A Boxing Memory: Mike Tyson vs. Marvis Frazier

A Boxing Memory: Mike Tyson vs. Marvis Frazier

‘Please go check on him. I’m sorry it happened like this,’ Mike Tyson said to Joe Frazier, showing the passion that was missing just a few seconds earlier.

Tyson had just bludgeoned Frazier’s son Marvis to a crushing defeat in just thirty seconds. Joe Frazier, in a state of confusion and delusion post-fight, still wasn’t convinced about the merits and the power of the man who had just destroyed his son inside a minute. Frazier talked about wanting to test the force of the power himself. Thankfully, that never happened.

There was doubt about the validity of the fight beforehand. Marvis Frazier had experienced this feeling before. In 1983, in only his eleventh fight, a fading Larry Holmes still had enough left in the tank to take out Frazier inside a round. He was out of his depth. Out of his division. It wasn’t a case of too much too soon. It was simply too much. Frazier should have been plying his trade in the cruiserweight division. There was denial, maybe with a little touch of the past, but he was mixing in a land where he didn’t belong. Holmes told him that, but Frazier didn’t listen. After Tyson, he had no choice but to listen.

The early stages of his career were governed largely by George Benton. More boxer than fighter, but then when Joe became more involved, Marvis became almost an almost mirror image of his father.

Frazier was at one time the top-rated amateur in the country. After failing to qualify for the 1980 Olympics, an upset loss to James Broad ended those particular dreams, Frazier turned professional with a 56-2 amateur resume.

Before Holmes, Frazier had got revenge over Broad in the professional ranks and huffed and puffed his way to a decision over a Joe Bugner, who was in the middle of his latest comeback in 1983. Bugner had previously lost a decision in a much better and more memorable fight with Joe Frazier ten years earlier. However, before the year ended, Frazier had to be saved from himself against Holmes.

But Frazier ploughed on with six victories and got decent wins over the likes of James Tillis, Jose Ribalta, and James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith before what many regarded as a suicide mission in agreeing to fight the rampaging new heavyweight sensation, Mike Tyson.

Tyson was 20, and in twenty-four wins and only James Tillis and Mitch Green had made the judges work for their money.

Joe Frazier had talked about his son praying for a fight with Tyson. God answered. He always did work in mysterious ways. It lasted a mere thirty seconds. Frazier was quickly backed into a corner, and one booming uppercut was the beginning of the end. A few devastating punches later it was the end.

The story of Mike Tyson has been told a million times. The heavyweight division that was terrorised and destroyed until it all came crashing down so spectacularly.

The boxing story of Marvis Frazier was all but over. He came into the Tyson fight as a ranked heavyweight. He left it, as a fighter with nowhere to go. After three low-key wins, Frazier called time on his career in 1988 after a points win over Philipp Brown.

Frazier left the sport with a 19-2 record and a tale of what could have been with more sensible matchmaking and a career at the right weight.