Look for the obvious oil leaks, tires,breaks.
I like a bike to be spotlessly clean,it shows pride of ownership,mileage as low as possible,seat tears,exaust discoloration.
If your boy friend rides a crotch rocket and then jumps on the savage he will find it a bit low key,don't let that put you off,a good savage is a fine bike,easy to handle even for a little guy like myself 5' 7" 140 lbs,it has ample power ,and they handle great.
You are doing the right thing taking the coarse,they will teach you things your boy friend might not,no offence to the BF.
Good luck ,Mick

I bought a used 96 this May with 9,000 miles on it. don't assume the oil plug leak has happened & been fixed by the time you buy bike of that vintage/miles. mine started about 500 miles later. there is a great step by step how to fix on technical side of site. (just putting off doing mine!)

as far as other inborn faults - I'm too new to comment more on Savage but expect old hands here will help you mucho.

usual stuff on a bike to look for - state of tires (not just tread but cracking if they are originals on the 96 (like mine on front!), state of fork oil seal (signs of deposits on sliders, etc, etc. sure partner knows to look for all this stuff anyway.

couple of things to consider - even if the seller says just had oil change do it anyway - simple, gets you into wrenching & a good precautionary measure (small filter doing a fair bit of work) I would then change it every 1000 miles - oil & filter are cheap compared to a knackered engine.

as far as replacing worn out stuff - if brakes are shot then replace with say EBC brand (I got  mine locally by surprise @ a good price taking into account shipping if bought online. Bought them locally so bike store would know my face in case I really needed them in future. They like most things are cheaper than oem & in my view work better.