GEORGE FOREMAN (48), traded punches toe-to-toe for 12 rounds with a very tough 31-year-old Lou Savarese to earn a split decision on Saturday.

There were no knockdowns, but Savarese was cut over his left eye and on his right cheek. He also had a point deducted by the referee in the 11th round for low blows after several warnings.

Savarese was the 6-5 favourite in a fight that was much more entertaining than anticipated between the lumbering Foreman and the relatively inexperienced Savarese, who has faced few formidable opponents in his career.

The two big men at times seemed glued to each other as they leaned forward trying to untangle the other's arms and land short punches to the head.

Judge Barbara Perez scored the fight, before about 7,000 fans in the west Hall of the Atlantic City Convention Centre, 115-112 for Foreman. Al DeVito had it 114-113 for Savarese, and Safeeq Rashada had Foreman ahead 118-110.

Foreman, who had been respectfully cautious throughout most of the fight, was leaping in - or as much as the rotund Foreman could leap - with round-house punches in the 12th round in a bid to knock out Savarese.

The fight was for something dubbed the "Linear Heavyweight Championship of the World" - a figment of the promoters' imagination announced just moments before the fight. It had been billed for the lightly-regarded World Boxing Union title, but there was an apparent dispute over sanctioning fees and the WBU withheld its sanction, not that anyone really cared.