Pinklon Thomas W 12 Tim Witherspoon

Huh? Thomas beat Witherpsoon fair in square by narrow margin, but Thomas did not " school " Witherspoon, let alone come close to knocking him out.

If you think Thomas " knocks Witherpsoon out easily, that is your opinion. I do not think many here would agree with that.

 

Holmes was past his prime when he fought Witherspoon and still pulled out the win.
While Thomas did have a good jab he was nowhere near the jab Holmes had.
Holmes would have outpointed Thomas bcause the jab is the only thing Thomas had going for him.
In the Weaver bout Thomas was greatly troubled by Weaver and up until landing the knockout punch it was anyones fight.

 

No I did not. I just don't think Thomas was as good as you're making him out to be. Thomas had good mobility and a quick left, but he had a weak right hand. Losing to Tyson is ok, but getting beaten up by Bowe and Holyfield showed Thomas was not a special fighter. In fact a weak punching Mike Hunter beat Thomas.

You said, " Pinklon Thomas was far past his prime when he fought Morrison, in fact thomas was 100% shot when he fought Morrison. Prime for Prime Pinklon knocks out witherspoon easily. "

>>Again, NO Pinklon THomas would not knock Witherpsoon out easily! This is what you said. Do you want to retract this statement? Now I must go. Perhaps I can read this post on Monday night.

 

I don't think the Bowe, Holyfield and Morrison losses bear on Thomas's legacy, as those bouts occured when Thomas was well past his prime.

In assessing Thomas's true ability level, we should focus on his performances between 1982 and 1987. The Tyson loss pretty much closed the door on Thomas's prime. After that, he was shot.

 

Thomas's lifestyle choices, which invovled heroin use, cought up to him by the time he was around 30. Upon losing to Tyson in 1987, he took about a year and a half off before stepping in with Holyfield. Pinklon was basically done for by that point. Around 1990, he tried to launch a comeback and got badly outboxed by a cruiserweight named Mike " the bounty" Hunter. Not long after he would get beaten by Bowe. By the time he fought Morrison, he was nothing more than a shell of fighter.

 

Thomas had looked terrible from Berbick on, not from Tyson.

 

True, but in the period between the Berbick and Tyson fights Thomas was still close enough to his prime that these bad performances reflect on his peak ability level. This period -- 1986-87 -- we could regard as the bad side of the prime Thomas.

As for Thomas's performances after Tyson, I say forget it. He was so far gone he simply was nothing like his former self.

 

Lets not forget that during the Tyson fight, Pinklon still looked good enough to be considered a Class A fighter in the division. What happened afterwards is simply a matter of poor lifestyle choices. He declined from the Berbick fight onwards but he was still very formidable.

The Holyfield fight, I believe he was far gone. I dont even count the Morrison fight because IMHO a prime Pinklon Thomas would outbox and stop Tommy Morrison using his superior jab.

 

Thomas looked sluggish and lethargic, older than his 28 years, during the Berbick fight and two or three nothing fights afterwards, and he wasn't right for Tyson either. But he wasn't yet shot.

He was shockingly bad against Holyfield. I think Holyfield's people knew Thomas was past it but not to that extent, it really was supposed to be something of a test, but Evander just obliterated him.

(Converesely, I dont think Holyfield's people could have guessed that Mike Dokes had as much left and would prove such a stiff test as he did.)

I suppose it shows how heroin ****s you up worse that cocaine does.

 

I think the big difference is, Dokes had temporarily stopped using and was clean for a period during the late 80's. He also fought 7 times in 1988, whereas Thomas hadn't done anything in some 18 months before fighting Holyfield. Dokes was in visibly good shape, and quite possibly the best he had been in years or ever. The sad part, is that he resumed his lifestyle after the Holyfield fight and was arrested on a number of occasions for possesion of cocaine among other crimes. I believe he is currently in prison.