PECHANGA INDIAN RESERVATION -- Michael Moorer's long and eventful career has reached another crossroads. The boxer who once beat Evander Holyfield for a world championship has been up, down and even out of the fight game, but now that he's back, he dreams of winning a fourth heavyweight title. To make that happen, the Detroit native has to get past Vassiliy Jirov, whom he faces in a 12-round heavyweight bout at Pechanga Resort & Casino that will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net's Best Damn Sports Show Period.

"There were times when I was lackluster, but it's a whole different story now," Moorer said. "(I have) the hunger to fight again … to be out there amongst the best heavyweights and to become heavyweight champion of the world again."

By the end of Moorer's first year as a professional, he had won the WBO light heavyweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of Ramzi Hassan in December, 1988.

After successfully defending that title 10 times, Moorer (46-4-1, 36 KOs) moved up to the heavyweight division in 1990 and had similar success. In 1992, he captured the vacant WBO heavyweight title with a fifth-round stoppage of Bert Cooper, and two years later, he added the WBA and IBF titles with a majority decision over Holyfield.

One lackluster moment cost the southpaw his belts, though, when George Foreman, who at 45 was 18 years older than Moorer, knocked him out in the 10th round of his first title defense.

"I think if people would see the fight, they would see that I was beating George for 10 rounds, and he caught me with a punch," Moorer said. "That's a part of boxing that happens, and you have to be able to deal with it and move on."

Moorer did so in beating Axel Schultz in June, 1996, to reclaim the IBF title, which he defended three times before losing a rematch with Holyfield in a eighth-round TKO in November 1997.

That loss sent Moorer into retirement.

"I stepped away from the game of boxing because I was bored," Moorer said. "I've been doing it since I was 10 years old. I never had a break from it, and I just got bored with it."

Moorer says that, since his return to the ring in 2000, he has been refocused on boxing, but he has gone just 7-2-1 in that span. In his last fight, the 37-year-old lost to Eliseo Castillo in July, but he sees the Jirov bout as his opportunity to get back on the heavyweight map.

"If I didn't think I had a chance (at another title), I wouldn't do it," Moorer said. "Once I win this fight, it's going to put me back in the heavyweight picture.

"A lot of people think I'm washed up because I'm 37. If you have it mentally and physically, it doesn't matter."

Jirov (33-2, 29 KOs), who is seven years younger than Moorer, is in a similar position. The former IBF cruiserweight title holder from Kazakhstan also wants a shot at a heavyweight title, but has lost two of his last four fights.

"This fight will give me the opportunity to get close to the top," Jirov said. "It's the next step."

He is not daunted by the fact that Moorer weighed in at 247 to his own 218.

"We have a saying in Russia," Jirov said. "The bigger the body, the harder they fall."

Ed Wehde can be reached at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2633 or ewehde@californian.com