Foreman not interested in Tyson match

JAKARTA (JP): Who could resist a 50-inch screen being about to display live the long-awaited comeback match of heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in a very comfortable room yesterday?

George Foreman could. The oldest heavyweight champion in history was also unwilling to comment on the bout and declined to explain why.

"He just said he did not want to see the match. That's all," said a reporter of the Bola sports tabloid, which played host to the 47-year-old boxer during yesterday's match.

To convince the local reporter that he was not going to go and watch the match somewhere else, Foreman invited her join him for a meal. He subsequently posed for a photograph and joined in a tug-of-war game.

Of course, had Foreman wanted to see the short match between Tyson and Peter McNeeley, in which Tyson floored McNeeley twice, he could have been a VIP at MGM Grand Las Vegas instead of being asked to sit in front of a TV in Jakarta.

Foreman won the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association (WBA) title in November last year after flooring Michael Moorer. But he later forfeited his WBA crown by opting to fight German Axel Schultz instead of number one contender Tony Tucker.

The "preaching fighter," as he is often called -- Foreman is also a reverend -- is here on a visit regarded by many as a farewell tour. However, he told Indonesian journalists on Saturday that he has not retired yet.

Foreman, who is here for a week-long visit at the invitation of the private-owned television RCTI and local promoter A Seng, said he's also here to do some eating, not to fight or preach as some people have said.

Foreman, a grandfather, even commented that boxers do not have to retire until they turn 65. (arf)