[1] Michael Moorer, in his second reign as IBF heavyweight champion, was coming off a TKO victory over Francois Botha on the undercard of first Mike Tyson–Evander Holyfield fight on November 9, 1996.

[2] Following his victory, Moorer was given the opportunity to headline his own pay-per-view by taking on the undefeated but little-known Vaughn Bean.

Bean came in to the fight with a 27–0 record and was ranked by IBF as the number-five heavyweight contender, but had faced marginal competition up to that point and he was installed as sizeable 5–1 underdog.

Moorer had a lot riding on the fight as a victory over Bean all but insured him a chance to face the winner of the Holyfield–Tyson rematch originally scheduled to take place a month later in May, but later pushed back to June.

"[4] The fight, which took place on March 29, 1997, was originally scheduled to take place two week before that date on March 15, but problems within Moorer's camp, namely with his manager John Davimos, whom Moorer was looking to replace, and trainer Teddy Atlas, who vowed to leave Moorer should he part ways with Davimos, caused the fight to be pushed back.