BOXING / EARL GUSTKEY : Meanwhile, Foreman Is Wanted Back on Ranch

George Foreman said this week that his wife, Joan, has strongly suggested to him that his match with Alex Stewart April 11 in Las Vegas should be his last.

So, the celebrated comeback of the 1970s heavyweight champion might be winding down. Joan Foreman wants Big George back on the ranch, their 200-acre spread in Marshall, Tex.

“Joan and I have done a lot of talking about this and we’ve agreed that if I beat Stewart and there is no immediate, serious talk about a rematch from Evander Holyfield’s people, then I’ll retire,” Foreman said.

“My wife has made more sacrifices than I have (during his comeback, which began in 1987),” Foreman said. “I’ve been gone too much, training and traveling to fights and stuff, and she’s been the one running the kids to school, to the doctor. . . . We decided if we’re going raise our kids like you’re supposed to, then we’re going to do it the right way, and that means me being home.”

Foreman has nine children, four of them with his present wife--George, Jr., George III, George IV and George V.

“One of the bad things that’s happened in America is too many parents running wild, chasing after success,” Foreman said. “You can’t raise kids that way. Kids need a mom and a dad at home.”

Foreman said he tried telling his wife that, at 43, he was on top of his game.

“I told her that even in the Holyfield fight, I nearly knocked Evander out in the last round, that I still had some good fights left in me. It didn’t work. She said: ‘It’s time to come home, George.’ ”

Foreman was a novelty when he launched his comeback in the spring of 1987, showing up at 267 pounds in Sacramento. He knocked out Steve Zouski, 11 years after having retired the first time. Foreman then won 23 in a row.

But the media began to lose interest in his bouts against hand-picked opponents. Then Foreman knocked out Gerry Cooney in 1990 and suddenly was very much in the title fight picture.

Originally, Foreman started his comeback because he believed he could defeat Mike Tyson. But Buster Douglas knocked Tyson out, then Holyfield KO’d Douglas.

Finally, Foreman fought Holyfield April 19, in what became the biggest-grossing fight in history, $48.9 million in pay-per-view revenue alone. Foreman confounded boxing experts by giving Holyfield 12 tough rounds, and even staggering him several times before losing a decision.

The most talked-about boxing scorecard these days is Rudy Ortega’s. The San Francisco judge had the bout even when Azumah Nelson stopped Jeff Fenech during the eighth round of their fight in Melbourne, Australia, on March 1.

Most watching on TV thought they were seeing a rout. Nelson had Fenech down during the first round and it appeared that Fenech was never in the fight.

Ortega, who last year lobbied unsuccessfully for the executive officer’s post with the California Athletic Commission, has been closely aligned with the World Boxing Council, which had sanctioned the bout.

WBC President Jose Sulaiman and his ally, New York promoter Don King, wanted Fenech to win the fight, figuring the Australian would have more top-dollar fight potential in the United States than Nelson.

Friday, Ortega defended his scorecard.

“The people criticizing my card saw (the fight) on TV,” he said. “I was at ringside, watching a three-dimensional fight, not a two-dimensional fight. It’s true that outside, Nelson was a superior boxer. But inside--and this is what a lot of TV viewers didn’t see--Fenech was landing the sharper, harder punches.”

As to the possibility that he favored Fenech at Sulaiman’s direction, Ortega said: “I haven’t even talked to Jose in more than a year.”

Boxing Notes

Tommy Morrison to balding opponent Wimpy Halstead at a news conference, before their heavyweight bout at Caesars Palace on Friday night: “I’m going to hit you so hard you’ll wake up with a full head of hair.” . . . Light-heavyweight Jeremy Williams is training under John Ibarra at the All-American Gym in Long Beach. Ibarra says Williams hopes to qualify for the Olympic team trials in Worcester, Mass., in June. . . . The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas will be the site of a benefit dinner April 10 for Kid Akeem Anifowoshe, who suffered a serious head injury during a 1991 bout and remains partially disabled. Tickets, costing $50, are available at the Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas, 702-739-1501.

Top Rank staffers were dismayed by Jorge Gonzalez’s performance during his recent ESPN debut. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Cuban, a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist who defected in Helsinki nearly a year ago, looked listless, rusty and out of shape in going six rounds to get a TKO over a very ordinary Michael Gans. Top Rank chief Bob Arum recently signed Gonzalez to a multifight contract and wasn’t happy. Neither was Gonzalez’s trainer, Richie Sandoval. “Jorge knows he didn’t look good,” Sandoval said. “He knows he needs work. We need to bring in some quality sparring partners and get him boxing-sharp.”