BOXING : Foreman Probably Next Up for Douglas

Get in line, Iron Mike.

That is the message Buster Douglas is sending out from his training camp in Columbus, Ohio, where he is preparing for his Oct. 25 heavyweight title defense against Evander Holyfield. If he wins, it has been expected -- under the terms of the out-of-court settlement reached by Douglas and promoter Don King -- that Douglas’s next defense would be a rematch against Mike Tyson.

Not so fast, says Buster. Wednesday, Douglas repeated a line he had been using before the settlement, basically as a way to stick it to Tyson and King: Bring on the Rev. George. Only this time, he seems to really mean it. And, he’s got Butch Lewis working with him to help make it happen.

“I got to get Foreman before it’s too late,” Douglas said. “I can’t leave him out there too much longer.”

Douglas’s fear is not that the 42-year-old Foreman will get knocked off by someone else first. No, Douglas’s concern is that the old man is improving as a fighter, and could become more formidable with another half-dozen or so fights under his belt.

“In the beginning, he was just, like, robotic,” Douglas said. “Now, George is looking good, putting punches together, throwing combinations. He’s not the brute no more. He’s a much looser character. I got to get him before he totally realizes he’s coming around. I got to nip this thing in the bud.”

Where does Lewis fit in? The former poker hustler who parlayed his one ace, Michael Spinks, into a record $13.5-million payday for a 91-second fight against Tyson in 1988, just got his second world champion when Maurice Blocker beat Marlon Starling for the welterweight crown two weeks ago.

But Lewis’ real project has been selling Douglas on how much a Lewis-guided career can be worth. Lewis claims not to want to interfere with Douglas’s manager, John Johnson, but to augment the team as Douglas’s promoter.

“There are so many bungles that have been made with this kid,” Lewis said. “If I was doing his business, I could have saved him a lot of money (in settlement costs), and I can get this fight made.”

That’s because Lewis has been working on Foreman, too. He has used both Douglas and Foreman as color commentators on the monthly Black Entertainment Network boxing shows he promotes. He has had Douglas to his home and speaks regularly to Foreman. Lewis and Douglas will meet again next week. Slowly but surely, he has convinced both men -- with estimates of $35 million for Douglas and $15 million for Foreman -- that the fight must happen, and soon. He has done such a good sales job that Douglas, who after winning the title in February said he would fight just twice more and retire, now says he will sandwich a Foreman fight in between Holyfield and Tyson.

“After I beat Holyfield, I got a year before I have to make another mandatory (against Tyson),” Douglas said. “I got plenty of time to accommodate George. Butch has expressed an extreme interest in promoting the fight, and he doesn’t seem to have too many skeletons in the closet, so why not do it? Tyson will still get his chance.”

Sooner or later. Probably later.

Having given up his World Boxing Council super-middleweight belt, Sugar Ray Leonard is eyeing WBC junior middleweight champ Terry Norris for his fall spectacular. Tentative date is Nov. 3 in Las Vegas. ... Tyson must not think he is facing much of a test in Alex Stewart on Sept. 22. He already has agreed to fight Michael Dokes either Dec. 1 or Dec. 8 in the last HBO fight date of the year. ... Showtime is making a strong bid to displace HBO as the home of the heavyweight championship by buying the Douglas-Holyfield tape delay for $2 million. If Holyfield wins, he probably will fight on Showtime or pay-per-view -- his last 10 fights have been on Showtime. And Douglas thinks HBO has snubbed him in favor of Tyson. Either way, HBO must be rooting hard for Tyson to regain the title. ... Look for the delay to air on Saturday, Oct. 27 -- two days after the bout. ... Last week USA Network said it had had enough of George Foreman and his excessive purse demands. Next week, they will do an about-face and buy a same-day tape-delay of his Sept. 25 fight against Walter Masseroni in London. The reason? USA will have to kick in only $100,000 of Foreman’s $250,000 windfall. The rest comes from English promoter Frank Warren. ... John Reetz, manager of Iran Barkley, is keying his protest of the Barkley-Nigel Benn fight to a 1987 ruling by referee Joey Curtis, who immediately disqualified Terry Norris for hitting Joe Walker while he was on the canvas. Benn twice hit Barkley while the Blade was on the canvas with barely a warning from referee Carlos Padilla. “Why was it a rule then and not a rule now?” asked Reetz. ... Buddy McGirt is said to be making such good progress from recent surgery to repair a torn biceps tendon that he may return to the ring before the end of the year. Originally, it was thought McGirt would be out 9-12 months. ... Showtime will televise the Oct. 18 Michael Nunn-Donald Curry middleweight title fight, but its announcing team of Steve Albert and Ferdie Pacheco will not be there. Instead, the duo will watch the fight on a monitor and comment from Showtime’s New York City studio. Showtime, it seems, needs its production and announcing teams in Las Vegas for the Douglas-Holyfield delay a week later. Said Showtime’s Jay Larkin: “This saves us $200,000. All we lose is a 30-second sound bite at the end of the fight, with the winner saying, ‘I told you I’d win,’ and ‘I want Sugar Ray Leonard.’ ”

And now a word from that noted interior decorator, Bob Arum, who recently had the pleasure of visiting Mike Tyson’s new digs in Cleveland: “The house is really fantastic. It’s not a monstrosity like you might imagine. It’s a fun place. The bedroom suite is like something out of Playboy magazine, but it’s very tastefully done.”