George Foreman fought a battle of the ages (literally) and came
out victorious. Foreman came in 48 years old and Savarese at 18 years his junior (31). But unlike
in his last two bouts, Foreman was the underdog (7-5). But Foreman always seems to be at his best
when he's the underdog, but seems to be lackluster when he's the favorite. However, in this fight,
it seems justifiable that Savarese was the favorite. Savarese was younger, undefeated and just coming
off his biggest win (a knockout over Buster Mathis, jr.), while Foreman has looked lackluster in his
last five fights (yes, even in the Moorer fight), been inactive and getting older. But this George
Foreman came to fight and apparantly learned from his last couple of fights. Savarese also came to
fight, a lot more so than George expected. Foreman complained, "some of my opponents have
basically turned their backs and ran away from me (citing his fights with Morrison and Grimsly)". But
Lou would not run and that probably led to his downfall. This fight was supposed to be for the fringe
WBU Heavyweight Championship, but because of disputes with their officials and referees, they didn't
sanction the fight. So instead, this fight was for "The Linear Heavyweight Championship of the World",
which was basically another excuse for having a 12-Round fight (although it holds some truth). As the
first round began, Savarese moved and jabbed, staying a fair distance away from Foreman and darting in
now and then. Foreman plodded after him, throwing his jab. Foreman lost the round, but his jab was
effective in leaving a mouse under Saverese's right eye. The next few rounds went pretty much the same
way, but as every round progressed, Savarese would fight on the inside more. After the first five rounds,
I had Savarese winning 4 rounds and losing 1. But Foreman was beginning to wear Savarese down and
gradually taking control of the fight. Over the next two rounds, Savarese won one round and drawed
another. But then Foreman took charge. I had Foreman winning the last 5 rounds. Foreman was more active
and landed the harder punches, also his crab-like defense was blocking most of Savarese's shots. The key
factor for Foreman, was his jab. Lou fought alot better than I expected, on the inside. And Foreman did
quite well on the outside. Lou also showed he had a pretty good chin, after taking many of George's bombs.
Aside from losing the later rounds, Lou also hurt his chances of winning, when a point was taken away for
low blows (though it was probably because of repeated rabbit punches earlier). When the fight was over, Foreman
won by Split Decision. The scores were 115-113 and 115-112 for Foreman and 115-113 for Saverese. Foreman
was happy with the victory, although he wanted a knockout. Unlike in some of his previous fights, Foreman
was being quite honest when he talked out the fight. He said, "I don't know what was keeping him up,
so I decided I better start winning some points". When he was asked if he was hurt at anytime during the
fight, he replied, "Yeah, he definetly hurt me a couple of times". Although I don't recall seeing him hurt,
I'll take his word for it. Saverese said, "After the first round, I couldn't see well, so I started slugging
with him. But George is a crafty fighter". Now that Foreman has a good win, his career seems alive as ever.
He could get his long-awaited fight with Mike Tyson (even if Tyson loses to Holyfield), a rematch with Michael
Moorer or a rematch with Evander Holyfield. However, one fight I don't see him taking, is a showdown with the
other fossilized, former Heavyweight Champion, Larry Holmes.
