It’s very common in boxing for two fighters to be matched in a contest where their respective careers are going in opposing directions like two men travelling in adjacent elevators. When Evander Holyfield met Pinklon Thomas in December 1988, Holyfield was heading for the penthouse, while Thomas was going down faster than Hans Gruber in the Nakatomi Plaza.
Prior to the fight, Pinklon had told reporters that he would have nowhere to go if he lost to Holyfield in their 10-round bout at the Convention Hall, Atlantic City. How did he find himself in this self-proclaimed last chance saloon? Not such a long time ago, it had seemed so different.
Thomas took the WBC world heavyweight title from Tim Witherspoon in August 1984 in a closely contested upset points win. He’d followed that with an impressive first defence knockout win over Mike Weaver.
The world heavyweight championship had been fractured since the WBC stripped Leon Spinks of their title back in 1978. At the outset of Pinklon Thomas’ reign as WBC title holder, the possibility of anyone unifying the splintered heavyweight championship seemed about as likely as a convicted felon being elected president of the United States.
But what do you know? In politics and boxing, we should know better than to be shocked. The proposed HBO unification series could have been the golden ticket for Thomas. Being WBC champion secured Pinklon his place in the original lineup for the tournament, alongside Tony Tubbs, Tim Witherspoon, Michael Spinks and an aging Larry Holmes.
In recent fights, Thomas had demonstrated a punishing left jab, a powerful right hand and an engine to take him the distance if needed. It was easy to make a case that he could come out with all three belts as the last man standing. The path was there, now just keep winning.
Thomas’ first fight as part of the HBO series was set to be a routine title defence against Trevor Berbick in March 1986; a stepping stone towards the bigger money fights. Instead of a stepping stone it turned out to be a rock of another kind; the first rock of the landslide that finished his career.
In the heavyweight division at certain times during the 1980s, Trevor Berbick’s name could be used as a verb. To get “Berbicked” was to go into a fight with the muscular Canadian/Jamaican expecting a routine win, only to end up with your career derailed.
John Tate, Muhammad Ali and Greg Page had all been “Berbicked”. In 1986, Pinklon Thomas was the latest to join the club. Against Berbick, Thomas was lethargic and outhustled by the often-erratic challenger, losing the title and his place in the HBO series.
While Berbick went on to be shellshocked by a rampaging Mike Tyson later that year, Thomas went away to have a series of low-key comeback wins, before facing Tyson in May 1987. Thomas gave Iron Mike something to think about for a few rounds before being brutalised in a sixth-round knockout defeat.
Following the loss to Tyson, Thomas was inactive for 18 months before his meeting with Holyfield the following December. He may have only suffered two career defeats to this point, but he was right in thinking that his days were numbered as a contender if he lost to the man becoming known as the “Real Deal”.
In the world of boxing players, Thomas had gone from a leading man to a supporting role. Nearly all the pre-fight newspaper coverage was directed at Evander Holyfield. The narrative was all about his attempted transition from undisputed cruiserweight champion to fully fledged heavyweight contender and possible future Tyson opponent.
Writing in Newsday, Wallace Matthews laid it out.
“Holyfield realises that, whether he likes it or not, his heavyweight fortunes are inextricably linked with Tyson’s.”
In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Robert Seltzer concurred and expanded on the challenge that faced Holyfield.
“He will be praised or criticised, lauded or belittled, according to how he would fare against the seemingly invincible champion. Holyfield has to keep proving himself worthy, and he knows it.”
As he prepared to face Thomas in his second fight as a heavyweight, Evander Holyfield still held all three versions of the cruiserweight world title. His final fight at 190lbs had been as recent as April, when he had unified the cruiserweight titles with a win over Carlos De Leon.
His official heavyweight debut had been in July; a fifth-round stoppage win over a faded James Tillis. Critics noted that despite the inside the distance victory, he had not been able to floor Tillis. As a fighter moving up in weight, questions would inevitably be asked as to whether he would have the power to hurt the bigger men. When that question was frequently asked, it would always be with Tyson in mind.
For the Tillis fight, Holyfield had bulked up to 202lbs. He was expected to be heavier again for Thomas. Fight fans did not have to have long memories to recall a lighter weight fighter gaining poundage in an attempt to win the heavyweight crown.
Michael Spinks had enlisted the help of Mackie Shilstone to help transform himself from light-heavyweight champion into a heavyweight. Spinks had been successful in dethroning Larry Holmes and earning a mega-money fight with Tyson; far greater riches than he could make in the 175lb division. Holyfield wanted to go one step further, not just to get the fight with Tyson, but to win it. In his case, he had recruited Tim Hallmark.
