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Doesn't wanna pay Moorer feuding with grandfather over winnings
Posted: Monday December 20, 1999 05:45 PM
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer credits his grandfather for training him for a successful amateur career but testified Monday that Henry Smith had little impact on his professional fights and is owed no money under a 1988 contract. Moorer took the stand in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to counter claims by the 79-year-old Smith that he is owed a bigger cut of his grandson's winnings. The boxer's first contract with professional outside handlers in 1988 promised Smith 10 percent of the fight purses if he also worked as one of Moorer's trainers. If he did not, he would still receive 5 percent -- a provision Moorer said represented little more than a family commitment. "It didn't bother me because he was my grandfather and he was my amateur trainer," Moorer said, explaining that the provision was a handwritten addendum to a contract he signed with Detroit's Kronk Gym and trainer Emanuel Steward. Smith, who was not in court Monday because of an illness, originally had filed his lawsuit saying he was owed up to $6.9 million under an earlier contract which would have provided him up to 25 percent of all of Moorer's purses. U.S. District Judge William Standish ruled last week that the 1988 deal, which lasted only five years, superseded that earlier agreement. Smith's lawyers have argued that he was wrongly shut out of Moorer's camp, even though the agreement mentioned him as a trainer and would have paid him more if he was allowed to participate. In his testimony Monday, Moorer -- who won the IBF and WBA titles in 1994 by beating Evander Holyfield -- credited Smith for introducing him to boxing at a gym near Pittsburgh, saying he begged his grandfather to take him along while he trained amateur fighters. But when he decided to turn pro in 1988, the decision had been made that his handling would be turned over to the Kronk organization and Steward. During talks with Steward and financial agent John Davimos at Moorer's mother's home, the subject came up over Smith's role, the boxer said. "The only discussion was when my grandfather spoke up and said, `What about me?'" Moorer testified. "Emanuel Steward wrote several paragraphs at the end of the contract." But Moorer said it was understood that Smith would no longer be his trainer when he moved from western Pennsylvania to Detroit. He said Smith attended several of his fights and one training camp, but his role was more of an unofficial family adviser -- shouting out basic boxing commands from his corner, just as his mother did from ringside -- not that of a trainer. "I didn't see much of him (before fights)," Moorer said. "It was more of a vacation for my grandfather when he came to those fights..... He knew he wasn't my trainer, so he would sit there and just observe everything." Moorer said he did give his grandfather money when he asked and bought him a new car in 1994. Last week, Davimos testified that Smith was paid $64,850 plus about $20,000 in airline tickets, fight tickets, hotel rooms and meal money. He said 5 percent of Moorer's earnings during the time he was on the contract would have equaled $65,700. Moorer lost the heavyweight championship when George Foreman knocked him out in 1994. His last fight was a loss to Holyfield in 1997. "My grandfather and I," Moorer said, "we never talked about money issues."
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