BOXING : Bowe Knocks Out Seldon at 1:48 of the First Round

Unbeaten heavyweight contender Riddick Bowe knocked Bruce Seldon down and then out in the first round of their scheduled 10-round bout Friday night.

Bowe, 26-0 with 23 knockouts, dropped Seldon with a right in the middle of the ring. Seldon struggled to get to his feet, but collapsed after the second and last effort. Referee Joe O’Neill stopped the bout at 1:48.

The knockout came seconds after Seldon got up at the count of eight after being dropped with an overhand right that followed a left jab.

Seldon, 18-2 with 15 knockouts, tried to establish control with a left jab. It worked at first, but Bowe proved to have too many skills to be bothered for long.

Bowe, who turns 24 today, had no time to show any fatigue from a third-round TKO of Phil Brown 16 days earlier. The Brooklyn, N.Y., heavyweight likes to fight frequently and has said he hopes to contend for the title within a year.

Seldon hoped to rebound from his first defeat--a ninth-round KO loss to Oliver McCall in April. The loss to Bowe deals a serious blow to the 24-year-old Atlantic City native’s hopes of staying in serious title contention.

The TVKO pay-per-view bout replaced a scheduled fight between World Boxing Organization champion Ray Mercer and Tommy Morrison. That fight has been rescheduled for Oct. 18.

Bowe weighed 225 3/4; Seldon 220.

On the undercard, World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight champion Bobby Czyz retained his title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Bash Ali.