The odds of this bout going to a decision was as likely as a cold snow blanketing the beaches of Hawaii.
On April 11, the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas would host a pair of Heavyweights who packed tremendous power in both hands. Former Heavyweight champion “Big” George Foreman (70-3, 66 KOs) was set to collide with Alex Stewart (28-3, 28 KOs).
The year was 1992.
George Foreman, the popular power-punching extraordinaire, had returned to the ring in 1987 after a 10-year hiatus. The power was still there as Foreman blasted through the division on his way to meeting World Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.
As Holyfield’s trainer George Benton had noted, “If he catches you clean you’ll be the deadest S.O.B. in the cemetery.”
The old king and former 1968 Olympic gold medalist was valiant in losing to Holyfield in April of 1991. It was his first loss since Jimmy Young had defeated him in March of 1977.
On this night, Foreman, ranked No. 1 by the IBF, faced a man who was capable of landing some heavy leather of his own. Stewart, once he got himself warmed up, could really go. He had never heard a final bell and had knocked out every opponent he had beaten.
Foreman, now 43, was installed as a 6-1 betting favorite against the 27-year-old Stewart. Much of the thinking was embedded in the fact that Stewart had recently struggled on the big stage. He couldn’t get out of the first round against Mike Tyson in December of 1990. Just four months later he had succumbed to Michael Moorer after a heroic four rounds of pitched battle.
Those losses led to many questioning his courage.
Before meeting Tyson and Moorer, Stewart had bravely fought through a nasty cut against Holyfield in November of 1989. Although referee Tony Perez stopped the fight in the eighth round, Stewart refused to go down and gave Holyfield all he could handle for seven rounds. Courage was not an issue against Holyfield.
The Foreman-Stewart bout was scheduled for 10 rounds and aired live on HBO with Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Gil Clancy, sitting in for Foreman, seated ringside to call the action.
After Michael Buffer introduced referee Richard Steele and the fighters, Round 1 quickly got underway.
Stewart, ranked No. 13 by the WBC, was outfitted in purple trunks. Although Foreman was an inch and a half taller, Stewart owned a two inch read advantage and began using his longer arms to pot shot Big George.
Foreman, donning blue trunks trimmed with white stripes down his legs and red trim across his waist, moved straight ahead behind his telephone-pole left jab. Controlling the early action rather easily, Lampley summarized Foreman’s calmness as he pursued Stewart. “George Foreman looking like a man mowing his lawn on a Saturday afternoon.”
Things quickly went south for Stewart in Round 2. After suffering a knockdown 30 seconds into the round, Foreman kicked it into high gear and swarmed Stewart, looking to take him out. A sledgehammer right hand sent Stewart down again at the midway point of the round.
Lampley picked up the action as Stewart crashed to the canvas. “Another right hand and another knockdown!”
Foreman had also landed a pair a very hard low blows in between the knockdowns, drawing a firm warning from Steele. Stewart showed his courage, standing in close and firing back with very hard right hands of his own. He would survive the round.
As Stewart walked back to his corner, cut and bleeding from over his right eye, Merchant conceded, “I don’t want to question that man’s courage any more, Alex Stewart.”
As the bout progressed, Stewart held true to form. He had made it through the early fire and was now hitting Foreman with regularity. Each man loved the one-two, a pair of left jabs followed by a hard right hand.
Foreman was showing signs of battle damage as his right eye was beginning to swell. In between Rounds 3 and 4, Angelo Dundee applied an end-swell to the mouse that was beginning flare.
Although Foreman had built an early lead that included the pair of knockdowns, “The Destroyer” began to score more and more cleanly while circling away from Foreman’s power.
Clancy, who had trained Foreman in the 70’s, listened closely to the Foreman corner between rounds. He sensed frustration from the former champion. “And George is really angry because his cornerman tried to give him advice. He told them to shut up.”
Both men continued to land almost at will, landing more than half of the punches they threw. Foreman continued to plod forward in the fifth round while Stewart continued to circle and pepper him with lefts and rights. Clancy was concerned with Foreman’s stamina. “And George is looking a little tired to me right now. His mouth is open. You can see he’s gasping for breath.”
The crown inside the Thomas and Mack center tried to rally Foreman, chanting, “George! George! George!”
Heading into Round 7, Foreman’s face was a mess. The mouse under his right eye was swelling badly and his left eye was now closing. Lampley sensed trouble, “Alex Stewart has a big chance.” Foreman remained relentless, pressing with almost a desperate fervor.
Stewart opened up more and more as the round progressed leaving Lampley to concede that Foreman was in serious distress. “Now more than ever he looks like an old man in trouble.”
With Foreman’s eyes swelling, Stewart was now mixing in right and left hooks. Foreman’s upper lip began to swell and his mouth and nose were now bleeding as the two hammered away at each other in the ninth round.
Anyone who knows Foreman knows that his will and determination is often unmatched. He refused to concede a single inch of ground as he relentlessly pursued Stewart who himself was still bleeding from his right eye.
As the bell sounded to end the ninth, Merchant described the magnitude of the battle, “And I have blood on my scoresheet. And my shirt!”
Lampley concurred, “Two grotesque masks as we ready for Round 10!”
Foreman, a bloody mess, was the aggressor in Round 10 landing the cleaner, harder blows. The action was momentarily halted as Foreman again hit Stewart below the belt. Lampley shrieked, “Another low blow! And Steele takes a point away!”
Stewart desperately tried to keep Foreman off him as Big George threw everything in his arsenal at him. The crowd rose as one as the bell sounded to end the fight.
The drama was intense and continued to build as the decision went to the judges’ scorecards.
Standing at mid ring, Buffer read the scores. Two judges scored the bout 94-93 for Foreman. The third judge scored it even at 94-94. George Foreman escaped with a majority decision.
The scores were in line with that of Lederman who had it 94-93 for Big George. He scored it five rounds apiece, factoring in the pair of second round knockdowns and the point deduction for the low blow in the 10th.
Foreman was gracious in victory as the crowd again cheered both fighters. In his post-fight interview with Merchant, Foreman hadn’t lost his sense of humor when asked about his swollen eyes. “I could see out of ’em, but it was like I was watching ‘Tales From the Crypt’ or something,” said Foreman.
Despite cries that Foreman retire, it was merely a bump in the road for Foreman. Just 18 months later he would reclaim the Heavyweight crown by viciously knocking out a much younger Michael Moorer.
