Foreman Wins When Qawi Quits in 7th; Nunn KOs Foe in 2nd

Saturday night, George Foreman was supposed to be getting ready for Mike Tyson.

Instead, he looked as if he were preparing for Cicely.

Foreman, the former heavyweight champion who is attempting a comeback at age 40 after a 10-year layoff, did a lot of dancing and holding, a little slapping, and threw a few elbows before finally doing enough damage to stop Dwight Muhammad Qawi at 1:51 of the seventh round of their scheduled 10-round main event at Caesars Palace.

The same Foreman who destroyed Joe Frazier and Ken Norton in the ‘70s struggled to put away Qawi, a 35-year-old blown-up New Jersey light-heavyweight who formerly held the World Boxing Assn. junior-heavyweight and World Boxing Council light-heavyweight titles.

“I decided to forget about those one- and two-round knockouts,” said Foreman who has now stopped all eight of his opponents in the year since his comeback began. “You’ve already seen me do that. People said I have no stamina. I wanted to show I did. I had 10 rounds to take care of business.”

Foreman, 235, was narrowly ahead on all three judges’ cards when Qawi indicated he’d had enough after taking a couple of solid punches in the seventh.

“I did my best,” Qawi said, “but I had nothing left. I really didn’t. I know I didn’t. My heart said to continue, but I got hit flush. I was tired.”

That’s understandable since Qawi, who had never before weighed more than 207 pounds for a fight, came into this one at 222.

Asked his reaction to those in the crowd of 3,657 who thought he should have continued, Qawi (28-6-1) replied, “If there had been a tragedy here tonight, people would have been singing another tune. I’m just glad to be alive.”

So is Foreman (53-2, 50 knockouts) in terms of his dream of regaining the heavyweight title, but he certainly showed he needs a lot more work before he has a reasonable shot at making that dream a reality. Foreman will take his $100,000 purse and go back home to Houston to plan his next step.

There was a real role reversal here Saturday. Foreman was supposed to be the devastating puncher. North Hollywood middleweight Michael Nunn was supposed to be the dancer and boxer.

But Nunn, defending his North American Boxing Federation middleweight title on Saturday’s card, did what the Foreman of old used to do routinely, flattening his opponent with the best punch of the evening.

Nunn knocked out Curtis Parker of Philadelphia at 58 seconds of the second round of their scheduled 12-rounder with a left uppercut.

That set up an Internation Boxing Federation middleweight title fight between Nunn (29-0 with 19 knockouts) and champion Frank Tate for sometime this summer.

Nunn had little trouble with Parker (29-9). Nunn, 159 3/4 felt him out in the first round, then shook Parker, 159, with a solid left in the second before delivering the final blow.

This is the same Curtis Parker who went the distance with Tate before losing a 15-round decision.

“I was not going to let one guy throw a punch that could ruin my career,” said Nunn of Saturday’s fight. “I planned on taking my time, but he got rough. Those Philadelphia fighters make you fight.

“I think tonight I sent a message to all the middleweights in the world.”

Nunn also sent a message to those critics who still insist he is not aggressive enough.

“They said Ray Leonard couldn’t punch, either,” Nunn said, but most of his fights ended with a knockout. I’m not a one-punch fighter, but if you hit any middleweight with the right punch, he will go.”

Two other NABF titles were on the line Saturday in scheduled 12-round bouts, and neither of those changed hands, either.

NABF heavyweight champion Orlin Norris, 210, of San Diego knocked down challenger Renaldo Snipes, 215, of Yonkers, N.Y., in the second round, later closed Snipes’ left eye and went on to defend his title with a unanimous 12-round decision. That improved Norris to 16-1, while Snipes dropped to 28-7-1.

NABF cruiserweight titleholder Bert Cooper, 191 3/4, of Philadelphia retained his title with a fourth-round TKO win over Tony Fulilangi, 192 3/4, of Phoenix. It was Cooper’s 19th win and 16th knockout in 21 fights. Fulilangi is 39-2-2.