Holyfield Acts His Age, Wins : Boxing: Heavyweight champion, 28, scores unanimous decision over Foreman, 42.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. —  Fit beat fat, but not in the style most expected.

Evander Holyfield, defending his world heavyweight championship against a 42-year-old man who was 49 pounds heavier and light years slower, was pressed every bit of the way Friday night en route to a 12-round victory by unanimous decision.

There were no knockdowns in the surprisingly competitive fight, although Holyfield twice seemed to have Foreman on the verge of toppling. Conversely, Foreman several times rocked the champion with short, powerful punches inside.

Foreman, trying to regain the championship he lost to Muhammad Ali 16 1/2 years ago, was jelly-legged from the midway point of the fight to the finish, but was still throwing dangerous punches in the final round.

Judge Tom Kaczmarek scored it the closest, 115-112. Eugene Grant had it 116-111 and Jerry Roth scored the fight 117-110. The Times card had Foreman winning three of the first four rounds but losing, 117-110. Referee Rudy Battle took away a point from Foreman in the 11th round after his third warning for a low blow.

Foreman was clearly the crowd favorite--attendance was about 16,000, with several thousand empty seats. He was cheered lustily when he entered the ring, and when the crowd rose to cheer at the finish, the ovation seemed to be for the old challenger, who partly proved his point: He might be fat and slow, but he can still hit. He couldn’t hit Holyfield often enough or hard enough to become champion again, but he rocked him at least a couple of times in every round.

Foreman made it suspenseful--Holyfield seemed always to be on the edge of great danger against the ponderously slow, plodding challenger.

The Great Wide Hope didn’t quite make it, but he made sure an undefeated heavyweight champion (26-0) won’t forget the night he fought Big George Foreman.

“I was very surprised at his stamina,” Holyfield said.

“Who could have thought that at 42 he could have gone 12 rounds at that pace with me? He cut the ring off on me, made me punch when I didn’t want to punch. . . . I had trouble getting him off balance.

“George hits hard, but (Michael) Dokes hit me harder.

“I’d say the toughest part about the fight was the relentless pressure he put on me. And I had trouble getting to him with body shots--he was smothering them when I got inside.”

Said Foreman (24-1 on his comeback and 69-3 overall):

“Holyfield got the points, but I made the point.

“If I had another chance, I’d whip that boy. But it was a good night for me--I showed everybody it’s no disgrace to be a senior citizen. Only that boy’s fantastic jaw kept me from being heavyweight champion. He’s a fine champion and could be champion for a long time.”

Holyfield, who earned at least $20 million Friday night (pay-per-view receipts could push the sum even higher), should make even more in a fight against former champion Mike Tyson. Holyfield, who earned $8 million when he took the title from Buster Douglas last October in Las Vegas, could thus gross more than $50 million in one year.

But few would agree that Evander Holyfield looked like a $50-million fighter in the 12th round. Holyfield was hanging on in apparent exhaustion. With one minute left in the fight, Holyfield pounded Foreman at center ring with a three-punch combination that rocked the former champion. Foreman, who made at least $12.5 million, never threw another effective punch, but Holyfield seemed to have run out of gas.

The crowd booed when Holyfield wouldn’t let go of Foreman in a clinch with seconds left.

For much of the fight, Holyfield seemed uncertain as to exactly where his opportunities for a knockout were. He caught Foreman late in the ninth, including back-to-back double-jab, double-right combinations. And shortly before the bell, he hammered Foreman with a right hand. At the bell, Foreman stumbled on the way to his corner.

Foreman got a break But at no time in the fight did Holyfield have enough to put away Foreman with one punch. Only quick, sustained combinations in the third, seventh and ninth ever came close to toppling Foreman. Nor was Holyfield ever able to consistently control the action or the pace.

By contrast, Foreman often rocked Holyfield at mid-range with single, short uppercuts, and short rights and lefts.

Holyfield’s survived his worst moments in the second round. After Foreman received his first low-blow warning, he landed two left hooks on the side of Holyfield’s head. At that instant, the expression on Holyfield’s face seemed to change, as if he were momentarily confused.

And when Foreman landed a long, straight right, Holyfield backed up shakily and thousands in the crowd came to their feet.

Holyfield had completely recovered in the third, and in fact nearly knocked Foreman down with nearly a dozen punches.

Foreman, who stood in his corner between rounds listening to pleas from trainers Charlie Shipes and Angelo Dundee to sit down, wobbled Holyfield with a long right hand in the fifth round. But, as was the pattern for both men throughout, he couldn’t follow up.

The seventh ended with Foreman still very much in the fight, but he didn’t have a good eighth. Trying to throw a right hand late in the round, Foreman all but wound up like a pitcher. But Holyfield quickly countered with a straight right even before Foreman got the punch off.

Boxing Notes

On the undercard, unbeaten heavyweight Tommy Morrison was losing on points and receiving a boxing lesson from Latvian Yuri Vaulin until Morrison, on wobbly legs, stopped him with two powerful body punches in the fifth round. Morrison (223) improved to 27-0. Vaulin (209 3/4) is 10-2.

Former featherweight champion Jorge Paez (37-3-4) of Mexicali, now a lightweight, got a technical draw with Lupe Suarez (29-3-1) of Corpus Christi, Tex., after four rounds. Both fighters were bleeding from eye cuts, but Suarez’s, caused by an accidental butt, was the most troublesome.

Michael Moorer, who three months ago was a 22-0 light-heavyweight, made his heavyweight debut Friday. At 213 pounds, he stopped Terry Davis from Vallejo, Calif., now 24-2. The left-handed Moorer, from Detroit’s Kronk Gym, hit Davis, 224 1/4, with 17 overhand lefts within 40 seconds of the second round.

HBO to Show Fight Wednesday

The replay of Evander Holyfield’s decision over George Foreman Friday night will be shown on HBO next Wednesday at 9 p.m., with Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant calling the action. A viewer call-in portion is planned for the last half-hour of the replay show.