BOXING / CHRIS DUFRESNE : Don’t Question Foreman’s Great Victory by Crying Fix

It says something about the state of boxing when one of the sport’s most exhilarating moments--George Foreman’s 10th-round knockout of Michael Moorer--can be undermined by knee-jerk cries of “fix” by a fixated few.

Yet respected radio sports-talk hosts and newspapermen actually tried to perpetuate the “we was jobbed” theory last week and sullied what rightly should be hailed as a time-capsule sporting achievement.

There is enough about boxing that is unscrupulous without demeaning its legitimate moments.

Funny, but when Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays hit a home run to win the World Series title, no one suggested that pitcher Mitch Williams had grooved a fastball.

When Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt that cost the Buffalo Bills a Super Bowl victory, no one proposed that the kicker was on the take.

Boxing will always pay a credibility price for its sordid past--and present.

But anyone who actually watched the Foreman-Moorer fight and thought it was crooked probably needs a new spit bucket.

Bob Arum, one of the fight’s promoters, has his theory.

“People who gamble are sore losers,” he said. “It was so astounding to some that somebody who is 45 years old could do this, they say there must be something up. I was there. Foreman hit him flush. (Talk of fix) is not even worth dignifying. If there was one thing about this fight, it was not controversial.”

Never mind, conspiracy theorists, that Foreman set Moorer up with a left-right combination in the 10th and decked him with a clean left-right combo moments later.

The straight right that clipped Moorer’s chin might not have looked like much, but it was hardly a phantom punch.

Never mind that Foreman is one of the sport’s legendary knockout artists.

Never mind that Foreman had been able to “soften up” Moorer in previous rounds because of Moorer’s curious willingness to slug it out.

“What happened here was a number of earthquakes that led to a big one,” HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant said.

And what about the physical evidence?

Moorer was glassy-eyed and groggy long after he was counted out. What about the blood streaming from Moorer’s mouth, and the 14 stitches required to close the gash?

Great acting?

“Somebody who can’t enjoy this for what it is should find something else to get their kicks in,” Merchant said of the unconvinced. “I’ve been around the game long enough to understand there’s skepticism and cynicism, and rightly so. But most of that is behind the scenes, not in the ring. The athletes themselves are trying. There’s too much at stake, too much pride.”

As for possible behind-the-scenes chicanery, well, don’t give boxing promoters that much credit. They can’t agree on much of anything other than their disdain for one another.

So now they’re in cahoots?

And who does this so-called “fix” benefit?

Moorer? Yeah, right.

“Please tell me why a guy would give up something that’s worth tens of millions of dollars,” Merchant said. “Was somebody going to pay him twenties of millions?”

Riddick Bowe? Hardly. His road back to a title shot went through Moorer, not Foreman, who is not likely to take on Bowe anytime soon, if ever.

Don King? An easy target, but he does not promote Foreman and is already frantic about what the new champion will or--more important--will not do with his World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation titles.

Maybe it is a sham that a 45-year-old is heavyweight champion.

But it happened, fair and square.

If it was a travesty, blame it on a lousy crop of young heavyweights.

Blame it on Michael Moorer’s chin.

*

Foreman’s victory in Las Vegas threw the heavyweight division into a tizzy.

And what’s a tizzy without King?

The man who promoted Foreman’s 1974 title fight against Muhammad Ali in Zaire congratulated the new champion on his victory and then begged Foreman to retire.

“Anybody that can fight is going to go in and beat George Foreman,” King said by phone from Mexico City, where he is promoting tonight’s junior-flyweight title fight between Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez and Michael Carbajal. “The danger is that he may be incapacitated. Anybody that would encourage Foreman to fight is not a friend of Foreman.”

This is the same King, mind you, who is promoting a January World Boxing Council heavyweight title fight between 45-year-old Larry Holmes and World Boxing Council champion Oliver McCall.

Now, the kicker. . . . If Foreman chooses not to retire, King said, he must, by rule, grant King’s fighter, Tony Tucker, a bout within 120 days of Foreman’s victory over Moorer.

Reading from Rule 5.4, the defense of title statute in the World Boxing Assn. rule book, King screamed across phone lines, “In the event that a world champion (Moorer) loses a title against a contender (Foreman) who was not the available (top-ranked) contender, the new world champion must defend his title within no more than 120 days from the date on which he obtains the title against the leading available contender of his category.”

That leading available contender is Tucker, in both the WBA and IBF rankings.

King fears the new champion may ignore the mandatory defense rule and dare the sanctioning bodies to strip Foreman of his titles.

Or, worse yet, Foreman will keep the title in the Arum stable and grant a rematch to Tommy Morrison, who defeated Foreman in a 12-round decision 17 months ago.

“Tommy Morrison is the only fighter ever to be knocked out by everyone but George Foreman,” King said.

Arum said Foreman isn’t ready yet to think about the immediate fight future.

Many are already speculating about a match between Foreman and Mike Tyson, who is expected to be released from prison in May.

Foreman said he would take on Tyson in a heartbeat.

King said he is against the fight.

“That would be cruel and inhuman punishment,” King said. “You know what you’d be seeing? I’ll go on record saying this. You’ll be talking about murder, man, talking about getting another death in the ring, putting Tyson in the ring with Foreman.”

That isn’t to say King wouldn’t agree to the match.

“They can always force me to do it, because it’s their decision,” he said.

Boxing Notes

Comeback Kid: Dan Duva, main man at Main Events, returned to work last Monday, not even two weeks after undergoing brain surgery to have a tumor removed. First up on Duva’s agenda was plotting the future of Michael Moorer, dethroned as heavyweight champion by George Foreman. Duva spent the morning writing letters to the three sanctioning bodies, requesting that they rank Moorer at their next meetings. Duva’s family, however, won’t allow Dan to work past 4 p.m.

Don King says Mike Tyson will be ready to fight 60-90 days after his release from prison in May. The plan is to have Tyson fight a few tomato cans before setting him up with a WBC title bout, probably against Oliver McCall. It has been determined that the winner of January’s Larry Holmes-McCall bout will fight Peter McNeeley, of Medfield, Mass., around St. Patrick’s Day at the Boston Garden, which will be demolished soon thereafter.

Michael Carbajal seeks revenge tonight when he meets Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez for Gonzalez’s WBC and IBF junior-flyweight titles in a pay-per-view bout in Mexico City. This is the third fight between the 108-pounders. Gonzalez (39-2) handed Carbajal (32-1) his only defeat eight months ago. “It’s going to be like a fight in a phone booth,” Carbajal said this week. The card also features Genaro Hernandez, WBA junior-lightweight champion, who faces Jimmy Garcia in a mandatory defense.

Thursday’s snowstorm in Big Bear did not deter Oscar De La Hoya from his work as he prepares for his 10-round fight against Carl Griffith on the James Toney-Roy Jones undercard Friday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. De La Hoya got his road work in before the snow hit and had sparred 111 rounds through Thursday.

Calendar

Tonight: John Armijo vs. Mike Powell, Hector Lopez vs. Mario Morales; junior-welterweights; Grand Olympic Auditorium, 7:45.