This is a continuing list of the fights I watched on HBO over the years.
31. George Foreman vs. Alex Stewart. April 11, 1992. The night of this fight, I went to see the singer Anne Murray in concert. I asked my sister to tape it for me, so I could pick it up afterwards. When I got to my sister’s apartment, my brother was leaning out the window saying “It’s the last round.” I told him not to tell me who won, and took the VHS tape home and popped it in my VCR. The first thing I noticed was how fleshy and undertrained George appeared, expecting the weak chinned Stewart to go down quickly. Although George did drop him twice early, Stewart got up and fought back hard. He boxed a great fight, and peppered Foreman with hard shots the whole night. By the last few rounds of the ten round bout, George’s face was a grotesque mask, and it wasn’t clear to me that he would get the victory. When the cards were read, George won a narrow decision, and kept whatever was left of his career alive.
32. Terry Norris vs. Meldrick Taylor. May 9, 1992. As I drove to my sister’s house in my Pontiac Firebird, I didn’t expect a good outcome. Meldrick was moving up the the junior middleweight division to challenge the bigger and stronger Norris, and I was worried if he could survive Terry’s attack. It turned out I was right, and Norris easily outboxed and hurt Meldrick, stopping him with just seconds left in the fourth round. I especially remember how sad Taylor’s post-fight interview with Larry Merchant was, with him admitting “I don’t think I’ll recover from this loss.” His career continued, but he never won another world championship, and wound up punch drunk from staying around too long.
33. Riddick Bowe vs. Pierre Coetzer. After Evander Holyfield easily defeated Larry Holmes on June 19, 1992, it was pretty much set that he would fight the young contender Riddick Bowe in the fall. All Bowe had to do was get by Coetzer, and he had a title shot. Another trip to Lisa’s place to see this one saw Bowe have little problem with the South African punching bag Coetzer. He easily outboxed him, and finished him off in the seventh. What I remember most from that fight was Riddick’s black boxing trunks split, exposing his ass cheeks most of the night.
34. Lennox Lewis vs. Razor Ruddock. October 31, 1992. Halloween night didn’t mean candy for me at my age, but rather another drive to Lisa’s house. I didn’t know what to expect in this bout from London. The winner would become the number one WBC contender, and I was curious as the bell for round one began. When Lewis dropped Ruddock with a great right seconds left in the first, I was surprised. When he knocked him out for good in the second, I was even more surprised. Lennox proved how good he was that night and secured himself a shot at the winner of Holyfield vs. Bowe two weeks later. Only a month after Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield on November 13, 1992, he threw the WBC belt in a trash can. The WBC immediately named Lewis as their heavyweight champion.
35. George Foreman vs. Pierre Coetzer/Tommy Morrison vs. Carl Williams. January 16, 1993. I was excited about this Saturday night at my sister’s house for a chance to see George in action again, and also Tommy Morrison as well. The doubleheader from Reno saw Tommy open the show, get dropped as usual, but rally and stop Williams in the eighth. George followed with his best performance in years, and appeared to be in much better shape than in the Stewart fight the previous April. Coetzer was tailor made for Foreman, didn’t move much, and got knocked out in the eighth round as well. Both Morrison and Foreman agreed to meet each other in June for the bogus WBO version of the title. I was just glad to see ‘Big’ George fight another day.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
