Tysons Ko Of Marvis Frazier

That knockout is not that impressive to me, I feel more sorry for Marvis.
It was supposed to be a CW weight class, but unfortunately for him it was then limited to 190lbs.
Even so, he never embarrassed himself (since, realistically, he was never meant to be a heavyweight) with losses to Holmes in 1983 and Tyson in 1986.
Many would envy having Marvis' career.

 

Either you count it as the spotless performance against a solid opponent that it was, or you assign a special set of rules to your judgement bc Tyson won too easily or didn’t get off the floor etc.

 

Frazier had been stopped on his feet in the first round against Holmes and was lucky referee Joey Curtis didn't stop his fight against James Tillis in the second round.

But he had outpointed the dangerous Bonecrusher Smith.

Frazier did not have the style to trouble Tyson.

He was not a mover. He like to get inside and trade.

Still, the way Tyson knocked him totally unconscious in less than 30 seconds was quite impressive.

 

Due to their brevity, 1st round KOs can be inherently problematic to assess - though, even given the short time allowed, the domination can be quite thorough - some 1st blow outs have been that much more impressive than others.

Blow outs were very much Tyson’s thing. He didn’t stylistically outbox opponents over the longer haul - he smashed in a few rounds.

So yeah, in his lane, very impressive. Punchers often appear that much more impressive and perhaps invulnerable as compared to their boxer type counterparts.

There’s a degree of legitimacy to the perception but it is also illusory in part, as history has often proven. Auras develop and can play a material part in so far how timid it might cause the opposition to be.

In contrast, I would find, say, Ali’s consistent and thorough out boxing of Terrell over 15 long rounds that much more impressive and more solid evidence of Ali’s viability against other ATGs.

So, while the KO of Marvis was highly impressive - no question, just imo, it wasn’t necessarily a strong recommendation as to how Mike might fare against vastly superior opposition.

 

I remember it being a foregone conclusion … like a guaranteed KO 1.

Marvis had been stopped in one by Larry Holmes and also stopped in iirc 21 seconds by James Broad in the amateurs. Marvis could box but this was a terrible matchup for him.

 

He beat Bonecrusher Smith, even though Smith had all the advantages. He beat Tillis, Ribalta, Broad. Some decent heavyweights. So he proved that he could beat decent fighters, but he was not beating great heavies.

 

It was impressive because of its brutality but IMO he had zero business in the ring with Tyson.

 

Agree in hindsight but Marvis Frazier was a top ranked contender. Sooner or later he was going to have to get in the ring with someone “ he had zero business being in the ring with. “ either that or make small time pay days fighting fringe guys and journeyman for the rest of his career

 

Michael Spinks was the "vastly superior opposition" while taking Holmes 0 , repeated it in the rematch , dismantled a still dangerous Cooney , was favored by many Trainers and Boxing writers to defuse Tyson and lasted 91 seconds.

 

Totally agree with you.

In hindsight too, I don’t think Marvis was well served by his father’s guidance.

 

I’ve heard that too. Marvis was apparently better suited as a boxer but Joe tried to push his own style on to him. And taking the Holmes fight ( though lucrative ) was probably a selfish move facilitated by Dad.

 

Not as he presented on the night of the fight - remember the aura I referenced . Spinks was **** scared. Speaking of Larry, even the old, inactive and ill prepared Holmes lasted that much longer the Spinks.