The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 33

i 4 7- The Orlando Sentinel Sunday Special: Warren Sapp of tiny Plymouth is a big star at Miami, C-11 SUNDAY, November 6, 1994 HO Sporte i 1 Foreman KOs Moorer 45-year-old becomes boxing's oldest champ By Robert Seltzer PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Larry Guest Foreman said. Foreman seven years older than the previous oldest champion, Jersey Joe Walcott regained the title he lost to Ali 20 years ago, during the legendary "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire, on Oct. 30, 1974. "Michael didn't see it coming," said Teddy Atlas, who trains Moorer. "They were the best punches he threw all night.

That's what we were scared of." "He should never have stood in front of me," the 250-pound Foreman said. "I'm a straight right- Please see FOREMAN, C-15 successful IBF and WBA heavyweight title defenses. Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round of a scheduled 12-round fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand, becoming the oldest fighter to win a championship in any weight class. The 45-year-old man did it to a guy 19 years younger, a guy who had fought a smart fight for about 29 minutes. Referee Joe Cortez counted Moorer out 2 minutes, 3 seconds into the 10th round.

"I exorcised the ghost of Muhammad Ali once and forever," LAS VEGAS Almost 30 minutes into a horrible beating, with his breath gone and his power about to follow, George Foreman landed what may become the most famous combination in boxing history. Two punches a left jab, followed by a chopping right both of them short and sweet and punishing. And both landing on the jaw of a man on the verge of his first jfrp 'nimri H-in T- George Foreman (right) delivers a winning combination that sends Michael Moorer to the canvas in the 10th round Saturday night. ASSOCIATED PRESS i-' 4 'l OR it 1 fi iV''L A 'n if m1 mK sports column jThank you, Magic that is more like it Now, this is more like it. The Orlando Hip-Hop-Fus turned back the Philadelphia Phoster Home in the 'not-as-gala-as-usual Opening Night at the O-rena on Saturday.

With an official victory now safely tucked away, Orlando presumably can report straight to the playoffs and begin working on a set of rings. The bill for playoff tickets no doubt will be in your mailbox on Monday, now that the locals have recovered from that debut on the road. Imagine the audacity of the Washington, D.C., (Da Capital) Bullets, who apparently failed to read Orlando's press clippings or lofty position in CD sales, delaying destiny by one day. Send a thank-you to the schedule-makers for allowing them to ease into this season of nuclear 'expectations by playing two of the worst jteams in the league. The Hip-Hop-Fus er, Magic at times still a team just as likely to make bloopers reel as the highlights film, displayed their inconsistency right out of the box, as you know, by losing to woeful Washington in Friday's season-opener.

But not even the adventurous young Magic have enough turnovers to make it two in a row by losing to these guys. This year's entry from the City of Brotherly Love is a collection of projects, retreads, journeymen, one real player and one 7-foot-6 pipe cleaner. The new coach, John Lucas, up from San Antonio, soon may decide dealing with extra-terrestrial Den-Xiis Rodman and his fuchsia 'do wasn't so trying after all. The pipe cleaner, a a Shawn Bradley, is one of the NBA's new breed of runaway pituitary glands who wear their height on their jerseys. Friday night, it was the Bullets' Gheorghe Muresan, 7 feet 7, wearing No.

77, so we wouldn't mistakenly think he's 5 feet 6. Bradley wears No. 76, which doubles as his height and weight. Poor Shawn, who could be the poster boy for anorexia, looks a little like he went to a blood bank and forgot to say when. He got his scoring average all the way up to 1.0 before fouling out Saturday.

That's 15 feet 1 of centers the opposition has thrown across the Magic's yellow brick road over the weekend, but still not tall enough to shut down the Orlando front-court muscle. Manly Magic jams broke out all over the place Saturday, one day after the big men played H-O-R-S-E bn Friday. Main contribution to the highlights film on this festive evening came midway of the final period. Nick Anderson dove for a loose ball, saving it just before he crashed into the box seats. Penny Hardaway, who has the hang-time of certain NFL punters, caught Nick's throw some low clouds, counted the seams, heard coach Brian Hill screaming, "RED! RED!" (translation: "The shot clock is then turned and fired off a perfect 18-footer before dropping his landing gear and starting his initial descent.

