. I worked natural. I said, “If I work natural and the weight comes off, that's the way that should be.” So I ended up being a heavyweight.

BS: We've seen what Oleksandr Usyk has done lately, and I know you fought as heavy as 231 pounds – you even outpointed a 275-pound Mike White over 10 rounds. But how do you feel you would fare against today’s huge heavyweights – Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua?

Moorer: I don't speak on hypotheticals. Anyone can say they can beat somebody when they bring that up. You never know. So I never talk about it. That's a hypothetical – big time. I knew I always had the advantage, being a southpaw. I knew that automatically. Because when that punch is coming at you from a different angle, having that advantage, you can beat anybody.

BS: Speaking of opponents you did fight – twice, in this case – you’ve been very complimentary of Evander Holyfield. Haven’t you said he’s the best you ever fought?

Moorer: Evander, he's the best that I ever fought for the second time. When I fought him the first time, my southpaw stance was different for him. When he fought me the second time, he knew how to adapt. He knew what to do. His mental thinking was totally different. For someone to be able to do that, he’s an exceptional boxer. Evander is the only person that can do something like that. That's why he always fought the guy the second time – and he normally won. Yeah, he knew how to adapt, he knew how to train, he knew how to do it the right way.

BS: Aside from those fights with Holyfield – a win and a loss – and your stoppage of Bert Cooper in 1992, your biggest fight was probably the loss to George Foreman, in 1994. I remember watching and thinking, for nearly the whole fight, you had him. But then that jab-straight right in the 10th seemed to come from out of nowhere. Looking back, is there anything you might have done differently?

Moorer: Well, you can always say you’d do something different, but that's irrelevant. It's something that happened. I was winning the fight – I just got caught and I couldn't get up. That's the point of boxing. It wasn't nothing that I did. It was just, I felt I was in a groove. I felt good. I was just, you know, cruising. Maybe I could have, should have, done something different. But that's part of life.

BS: How have you kept busy since retiring in 2008? What are you up to today?

Moorer: I’m South Florida, and I've been a private investigator for probably 23, 24 years. I'm a firearms instructor – pistols. I do bodyguard work. Just regular s***.

BS: That's more than just regular! How did you get into that line of work?

Moorer: Body’s getting old. How did I get into it? I've always wanted to be a cop. I've taken the Michigan State Police test, passed that with a 96. Took the Florida Highway Patrol test, scored a 98. I got all high 90s on all the police tests I did. But I had one problem: I smoke marijuana. And I’m honest about that. And the reason I smoke marijuana is because I can't taste, nor can I smell. That's been 16 years I've been smoking, because that's how I [boost] my appetite. I have zero appetite – I can't taste nothing or smell anything.

BS: Wow. So that affects your weight and potentially your health, I assume?

Moorer: Oh yeah. I’m 208 pounds. So it takes away food from my body because I have zero appetite. Sometimes weed makes you hungry and sometimes it doesn't. But I don't get hungry at all [without it]. I’ll go three and a half days without eating. Yeah, it's weird as hell. Weird.

BS: Is the condition related to your boxing days, an injury or something?

Moorer: No, they said it’s from sinuses. I used to get sinus infections down here in Florida really, really, really bad, and it took my sense of smell, took my sense of taste away.

And I’d never done weed, never done drugs. I don't drink. I don't smoke. You know, all I do is – if I gotta eat, I have to smoke. I could probably smoke all day and it won't even bother me.

BS: That’s a raw deal considering you’ve wanted to go into law enforcement. – especially with a lot of the laws and marijuana’s drug classification changing lately. Do you have opinions on policy?

Moorer: I heard about the president talking about declassifying marijuana. But marijuana is is medication – something no one seems to understand because it’s been used more for getting high. But it helps people eat, it helps people sleep. It has so many benefits, and so many people overlook that. They don't want to understand it because it's marijuana. They don't want to do marijuana, but they’ll do an Oxycontin, you'll do a Xanax, you'll do all those other pills that make you feel funny.

See, when I was 16, I tried weed one time – and I thought I was going to die. I ran home, and it felt like I was moving in slow motion. When I got home and got in my bed, I prayed. I said, “God, I will never do this again. Please let me wake up.” I woke up and I never did it again – until years later.

BS: So what changed? Did a doctor talk about it as an option when you lost your taste and smell, or was it something you came to on your own?

Moorer: I went to it on my own because they said they have synthetic marijuana, but I'm not playing that fake s*** in my body. I’m not that type of dude.

BS: Have you kept a foot in boxing?

Moorer: I stayed in boxing. I’ve kept an avenue open for kids at all times. If I was training, I’ll give them some pointers on boxing. I’ll talk to the kids in school, stuff like that. I'm the type of guy that, if I see a kid in the gym and sees they’re doing something wrong, I'll just walk over and try to correct and just make them see different aspects. That's all. Just simple little things.

BS: Looking ahead to this weekend, is there anything about Hall of Fame weekend you're most looking forward to?

Moorer: Having my kids together – that's what I look forward to. I have four children: Michael, Morgan, Makai, Makenzie. Makenzie has a dance competition, so she's not going to be there [at the Hall ceremonies]. Her mother has to take her to dance. But I’ll have my other three kids there.

BS: Anything special planned?

Moorer: I just want to be with my kids. It's all about the kids. Now, being a father – I mean, I thought I was a great father – I just want them to grow up and reap the benefits. … I was the type of person that would talk to them, to teach them instead of spanking them, because they’re too young to understand that. Yeah. I'm thanking God I’ve got some good kids.

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, has contributed to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. You can follow him on X and LinkedIn, and contact him at dorf2112@hotmail.com.