Foreman Isn’t Taking Morrison Bout Lightly : Boxing: He drinks gallons of water in preparation for tonight’s WBO title fight and weighs in at 256 pounds.

All week, George Foreman has been saying “probably.”

Speaking off-the-cuff to about 500 spectators watching him work out Friday in preparation for his pay-per-view match tonight against Tommy Morrison, Foreman said “probably” three times in one sentence:

“Probably, this will probably be my last fight, win or lose . . . probably,” he said.

Fact is, probably not.

Ron Weathers, Foreman’s manager, said he is working on an October bout, sort of a Foreman “farewell to boxing” in the Houston Astrodome, with San Fernando fighter Alex Garcia the probable opponent.

Whatever, Foreman (45-2 in his 1969-1977 career, 27-1 in his 1987-1993 comeback) will reach a crossroads of a sort tonight at Thomas & Mack Center against Tommy Morrison (36-1).

Also tonight, Olympic champion Oscar De La Hoya (7-0) will face Troy Dorsey (12-7-4) in a 10-round bout.

Foreman, 44, will become a television sitcom star after tonight’s match. Beginning early next month, “George” will go into production at Columbia Studios. Foreman will portray a retired boxer who volunteers to work with troubled teens at his wife’s school. The ABC series will begin in the fall.

Weathers says Foreman might train during the show’s production for one final appearance in the ring. In fact, Foreman trained at a studio gym while filming the pilot for the series.

Morrison has been a slight betting favorite here, with his backers citing Foreman’s pending acting career as a possible diversion from this fight.

At Sunday’s weigh-in, the 6-foot-4 Foreman weighed 256 pounds, which means he will weigh more than 260 tonight.

“George drinks gallons of water the day before he fights,” said his long time friend and publicist, Bill Caplan. “He says the reason he lost to (Muhammad) Ali and (Jimmy) Young years ago was because he was dehydrated.”

Morrison, who weighed 226 Sunday, has won eight consecutive fights since being knocked out during the fifth round by Ray Mercer in Atlantic City in 1991.

But Morrison hasn’t fought a ranked heavyweight since Mercer and in fact has never beaten a world class heavyweight.

Foreman, since losing his title match with Evander Holyfield 26 months ago, has defeated Jimmy Ellis, Alex Stewart and Pierre Coetzer.

Morrison is seeking a title fight against Riddick Bowe.

“If Morrison knocks out Foreman, then Bowe-Morrison becomes a much bigger fight than Bowe-(Lennox) Lewis,” HBO sports chief Seth Abraham said.

Lewis has one-third of the heavyweight championship, the World Boxing Council version. Bowe is recognized by the World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation. Tonight’s match is for a lesser title, the World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship. Morrison’s manager, Bill Cayton, says his 24-year-old fighter is in the best condition of his career. Morrison trained eight weeks at the Virginia Military Institute.

“For many of his previous fights, Tommy would faithfully go to the gym twice a day and work hard,” Cayton said.

“But for the other 20 hours, it was all parties and many, many women. It’s been over my strongest objections that he’s never trained at my camp in Catskill, N.Y., but I really feel VMI was the next best thing.”

Tonight’s promoter, Bob Arum, says Foreman has lost none of his punching or pulling power.

“The advance pay-per-view sales have been great, and I think we have a shot at doing 1.4 million homes, which would put us over the all-time leader, Foreman-Holyfield,” he said.

And not even the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs in Los Angeles will hurt the home audience for his fight show, Arum predicted.

“Hockey . . . what a game for schmucks that is,” he said.

Weathers said that Morrison is one of boxing’s hardest hitters.

“Tommy hits hard enough to maybe even put George down a couple of times,” Foreman’s manager said. “But George will get up. And when George knocks Tommy down, he won’t get up.”

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At stake for De La Hoya tonight is a junior-lightweight championship match at the Forum in October.

Dorsey, like all of De La Hoya’s pro opponents so far, isn’t expected to provide much of a test. The Mansfield, Tex., fighter has lost his last two, and four of his last five. He has won only three of his last 10.

De La Hoya, only U.S. boxing gold medalist last summer in Spain, will box Narciso Valenzuela on a July 17 Caesars Palace pay-per-view card featuring Michael Carbajal. Then Arum wants De La Hoya to fight in August.

With victories in those three fights, and providing WBA junior-lightweight champion Genaro Hernandez of Mission Viejo defeats Raul Perez June 28 at the Forum, then Hernandez and De La Hoya, Boyle Heights gym sparring partners for years, would meet.

And De La Hoya would be in a title fight 14 months after winning an Olympic championship.

Also tonight at Thomas & Mack, Azusa junior-welterweight Zack Padilla (16-1-1) will get his reward for upsetting Roger Mayweather in April. He will box Carlos Gonzalez (36-0) of Mexico.