The basket reclaimed a 20-point lead to put away the Phoster Home for good. i The Magic's graduation from an expansion team to a youngish title applicant apparent was in the rap-flavored Opening Night introductions. In past years, the Magic's theatrical department hyperventilated and the resulting smoke-and-mir-rors often could have been mistaken for South Pacific or a performance by the Moscow National Circus. This the rained pigs and Mormon Tabernacle Choir had the night off and the send-off Concentrated more on the pin-striped employees. It seems the philosophy now is to make the team the focus, a bold and unfamiliar tack hereabouts.

"We don't have to make up for what's happening on the court anymore. The players are the show now," promotions exec Jodie Pennington said, leaning the Hip-Hop-Fus can be expected to keep the fans awake with their bas ketball without an assist from pygmy sword-swallowers. Particularly now that Ijhat shocking losing streak finally has ended. Before Saturday's game, quiet and winsome Donald Royal pointed to the chalkboard standings on the locker-room wall and allowed as how he didn't expect the Magic to be in 9th place so deep into the Season. Royal then went out and contin- to celebrate his rare NBA starting ilole by surpassing his personal-record re FRANK RIVERATHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Bradley for a dunk in the 2nd quarter.

O'Neal's 30 get Orlando 1 st victory By Susan Slusser OF THE SENTINEL STAFF If Orlando Arena was a classroom, the Orlando Magic were the gold-star students on Saturday night, and the Philadelphia 76ers were the kids who showed up late and didn't know there was a test. The Magic took the hard lesson they learned in their regular-season opener Friday night, when they let a big lead slip through their hands and lost on a buzzer beater, and applied it thoroughly to the 76ers in their home opener, a 122-107 victory before a sellout crowd of 16,010. Shaquille O'Neal again led with 30 points, and Donald Royal had a career-high 14 rebounds. Nick Anderson had 22 points and eight assists. Just as they had the previous night in a 110-108 loss to the Washington Bullets in Landover, the Magic opened up a large lead in the second quarter.

But this time around, Orlando held on through a less-than-sparkling third quarter. "We did a much better job with our execution, even though there was still a little third-quarter lull," Magic coach Brian Hill said. "Friday night, we came unglued in the third quarter offensively, took a lot Please see MAGIC, C-17 you think about it, you'd rather be in this position with three or four talented quarterbacks than have just one quarterback." Place a bullet in front of Kresser's name. He entered the quarterback chase by completing 14 of 21 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns off the bench, leading the Gators (7-1) to scores in five of his six series. Kresser's 309 yards were the most by a UF quarterback in 12 games.

Wuerffel, making his second start, threw for 148 yards and two touchdowns, but Florida did not score on three of its first four possessions. And Dean, a senior who had aspirations of winning the Heisman Trophy three weeks ago, continued his inexplicable plummet, sharing the field with a handful Please see GATORS, C-9 check, 41-10 missed any notions they had overlooked Tech in favor of this week's rematch with Notre Dame in Orlando. Admittedly sluggish, they failed to deliver an early knockout when Tech left an opening. They put that in perspective, too. "There were lulls, and we hurt ourselves a lot," said FSU quarterback Danny Kanell, who threw for 154 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

"This was one of those games we just had to get through and win, and we did Please see FSU, C-8 Concern wins Classic by neck Jockey Jerry Bailey rallied Concern from last in the backstretch to beat Tabasco Cat by a neck to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. Story, C-15. UCF women win soccer crown Amy Geltz scored a goal and had an assist as Central Florida shut out FIU, 2-0, to win the TAAC title. Story, C-2. NBA results Oilando 122, Philadelphia 107 Cleveland 115, Charlotte 107 Detroit 114, Atlanta 109, OT Indiana 112, Boston 103 Houston 1 1 5, Minnesota 85 Wash.