Hallmark had been working with Holyfield since 1986. Initially he had been brought in by Evander’s co-trainer, Lou Duva, to improve the fighter’s stamina. Hallmark had a track record of success in other sports, but he had never worked with a fighter before. After Holyfield won his first world title in just his twelfth professional fight in a 15-round titanic struggle against Dwight Muhammad Qawi, there were no more questions about his staying power.
Now Hallmark’s job was to help the 1984 Olympic bronze medallist gain the weight needed to be able to compete at heavyweight. This would require a non-traditional approach to boxing training. Lou Duva and George Benton would deal with the boxing preparation, while Hallmark detailed some of what would fall under his remit.
“We’re talking about a regimen that incorporates kinesiology, physics, mental visualisation, and a whole lot of other things that most fight people won’t be familiar with.”
Hallmark felt that heavyweights should be judged by their performance, not their weight. Bigger was not always better and his role was just one piece of the jigsaw.
“The way I see it, there’s nobody easy out there in the heavyweight division. There’s no given in boxing. One punch can be the difference in a fight, so we want Evander to be as well prepared as possible. That means strength. That means speed. That means endurance. That means everything.”
The team that would be in the opposite corner took a different view. Pinklon Thomas felt that size would matter.
“I’m not fighting a big guy; I’m fighting a little guy. I’m going to send him back to the cruiserweights.”
Angelo Dundee, Thomas’ trainer, was of the old school and it had served him well.
“We’ll see how hi-tech goes against low-tech. I don’t believe in hi-tech. I believe in natural conditioning and proper training. The same things that fighters have been doing since the start of boxing.”
While Holyfield might have wanted conversations with the press to focus on his immediate task, talk of a fight with Tyson could not be avoided.
“I realise a lot of people want to see that fight come off, and since he is the heavyweight champion, that is my goal, it’s the fight that I want. I want to be the best in the world and that means beating the best. Eventually we are going to fight, if Tyson doesn’t slip up.”
This was a time when Tyson was attracting a lot of negative publicity for issues in his personal life and how he was conducting his business affairs. Most observers could not see anyone relieving Tyson of the title unless he self-destructed. Holyfield only spoke of the champion in a positive light.
“He has that drive to win. I have that same drive. You’re never really tested unless you fight somebody who has that same drive. I’m looking for him to be there. I don’t expect anything to happen to him. That’s what I want. I’m not like a lot of people who talk about him. I think he’s a credit to boxing. He’s the best right now. He stands there and says, ‘Here it is. You want it? Come and get it.’ He gives you the opportunity. You’ve got to want it.”
“You can’t be the champ if you’re going to find reasons to cop out. There’s a price to pay if you fight him. If you want it, you’ve got to pay the price. I admire him for the way he goes in there and gets other fighters to fight his fight. They know what they’re supposed to do, but he won’t let them do it.”
To stop Tyson doing what he wanted to do would surely take a real heavyweight punch? Did Holyfield have one? Would he prove it in this fight with Thomas?
“A lot of people might feel it is important for this guy to hit the canvas, but for me it’s just important to win. I don’t have to knock him out to prove I’m a heavyweight.”
Pinklon Thomas, with a record of 29-2-1, weighed in at 222lbs, while Holyfield hit the scales at 210lbs. Evander had an unblemished record of 19-0 and was 26 years old. Thomas was just four years his senior but within minutes of the opening bell looked much, much older.
The fight was televised by Showtime in the US, with Steve Albert and Dr Ferdie Pacheco at ringside. Thomas entered the ring wearing a baseball cap which when he removed it, revealed that he had shaved his head. Ron Borges, of the Boston Globe, referenced Pinklon’s new look in his post-fight report, writing that Thomas entered the ring “looking like Mahatma Gandhi. Unfortunately for his boxing future, he also boxed like him.”
The pattern of the fight was set in the first round. Holyfield was clearly faster with hands and feet and had more variety to his work. Thomas was too stationary a target to avoid the combinations coming his way. In the last half minute of round one, Thomas was shaken by a Holyfield left hook.
As early as the second round, Pacheco remarked that Pinklon was “looking confused and slow” and in the third round added that the former heavyweight champion was taking “a fearful shellacking.” It was as one-sided as a fight can be without any knockdowns.
