The Homer They Fall (S08, E03-156)

A promotional shot accurately depicting the events of the fight.

Plot Summary
Bart gets himself a tactical belt of some such, but it gets promptly taken by the school's bullies.  Homer learns of this and tries to get it back by talking to the bullies' parents at the bar, but they only beat him up to, or so they try.  As Moe shoos them off, he notices that despite having taken several blows to the head, Homer not only didn't fall, but he seems completely okay.  Moe suggests that Homer take advantage of this condition by taking up boxing, which Homer agrees to.

Marge forces Homer to see a doctor after hearing the news, and its learned that Homer's brain is far more protected from the inside than most others.  Later, Moe gives Homer a workout when its learned that Homer is terrible at actual boxing, so Moe comes up with the plan where Homer just stands there, taking punches, then when his opponent is worn out from punching, he can just push him over for an easy win.  This plan works out well, though all of Homer's opponents are some combination of bums or hobos.

Some time later, Moe, a former boxer himself, is met by his former manager, Lucius Sweet (who acts and makes as much money as Don King, and looks just like him, too).  Sweet, who manages the temporarily incarcerated boxing champion Drederick Tatum, offers Moe a chance for the big life: only if Homer can last three rounds against Tatum.  Moe is taken aback, knowing that not even Homer could stand too many of Tatum's punches, but is too tempted by the offer and accepts.

Homer seems blissfully unaware, somehow, of who Tatum is or how good he is, and willingly agrees to the fight.  Marge, who IS aware, pleads with Moe to throw in the towel if Homer is in trouble, though later Moe tosses the towel away in frustration.  A lot of celebrities show up for the fight, most notably that guy who flies in on a homemade fan.  Once the fight starts, sure enough, Homer is getting beat up bad by Tatum, though still standing on his feet.  Moe seemingly runs off, being unable to deal with the slaughter.  However, just before Tatum deals the finishing blow, Moe flies in with the fan guy's fan to save Homer at the last instant.  Sweet gives Moe his fight money out of disgusted pity and takes his leave, and Marge is happy that Moe was able to help Homer when he needed it.  Needing time to think, Moe flies off in the fan contraption, helping people around the world.

Quick Review
This ended up being a pretty good episode, with a lot of jokes and good boxing references throughout.  Things really picked up once Tatum was brought into the episode, and I really did like most of the "Tatum is going to destroy Homer" jokes that came up as a result.

Final Score: 9.1