Interesting pair up. Walcott, calm when under fire and could change a fight with a punch from the blue. Thomas with his great Jab and combinations. I see a fight of mixed fortune s with Thomas controlled the fight for stretches and Walcott suddenly hurting him and taking the lead. But at the fight end, no one person could predict who s won. But I'll say Walcott just edges over the finishing line to get a split decision win.
Walcott on points. Thomas to me was yet another disappointing "champion" from the 80s (ranked there with Witherspoon, Dokes, and Page) who lost fights he shouldn't have. I actually expected more out of him than the other three, due to what could have been a devastatingly effective jab. Thomas might give a give show of himself, but he just wasn't a good enough fighter to beat Jersey Joe imo.
We scored Thomas - Weaver (until the knockout) for a Fight of the Week. Thomas, was as tough as anybody, he took punches from Weaver and didn't flinch and Thomas had one of the best jabs I've seen. Weaver, IMO is a huge puncher. That fight, along with Ibeabuchi - Tua and Byrd, were the best heavyweight fights we scored in the FOTW series. We also scored Marciano - Walcott 1 until the knockout. I'd take Thomas of the Weaver fight over Walcott.
Walcott did outbox Joe Louis, twice and Thomas didn't have the punching power to rescue him like Louis did.
Pinklon Thomas had a very good Jab but a prime focused cuffs off Walcott easily outpoints him and may drop him while outboxing him - The fights that Walcott showed his goods were 2 Louis fights- Marciano and Charles- and he showed his skills and power - on a good night for both men my choice is Walcott
Pinky was the more talented and hit a brief prime where he was exceptional. He was more consistent in following a game plan, more focussed in-ring, much better jab of course, and just a bit too much man for Walcott. You have to rough up Pinky to take him off his game and Joe wouldn't do that. Pinky by unanimous and convincing decision.