Prior to the fourth round, Dundee had to work on a cut under his fighter’s right eye. The legendary cornerman implored Thomas to, “start doing something…”. Pinklon was unable to respond to the exhortations of his trainer as the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds were more of the same. Holyfield bouncing on his toes, only serving to highlight the flat-footed Thomas. The seventh round was the worst yet for Thomas and he was under intense pressure as the round ended. Michael Katz reported in the New York Daily News, that Holyfield ended the seventh by throwing 23 unanswered punches. Thomas staggered back to his corner and Dundee immediately informed referee Tony Perez that he was stopping the fight. Pinklon sat despondent in his corner as his gloves were cut off.
The judges scoring of the fight was not required but their totals at the time of the stoppage were telling. Two of the three judges scored the third round 10-8, even without a knockdown. The seventh round was scored 10-8 again by two of the three judges, with the other scoring it 10-7. Thomas only won one round on one of the judges’ cards.
Dundee acknowledged he had misjudged Holyfield and explained why he stopped the fight.
“Holyfield is much stronger than I thought. He manhandled Pink, which very few guys can do. I take my hat off to him. He was the better man tonight. There was no point in letting my guy take more punishment. He did the best he could. It just wasn’t enough.”
Ron Borges wrote that Thomas “looked like a tired man of 65, struggling along the Boardwalk, assaulted by an unrelenting wind that ripped at his face and taunted his tottering legs,” while Wallace Matthews noted the deterioration in the former champion’s skills.
“His once formidable jab was a mere back-hand slap, and the powerful right hand he used to knockout Mike Weaver in 1985 was now a sluggish push.”
But as was the case prior to the fight, most of the attention went to the winner. While George Benton gave his fighter an A+ for his performance, that was not a universally shared view. The critics amongst the press noted that while Holyfield was now 2-0 as a heavyweight, he had been unable to score a knockdown in either fight.
As you would expect, Benton was quick to defend his fighter, arguing that the fights were being stopped just before Evander could score the knockdown. Benton acknowledged that initially he felt Holyfield should have dropped Thomas.
“But then I remembered, Pinklon has a hell of a chin. Remember, I trained him for a while. Tyson hit him with everything for five rounds and he didn’t go nowhere. Ain’t nobody beat up on Pinklon before, just Tyson, and he had plenty of rest since then. I’m telling you; Holyfield is hurting these guys. Plus, he’s not getting hurt. And that’s the name of the game.”
Holyfield’s promoter, Dan Duva, also presented the counter argument to the supposed lack of heavyweight power, pointing out that despite the lack of knockdowns in recent fights, Evander had now won nine straight fights by stoppage. With the spectre of Tyson looming large, many remained unconvinced with Phil Berger, of the New York Times, writing that, “Holyfield has been winning fights but losing believers.”
Evander offered an honest assessment of his progress in relation to his ultimate goal.
“I know I have to fight better than I fought tonight. Because if that’s my best, I don’t see myself being heavyweight champion of the world.”
Pinklon Thomas had now shared the ring with the current champion and number one contender. They had both been painful evenings. While he would not commit on his own ring future, he offered an assessment of the man who had just beaten him.
“This kid has more tools than Mike Tyson. He’s fast. He’s strong. He’s durable. He hits hard. He can do it all. He’s got all the attributes of a heavyweight. I think he can dominate the division.”
While Thomas’ future was unclear, Team Holyfield had Evander’s immediate schedule mapped out. Former WBA champion, Michael Dokes, had successfully continued his comeback on the same card, hammering journeyman Rocky Sekorski over twelve rounds. Holyfield-Dokes would be next and scheduled for the following March.
Evander would, of course, go on to win the world heavyweight title, although Tyson would indeed “slip up” before Holyfield got to him. The “Real Deal” would relieve Buster Douglas of the title in Douglas’ first defence in October 1990. It would then be another six years before Holyfield and Tyson would finally meet in the ring.
After losing to Evander, Pinklon Thomas was now strictly an opponent. He went on to suffer stoppage losses to the likes of Riddick Bowe and Tommy Morrison, while also racking up several meaningless wins before retiring for good in 1993. Unbelievably, after his win over Pinklon Thomas, Evander Holyfield would continue to box professionally for another 22 years.
But back in December 1988, all that both men knew was that their careers were heading in very different directions; Holyfield was in the ascendency, while Thomas stared into the abyss. He had gone from contender to champion to just being a marquee name in just a handful of years and fights. The taxman even took his entire $175,000 purse for the Holyfield fight; a blow harder to take than an Evander left hook.
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