Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991 TAG: 9104200288
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. LENGTH: Medium
The Punching Preacher carried his 42 years and 257 pounds over 12 rounds against Evander Holyfield, and most of the time he carried them forward.
"Senior citizens everywhere can be proud of themselves," Foreman said.
But in the end, youth was served. Holyfield, 14 years younger and 49 pounds lighter, was simply too fast of hand and nimble of foot for Foreman and retained the heavyweight boxing championship with a unanimous decision.
The 12-round loss could send Foreman back into retirement, just as a 12-round loss to Jimmy Young in 1977 ended his first boxing career, during which he was heavyweight champion in 1973-74.
"It was a good performance," said Foreman's brother, Roy. "I don't know if he'll fight again. We'll wait and see."
Most of an estimated crowd of 15,000 at the Convention Center seemed genuinely pleased that Foreman went the distance.
There had been criticism that Big George had fed his comeback a diet of weak opponents and that he might end up being embarrassed.
Foreman was anything but. He pursued Holyfield and his dream of becoming the oldest man to win a title in any division, occasionally landing a jarring left jab, an uppercut, or a right to the head.
"I'm glad I didn't take it for granted," Holyfield said. "George is a determined fighter. He has the desire to win. George is a lot quicker than people think. He had me confused at times.
"George can hit."
He just didn't hit often enough. Foreman landed 188 punches to 355 by Holyfield.
As soon as the fight ended, Foreman walked to Lou Duva, Holyfield's adviser and corner man, and said: "Thanks for the opportunity. He won."
Foreman stood tall in defeat.
"We kept our dignity and there was no retreat," said Foreman. "We proved that the age - 40, 50 or 60 - is not a death sentence. It will be 50 years before the world sees something like this again."
"He proved to me at 42, you're not too old," Holyfield said.
What the crowd at the Convention Center and viewers on pay-per-view television got was a genuinely interesting fight. There was always the possibility that Big George might land one of the thunderous punches that enabled him to knock out 23 of his 24 comeback opponents and 65 of his 69 career victims.
Holyfield did not run and hide, either. He used intelligent movement, hard jabs and quick combinations to keep the ponderous Foreman off balance throughout.
Judge Jerry Roth favored Holyfield 117-110. Judge Eugene Grant scored it for the champion 116-111 and judge Tom Kaczmarek saw it for Holyfield 115-112.
The AP card favored Holyfield, 118-110.
The victory gave Holyfield consecutive wins over a quarter-ton of opposition. He won the championship last Oct. 25 on a third-round knockout of 246-pound James "Buster" Douglas.
Douglas was roundly criticized for being a flabby, out-of-condition fighter. Foreman, on the other hand, rose to heroic proportions for some people because of his waistline and his fondness for fast food.
Foreman decided early in his comeback that he was more comfortable fighting in the 240-250 range, even the 260s, then try to get his weight down - it was better to be fat than sleek in middle age.
Before the fight, Foreman, talking about the champion's punching power, said, "Holyfield is not the kind of guy who makes your knees shake."
On three or four occasions Friday night, Holyfield made Foreman's knees shake, landing slashing combinations to the head. Foreman almost went down late in the ninth round, when Holyfield slammed home six punches to the head in the last 10 seconds.
When the round ended, he trudged dazed back to his corner.
Holyfield also had Foreman rocky in the seventh round from 10 consecutive punches to the head.
"I hit George with all I had. For five years, when I hit guys with all I had, they went down," said Holyfield, who hadn't needed to go the distance in 13 previous fights dating to 1986. "I rocked him, but I just couldn't get him to go down. Each time I'd hurt him, the bell would ring.
"I put out, and he was able to take it. That proved he wasn't an old man and he had the desire to win."
On the undercard, heavyweight Tommy Morrison, who played a boxer in the movie "Rocky V," remained unbeaten by stopping Yuri Vaulin of the Soviet Union in the fifth round. Morrison ran his record to 27-0 with 23 knockouts.
A 10-round lightweight fight between Jorge Paez of Mexico and Lupe Suarez of Corpus Christi, Texas, ended in a technical draw after four rounds when Suarez couldn't continue because of a bad cut over his right eye. The bout was ruled a technical draw because it hadn't gone halfway.
by CNB