Foreman Might Feel Too Good to Retire : Boxing: Tyson could be his next opponent, if Holyfield doesn’t fight him later this year.

Although most agreed his remarkable performance against Evander Holyfield Friday night would be the perfect exit point, indications were Saturday that George Foreman will fight again.

Foreman left Atlantic City at 5 a.m. Saturday to catch an early Philadelphia flight to Houston, hours after he had fought 12 competitive rounds and lost a unanimous decision to Holyfield.

His longtime publicist, Bill Caplan of Northridge, said he believes Foreman will fight again “in a few months,” and that Mike Tyson might be the opponent.

“His dressing room after the fight was a very up-beat place, and he was positive about everything,” Caplan said. “He was very proud of himself for his great effort. He said to me: ‘Can you believe it was the young guy who was hanging on to me in the 12th round?’

“I heard him use the term ‘next event’ when he talked to Bob Arum (Foreman’s promoter). My personal feeling is he’ll fight again.

“I think he’d be challenged by a Tyson fight, and, after all, Tyson is the guy he figured he’d be fighting for the title when he started his comeback.”

And it still might turn out that way. The World Boxing Council is still trying to strip Holyfield of its share of the heavyweight championship, and is in arbitration with Main Events, Holyfield’s promoter. If the WBC wins, Tyson would become its champion.

Tyson’s next match is a June 28 rematch with Razor Ruddock. Holyfield’s people said Saturday morning they would like their man to fight next in late September or early October, against Tyson.

“Tyson is our No. 1 choice, but if he takes himself out of the running, then we’ll find someone else,” said Dan Duva, Main Events chief.

One popular theory on why Tyson’s promoter, Don King, is delaying a match with Holyfield is that Tyson’s contract with his estranged manager, Bill Cayton, doesn’t expire until Feb. 12, 1992. Until then, Cayton and Lorraine Jacobs, widow of Tyson’s late co-manager, Jimmy Jacobs, will continue to split 20% of Tyson’s purses.

If King withholds Tyson, Duva named Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer or Lennox Lewis as possible opponents. Tommy Morrison was expected to be Holyfield’s next opponent, but he took himself out of the running with a weak showing against Latvian Yuri Vaulin on the Holyfield-Foreman undercard Friday.

Morrison won when the fight was stopped in the fourth round after two body punches that may have broken one of Vaulin’s ribs. But Morrison had lost the first three rounds to the lightly regarded Vaulin.

Duva, too, said Foreman, at 42, is still a hot boxing property.

“From a coldblooded, strictly business point of view, George can still make millions by fighting,” he said. “But on the poetic side, I don’t know if he can ever recapture what happened last night.”

And what happened was that Foreman rocked Holyfield in every round and turned what most believed would be a mismatch into a competitive fight.

So what about Holyfield-Foreman II?

No thanks, Holyfield said.

“I am not looking for another fight with George, no,” Holyfield said Saturday morning, with a wide grin.

The champion marveled at Foreman’s stamina and his chin. He was asked if he had hit Foreman as hard as he hit Buster Douglas when he knocked out Douglas last October.

“I hit him with a lot of shots like that,” Holyfield said, “I did all I could to get him out of there. I hit him with everything I had.”

Of Foreman’s punches, Holyfield said: “George is one of the strongest men ever to put on boxing gloves. He never did hit me on the chin, but he did hit me on the top of the head a couple of times and it jarred me.”

Holyfield’s trainer, Lou Duva, also saluted the 257-pound Foreman’s chin.

“Evander followed our battle plan exactly the way we set it up,” he said. “The only thing that surprised us was the shots Foreman took. We never thought he’d stand up under those blows.”

Dan Duva, Lou’s son, said he would like to hire Foreman as a co-promoter:

“I’d love to see him stay in boxing that way. We’d love to co-promote a show with him. He’s perfect for promotion. He can reach the public.”

On Monday, they will begin adding up the millions from the pay-per-view telecast.

“It looks like it will be a 10% (buy rate) out of 17 million homes,” said Shelly Finkel, an adviser to Holyfield. Seth Abraham, head of HBO’s pay-per-view division, TVKO, indicated much the same.

A 10% buy rate would mean a pay-per-view gross of about $68 million, or nearly double that of the record $38.6 million from Holyfield-Douglas.

Both Duvas said Holyfield-Foreman will go down as one of boxing’s most unique shows, one that took on an unofficial “battle of the good guys” theme.

Said Lou Duva: “Right after the final bell, Evander, George and I all embraced, and George said to me: ‘Lou, I’m so happy. . . . Evander, you won the fight. I can’t thank you guys enough for the opportunity you gave me.’ What a class guy.”

And Dan Duva: “When was the last time everyone left a major fight with everyone having good feelings about what had happened? The whole thing is a tribute to two class guys, Evander and George.”