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| Date | July 26, 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | None | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tyson wins via 1st-round KO | |||||||||||||||||||
Mike Tyson vs. Marvis Frazier was a professional boxing match contested on July 26, 1986. The fight took place at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York, USA.
Tyson won the fight via knockout in the first round, attaining victory within thirty seconds. This would prove to be the fastest knockout victory of Tyson’s career.
The Tyson-Frazier fight was carried by ABC as part of its Wide World of Sports anthology series. Jim Lampley was the lead commentator, with Alex Wallau as the analyst.
Tyson had been keeping busy throughout the first two years of his professional career. Entering 1986, he had fought a total of fifteen fights and won each one by knockout, with only one lasting longer than three rounds and eleven ending in the first round. Prior to fighting Frazier, Tyson had fought nine times in 1986 and defeated all but two fighters by knockout, as former championship challenger James Tillis and Mitch Green had taken him to decision victories; he also had initially defeated Jesse Ferguson by disqualification, but the fight result was changed to a knockout. Entering this fight, Tyson was rated #2 in the World Boxing Council’s ratings.
The son of former world champion Joe Frazier, Marvis was trained by his father and was regarded as an up-and-coming prospect who might some day become the heavyweight champion. [1] Frazier would eventually get a chance to fulfill those predictions, as in only his eleventh professional fight, he challenged for the linear heavyweight championship against champion Larry Holmes on November 25, 1983. in a bout that was not recognized as a title fight by the WBC. Holmes, who would later be stripped by the WBC for accepting this fight over a mandatory defense against Greg Page, dominated the younger Frazier and knocked him out in one round. [2]
Following his loss to Holmes, Frazier rebounded to win his next six fights, including unanimous decision victories over Tillis and future world champion James "Bonecrusher" Smith, to get back into contention. Frazier, however, came into his fight with Tyson as an overwhelming underdog, leading some to criticize his father, manager and trainer Joe for overmatching him. [3]
Tyson quickly had Frazier on the defensive, using his left jab to back Frazier into the ropes. Frazier then retreated to the corner where Tyson continued to use his left jab before unleashing two consecutive uppercuts, the second of which knocked Frazier unconscious. Tyson then landed several more blows before Frazier fell to the canvas, slumped against the ropes. Referee Joe Cortez began to count to ten, but as Frazier was clearly unresponsive, stopped the count at five and ended the fight. The fight lasted only 30 seconds, and was the quickest victory of Tyson's professional career. [4]
Tyson continued his blistering pace after this fight, taking a fight against Jose Ribalta less than a month after fighting Frazier and then facing Alfonzo Ratliff three weeks after that. He won both of those fights by knockout, with Ribalta lasting until the tenth round and Ratliff the second, setting up his contest against Trevor Berbick in November where he made history and became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history.
Frazier, meanwhile, only fought three more times after Tyson knocked him out. After his last fight in 1988, Frazier became a minister and began working with prisoners through Prison Fellowship International.
Larry Holmes is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He is often considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Easton Assassin".
Evander Holyfield is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and was the only boxer in history to win the undisputed championship in two weight classes in the "three belt era", a feat later surpassed by Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk, who became two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era. Nicknamed "the Real Deal", Holyfield is the only four-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBA, WBC, and IBF titles from 1990 to 1992, the WBA and IBF titles again from 1993 to 1994, the WBA title a third time from 1996 to 1999; the IBF title a third time from 1997 to 1999 and the WBA title for a fourth time from 2000 to 2001.
Pinklon Thomas is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1978 to 1993. He was boxing's first 'Centennial Champion' (1886-1986) and held the WBC heavyweight title from 1984 to 1986. He is often regarded as one of the best boxers of his generation. He scored notable victories over former heavyweight champions such as Mike Weaver, Tim Witherspoon, James Tillis and future cruiserweight champion Alfonso Ratliff. He also fought to a draw with future WBA Heavyweight Champion Gerrie Coetzee. Thomas' distinguishing characteristics were his pink boxing trunks and a powerful left jab.
James Tillis is an American former professional boxer and actor. Known as "Quick", he was known for his remarkably fast hand speed for a man of his size and build. A natural southpaw, Tillis turned around to orthodox midway in his amateur career. His left remained the stronger hand and for that reason, he had a powerful jab and left hook, together with the ability to switch stances while fighting. Tillis challenged for the WBA world heavyweight title in 1981, but was defeated in a fifteen-round unanimous decision fight against Mike Weaver. Tillis was the first man to go the distance with Mike Tyson in 1986, breaking his knockout-streak and giving him a relatively close fight, nearly a draw, with two of three judges scoring the fight 6-to-4. He holds notable wins over Ron Stander by TKO in the 7th round in 1980, and the hard punching Earnie Shavers by ten-round decision in 1982. Tillis fought for the last time in 2001 at the age of 44.
Tim Witherspoon is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2003. He was a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the WBC title in 1984, and the WBA title in 1986. He beat Heavyweight World Champions Greg Page, James Smith, Tony Tubbs, Frank Bruno and Cruiserweight World Champions Alfonzo Ratliff and Al Cole. He is best known for his fight against undefeated Heavyweight World Champion Larry Holmes in which he lost by Split decision. Witherspoon also worked as a regular sparring partner for Muhammad Ali.
James "Bonecrusher" Smith is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999 and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1986 to 1987.
Tony Tubbs is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2006, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1985 to 1986.
Bruce Samuel Seldon is an American former professional boxer and current boxing trainer, who competed from 1988 to 1996, and 2004 to 2009. He held the WBA heavyweight title from 1995 to 1996, most notably losing to Mike Tyson via knockout in his second defense.
Marvis Frazier is an American former professional boxer who fought in the heavyweight division.
Evander Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe was a professional boxing match that took place on November 13, 1992 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was contested for the undisputed world heavyweight championship, which consisted of the WBA, WBC, and IBF championships.
Frank Bruno vs. Mike Tyson II, billed as The Championship: Part I, was a professional boxing match contested on March 16, 1996 for the WBC heavyweight championship.
Trevor Berbick vs. Mike Tyson, billed as Judgment Day, was a professional boxing match contested on November 22, 1986 for the WBC heavyweight championship.
Mike Tyson vs. Larry Holmes, billed as Heavyweight History, was a professional boxing match contested on January 22, 1988, for the WBA, WBC and IBF Heavyweight Championships.
Mike Tyson vs. Carl Williams was a professional boxing match contested on July 21, 1989, for WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring heavyweight championships.
Mike Tyson vs. Pinklon Thomas, billed as Hard Road to Glory, was a professional boxing match contested on May 30, 1987, for the WBA and WBC heavyweight championships.
Oliver McCall vs. Larry Holmes, billed as "Burden of Proof", was a professional boxing match contested on April 8, 1995 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship. The undercard included world championship bouts in four other categories.
Oliver McCall vs. Frank Bruno, billed as "The Empire Strikes Back", was a professional boxing match contested on 2 September 1995 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship.
Evander Holyfield vs. James Tillis was a professional boxing match contested on July 16, 1988. The fight is notable for being Holyfield's first in the heavyweight division.
José Manuel Ribalta is a Cuban former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division from 1982 to 1999. A talented and physically imposing gatekeeper, Ribalta is best known for his brave performance against Mike Tyson in 1986.
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