"Blood Bath '92" : Foreman vs. Stewart (HBO).. Who scored what?

I watched the fight live on HBO. I remember thinking after I heard that the fight was signed (several weeks before the actual fight), that Alex Stewart might pose a problem for George. Outside of Holyfield, I thought Stewart had the potential to be the best opponent that George had faced. Even though he got blown out by Tyson and lost to Holyfield and later Moorer, Stewart was young, well-conditioned, and had good skills and power.

Foreman looked like crap. I agree with you that he didn't look in the best of shape. And I can't understand why Foreman (at age 43), would take ANY fight lightly, especially against a much-younger opponent who had given several top heavyweights a good fight.

Anyways, thanks to Foreman's two knockdowns scored in the second, I thought Foreman barely edged the fight by one point. I thought Foreman won the 3rd as well, and he came back to hurt Stewart in the 8th. But that was an embarrasing fight for George; going life and death against a guy Tyson obliterated in one round!

And Foreman, acting like a classless jerk, said after the fight that he felt that he "outboxed Stewart all the way through"! Total B.S!!!!!!

Stewart won the event but lost the fight. But this fight really highlighted George's limitations as a fighter. And I think Larry Merchant summed up the fight best when he said "this is why George doesn't want to fight any good heavyweights"; meaning that Foreman would prefer to fight the unskilled, undersized, underpowered fighters that he could blow over!

 

It's been awhile since I watched this, but I remember having Foreman slightly ahead. Either by a point or 2.

The things I remember most about this fight:

-Foreman dropping Stewart twice in round 2 and later claiming he was taking it easy on him

-Foreman talking to his corner (or a reporter) and putting his hands on his hips, and getting popped by Stewart when he did this.

-Foreman bitching out his corner. "Shut up, shut up. Say what you're gonna say and be done with it"

-Foreman's heavy jab. He had a piston and it was so powerful it sometimes moved snapped the heads back of opponents so far, that the follow up right came up short.

-Foreman getting penalized late in the fight for low blows

-The terrible condition of George's face at the end of the fight

 

One of the greatest brutal slugfests in Heavyweight history.

It was razor-close & Stewart was coming on stronger late as Old George got more tired.

If Foreman had only floored Stewart once, this would be very tricky to score.

I had George winning slightly, but i think he was lucky this was only 10 rounds, & should have trained harder.

 

Foreman threw great uppercuts in this bout but aside from that he looked like he did not take Stewart seriously enough as an opponent. Both were very tired in the late rounds but gave it their all, at times Stewart was landing at will on the older man who refused to budge. No problems with the decision since Foreman did have that 10-7 round, and hurt Stewart late.

 

When did George ever look in condition during his comeback? He barely won could have been a draw

 

Well a determined Old George obviously trained hard for Holy in '91, he carried the strong 257lbs well & showed good stamina.

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In contrast, the 259lbs for Stewart in '92 was visibly a lot less healthy, demonstrating much less effort in training, so he had less stamina in this war.

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Probably foreman by a single point. Foreman's defense was pitiful at this point.

*he was also in good shape for Qawi

 

Yeah Old George was a trim 235lbs against Qawi in '88!

 

The first knockdown in the second round was suspect. Foreman hit Stewart with an obvious low blow; then, Stewart sort of relaxed, and George hit him with a short right to the neck that dropped him. But I think the knockdown was set up by Foreman's flagrant low blow. Then, after Stewart got up, Foreman hit him again with a very hard low blow. Foreman deserved to lose the fight, partly because he took Stewart lightly and partly because of his poor sportsmanship!

 

Foreman won. The 10-7 round and the very dominant opener that came before it make it difficult to find room for a Stewart victory.

That said, he was out of shape, and a timid, modestly skilled boxer(Stewart in my opinion filled the boxer puncher style) managed to outfox and outslick him on the move, destroying his face in the process. Not a great night out.

 

It's amazing how far Foreman's comeback went considering how limited a fighter he was. But then again, his popularity basically allowed him to get away with a lot of stuff that lesser-known fighters would not have.
I followed George's entire comeback, and I was a big Foreman fan the whole way. However, I'm not deluded into thinking comeback George was anything other than a well-protected fighter that got a lot of undeserved opportunities based on popularity rather than on any great fistic accomplishment.
There were a ton of fighters who could have beaten Foreman the night he fought Stewart.
Heck, when Foreman was heavyweight champ, the list of guys that could have beaten him was endless. It was kind of perverse that Foreman was champ while guys like Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, and many others were around and avoided by Foreman and his camp.