Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 7, 1994

If sports ever needed a feel-good story, it is now. . . .

You know, something to take our minds off strikes, lockouts, police blotters and courtrooms. . . .

George Foreman delivered it when he regained the heavyweight championship 20 years after losing it. . . .

Foreman has been involved in three of the most incredible prizefights ever. . . .

He knocked Joe Frazier down six times in Kingston, Jamaica, on Jan. 22, 1973, and won the title in the second round. . . .

He hammered Muhammad Ali for seven rounds in Kinshasa, Zaire, on Oct. 30, 1974, before being knocked out in the eighth. . . .

He knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th on Saturday in Las Vegas after being outboxed and outpunched for nine rounds. . . .

Conventional wisdom was that Foreman’s only chance was to flatten Moorer early with a left hook. . . .

Instead, he finished the job with a straight right in the 29th minute. . . .

Throughout his comeback, George had thrown the right hand like, well, a 45-year-old. . . .

His most effective weapons had been the left jab and hook. . . .

Against Moorer in the early rounds, he pawed with the jab rather than firing it. HBO didn’t need to replay his punches in slow motion. They were slow motion. . . .

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How judge Duane Ford gave Foreman four of the first six rounds is inexplicable. I gave him only the fourth. Judges Jerry Roth and Chuck Giampa each gave him the second and fourth. . . .

But Foreman kept to his task. His determination never wavered. By the eighth, he was starting to land some stinging, though not overpowering, right hands. . . .

The key was conditioning. As late as two days before the fight, he sparred 12 rounds. . . .

He never sat on his stool Saturday and never drank water, although a bottle was offered to him between every round. . . .

“Move to your right!” Angelo Dundee kept yelling at him during the action. . . .

“Circle to your right and stay away from his right,” Teddy Atlas kept telling Moorer during the one-minute rest periods. . . .

It was the old one-two, a jab to the head and a straight right to the jaw, that sent Moorer to the canvas and 12,000 fans into shock. . . .

Among those watching was Ingemar Johansson, a commentator for the Scandinavian telecast. . . .

“It was wonderful,” said Johansson, whose toonderbolts won him the title against heavy favorite Floyd Patterson in 1959. “The right hand is the best punch you can throw.” . . .

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Moorer wasn’t the only person to hit the deck. . . .

George’s brother Roy fainted from the excitement, and publicist Bill Caplan was knocked down by a security guard. . . .

“I tried to climb into the ring when the count got to three,” Caplan said. “I knew Moorer wasn’t going to get up, but I guess it was a little too early.” . . .

After the postfight news conference, Foreman relaxed for about 45 minutes in his hotel suite with his wife, Joan, and his all-time favorite athlete, Magic Johnson. . . .

At 10 p.m., Foreman marched victoriously through the casino. . . .

He was headed to the buffet. The previous few days, Gorge-ous George had picked at his food. Not this time. . . .

Call him anything but superstitious. He not only wore the same trunks that he did the night Ali knocked him out, he stayed on the 13th floor of the hotel. . . .

A referee is doing a good job when you don’t notice him in the ring. That could be said for Joe Cortez. Of course, the fighters made it easy for him. They had to be broken out of clinches only a couple of times all night. . . .

Foreman’s comeback began March 9, 1987, when he stopped Steve Zouski in the fourth round in Sacramento, eight days short of 10 years after he lost a 12-round decision to Jimmy Young in San Juan, Puerto Rico. . . .

This was Foreman’s 28th victory in 30 fights during the revival. His career record is 73-4 with 68 knockouts. His KO percentage is the highest of any heavyweight champion. . . .

If the World Boxing Assn. had gotten its way and blocked the fight because Foreman wasn’t considered a suitable opponent, Moorer would have fought Joe Hipp. . . .

On Tuesday in Las Vegas, Hipp was hard-pressed to win a 10-round decision over someone named Rodolfo Marin. . . .

“Whether you’re 45 or 55, that doesn’t mean you’re dead,” Foreman said. “You can still have your dream, and sometimes dreams come true.”