100, Chicago 99, OT Milwaukee 97, LA Lakers 96 Dallas 112, New Jersey 103 Golden State 108, Denver 104 Portend 112, LA Clippers 95 Sorties 110, Jazz 103 Stories, bom C-76 Tkn Povtafc'i column C-16 Today In the NFL Chic, at T. Bay, 1 p.m. Indy at Miami, 1 m. Detroit vs. G.

Bay, 1 p.m. at Milwaukee New Orleans at Mim, 1 p.m. Pittsburgh at Houston, 1 p.m. San Diego at Atlanta, 1 p.m. San Fran, at 1 p.m.

N.E. at Cleveland, 4 p.m. Arizona at Phila, 4 p.m. Buffalo at N.Y. Jets, 4 p.m.

Cincy at Seattle, 4 p.m. Denver at Rams, 4 p.m. Raiders at City, 8 p.m. Greene's pro picks C-14 Shaquille UM controls i Syracuse, Big East lead By Randall Mell FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL SYRACUSE, N.Y. James Stewart's lips were moving more quickly than his feet Saturday as he outran Syracuse safety Tony Jones on a.

27-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of the University of Miami's 27-6 victory. Stewart was pointing back at Jones, talking to him as he galloped across the goal line. "I was saying 'Come on, you can't catch me. You're too slow. I'm not even 100 percent healthy, but you can't catch Stewart said.

He could have been speaking to all the Big East teams chasing the Miami Hurricanes in the conference race. After winning Saturday's battle of the Big East's unbeatens, the fifth-ranked 'Canes are once again alone atop the conference standings. "We like to think we are the best team in the Big East," Miami quarterback Frank Costa said. "We like to think this is our conference and last year was a fluke." They like to think they have reclaimed their rightful place as the Beast of the Big East after watching West Virginia knock them off and claim the conference in 1993. "We are in another league," middle linebacker Ray Lewis said.

"The Big East is in one league, and we are in another. We just Please see MIAMI, C-10 Well-armed UF marches Kresser joins artillery 17 rX'V O'Neal powers past a helpless Shawn 1 rr JOHN RAOUXTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Reidel Anthony (15) celebrates his 87-yard touchdown catch with Chris Bilkie. 1 i i TiMa, By Mike Dame OF THE SENTINEL STAFF GAINESVILLE Please ignore those last-minute suspensions, the benching of three offensive starters and an ever-expanding quarterback controversy. Fourth-ranked Florida only looked like Turmoil. The Gators' 55-17 victory Saturday over Southern Mississippi featured more intrigue and suspense than a Tom Clancy novel, spinning the heads of a homecoming crowd of 85,448 at Florida Field.

Starring in this thriller are Danny Wuerffel, Eric Kresser and Terry Dean, the components of UF's new three-headed quarterback. A climax is nowhere in sight. "It is crazy, but it's a nice craziness," wide receiver Chris Doering said. "When their third league championship in as many seasons. "Strange game, strange game," FSU cornerback Clifton Abraham said, "but we stuck with it, and now we're where we wanted to be.

"We're still unbeaten in the ACC, and we get to play Notre Dame." Behind a career rushing day by tailback Warrick Dunn and consistently big plays by its defense, FSU (7-1, 7-0 ACC) extended its record ACC winning streak to 23 games before 45,206 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Player by player, the Seminoles dis Methodical FSU keeps Tech in By Alan Schmadtke OF THE SENTINEL STAFF ATLANTA With all the traps set for an upset from Florida State's history with Georgia Tech to its future with Notre Dame the Seminoles ignored them with methodical disdain. Leaving almost all the flash, flair and drama for another day, the eighth-ranked Seminoles on Saturday wore Georgia Tech down with their running game, reefed in another Atlantic Coast Conference rout, 41-10, and reaped a share of bound total while still in the third penod. He finished with 14 and afterward discounted notions that he might dye his hair or date Madonna in the tradition of tjhe league's great rebounders..