Is Tony Tucker Another Foreman? : Boxing: Former IBF champion, weighing 249 1/2, stops last-minute replacement in first minutes at Forum.

Tony Tucker, carrying a Buster Douglas-like paunch at 249 1/2 pounds but a George Foreman-like punch, knocked out grossly overmatched journeyman James Ray Thomas in one round at the Forum Monday night.

Tucker, the 32-year-old former International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion whose last loss was to Mike Tyson in 1987, charged across the ring after the 205-pound Thomas at the opening bell, began pounding him with straight right hands and left hooks and didn’t let up until Thomas was flat on his back in a neutral corner. The fight was stopped at 1:43 of the first.

The 6-foot-5 Tucker, who earned $25,000, is now, according to his manager, two fights away from a chance to regain the heavyweight championship he lost to Tyson.

Tucker was to have fought another heavyweight on a comeback, Tim Witherspoon, on the undercard of the Forum’s June 3 Virgil Hill-Tommy Hearns show at Caesars Palace, but Witherspoon dropped out this week and was replaced by Orlin Norris (28-3).

“Our plan now is for Tony to beat Orlin Norris on that card, then for Tony to beat a top 10-ranked fighter in August or September,� Tucker’s manager, Jack Cohen, said Monday night. “After that, we feel Tony will be positioned for a title fight.�

If he doesn’t eat himself out the opportunity, that is. In his six comeback fights since losing two years of his career to a series of drug, personal and financial problems, Tucker has weighed 243 3/4, 251, 243 1/2, 242 1/2, 246 and, Monday, 249 1/2. When he went 12 competitive rounds with Tyson, he weighed 221.

Whatever, the whale-like Tucker was far too much for Thomas, who, in fairness, was the Forum boxing staff’s fourth opponent for Tucker. The original opponent was Canadian heavyweight champion Conroy Nelson, but he flunked the state-required neurological exam Friday.

Next, the California Athletic Commission rejected J.B. Williamson as an opponent, and then James Broad also flunked the neuro. Enter Thomas, from Vinton, La., who told everyone his record was 15-6-2.

But Southland boxing statistician Dean Lohuis took a closer look and called him 6-6-2.

About Tucker’s weight, not to worry, the fighter said.

“This is all water,� he said, tapping his stomach. “I can take this off. When I fight Norris, I’ll be at 235.�

At 1:10 of the first, Tucker hurt Thomas with a left hook to the head that made Thomas back up clear across the ring, Tucker in pursuit. Then Thomas ran to the other side of the ring, where the former champion, now 40-1 with 33 knockouts, finished his foe with a left hook to the side of the head.

Only slightly more interesting than the brief main event before a crowd of 5,251 was a 10-round Forum lightweight tournament bout between former amateur whiz Kelcie Banks and Mexican journeyman Marco Antonio Ramirez.

Between the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics, Banks was considered America’s best amateur boxer. He was a world amateur champion featherweight, but then he was knocked out in his first bout at Seoul by a Copenhagen waiter named Rogelio Tuur.

Banks won a unanimous decision over Ramirez, but it wasn’t pretty. Banks (17-1-1) struggled in every round against an unskilled fighter who at age 22 is 38-16-1.

Banks still has a world-class right jab, but he didn’t slip a punch all night against the wild-swinging Ramirez. Nor did Banks’ other punches carry much snap. He never knocked Ramirez down.