Tyson Says Hello, Goodby to Frazier in Round 1

Marvis Frazier got a quick message from undefeated Mike Tyson, but he was listening to a more distant voice a little later.

“I’m going to take it easy, think a little bit, and see what the Good Lord has for me to do,” Frazier said Saturday after Tyson’s 30-second knockout in the first round of a scheduled 10-round heavyweight fight. “Maybe He’s trying to tell me something and I’m not listening.”

Later, Frazier said he plans to take a break from boxing, but added: “I definitely plan to fight” again.

Tyson’s victory, the earliest knockout in his 15-month-old professional career, raised his record to 25-0. He has knocked out 23 of his opponents, 15 in the first round.

Frazier’s record fell to 16-2.

Tyson weighed 217 pounds, 6 1/2 more than Frazier.

Tyson put Frazier off balance early, landing a solid right uppercut just after the opening bell. Moments later, he pinned Frazier against the ropes and landed a thunderous right uppercut that buckled Frazier’s legs.

Frazier, of Philadelphia, was jarred by two more shots by Tyson before going down.

“I could have counted to 20 and he wouldn’t have gotten up,” said referee Joe Cortez, who counted to three before seeing the futility of it and signaling that the fight was over. “However, at no time did he pass out. He was just out of it.”

Tyson, 20, of Catskill, N.Y., said he was alarmed at the manner in which Frazier crumpled into a sitting position.

He told Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight champion who trains and manages his son, to check on Frazier’s condition.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry about what happened,’ ” Tyson said.

Dr. Frank Folk, supervising physician for the state boxing commission, checked Frazier afterward and pronounced him OK.

At a news conference later, Marvis Frazier told Tyson: “Mike, you must have had a sledgehammer.”

Said Joe Frazier: “The fight ended in a fitting manner for a heavyweight bout. That’s the kind of way I’d like to see a man go out.

“From what I saw tonight, he (Tyson) can be the champion because he does the job.”

The knockout was reminiscent of the November, 1983, fight in which former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes knocked out Marvis Frazier in the first round.

Tyson’s co-managers, Bill Cayton and Jim Jacobs, began seriously discussing big-money fights against such opponents as World Boxing Council champion Trevor Berbick, Holmes and Gerry Cooney.

Cayton said talks between Holmes and the Tyson camp were held last week and will continue.

“There’s no excuse now,” Tyson said. “I’m the best fighter in the world.”