FIGHT OF THE WEEK #5- Pinklon Thomas vs Trevor Berbick (35th Anniversary edition)

Well we are back for the 5th installment of Fight of the week, where we review, rescore and remember some historic fights of the past. We have looked at MW, SBW, HW and WW this week we take another trip to the HW division, so far we have traveled to 1989, 2008, 1971, and 1951 this week we travel back to 1986, 35 years ago!

Pinklon Thomas was a 7-1 favorite over Trevor Berbick and many (another post later on in the thread) expected him to make short work of the inconsistent Berbick. What ensued was a hard fought, hard hitting battle between the 2 men. This would be the first fight of an elimination series that Don King was calling “The Heavyweight World Series”. This series would ultimately end up with Iron Mike Tyson emerging as the unified champion. While Tyson would go on to beat both Berbick and Thomas, this was the fight that began it it all!

Take a trip down memory lane this week as we take a fresh look at a sometimes forgotten fight. Get your scorecards out and give your verdict, share some thoughts on the infight action, or share some memories from the fight for those who lived during this era. If anyone watched it live in person or on TV I would love to hear your stories!

So let’s get it on, here is Pinklon Thomas vs Trevor Berbick March 22, 1986!

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For those who want to get into memory mode rather than hindsight, there is some build up in the video.

for those who want more, here is Thomas predicting a KO leading up to the fight.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-03-22-8601170892-story,amp.html

and an LA times look towards the fight from earlier that day.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.la...-xpm-1986-03-22-sp-22108-story.html?_amp=true

 

You gotta love the Bravado of Pinklon:

I'll start proving myself by knocking out Berbick by the sixth round," said Thomas, 29, who is 26-0-1 with 21 KOs. "Then I'll wither the Spoon, take the jinx out of Spinks and send Larry home."

 

Here are 8 scorecards from EOTR to contrast yours with if you feel like it! Not one person disagrees with the verdict (nor do I remember any controversy which is rare for a fight so close on Ledderman’s and all 3 judges scorecards)

https://eyeonthering.com/boxing/heavyweight-world-series-pinklon-thomas-vs-trevor-berbick

 

I envy you guys that got to see this. Who were you picking? Did you watch it live? And if so where did you watch it at?

unfortunately I remember the build up and like most i expected Pinklon to win in short fashion. But this is a fight I have never seen, and this FOTW will actually be my first. I do remember listening to it on the radio. This was 2 or 3 years before I got cable and way before YouTube. I was working night shift at The Factory, Progresso Soup (better than campbells is my short commercial). I worked in Quality Control so had much more freedom of movement than general labor (thankful, not boasting). My boss and I got on well and were both (most of the guys still were back in the 80’s) were boxing fans. So we did our checks early and then gathered in our lab, to listen on the radio (can’t remember how many years since boxing has been on the radio near me), and we were back and forth every few minutes so missed rounds etc. but I remember being surprised that Berbick won. Hopefully some of you guys watched it....

 

I am sure there are more than you and I can think of off the top of our little heads. But I have made that my personal goal to make a list of all the fights I have seen that have readily available opportunities to rewatch, as well as the fights I want to see that are available as well and catalog them by month...I am a nerd and have way to much time on my hands. But there are a few. I came down to this and Emile Griffith vs Luis Rodriguez 2.

 

lol, yeah me too although it has been a while (intentionally). I figured if I was gonna rewatch one I guess it would be the 2nd...maybe another time lol

 

It’s a good week to remember Harold Ledderman as well:

Lederman’s arrival to premium cable came shortly before Lampley, when he called then-HBO executive Ross Greenburg in early 1986 after watching a broadcast whose commentary veered wildly from the final result. He floated the idea of adding a pair of licensed scoring eyes to the announce team to interpret rules and decode judging mysteries.

Greenburg invited him to help with coverage of a match between Pinklon Thomas and Trevor Berbick a few weeks later, though Lederman told me a few years back that the fight-week perception of Thomas as an easy winner convinced him the stint would be a short one.

“I said to my wife, ‘Pinklon Thomas is a 7-to-1 favorite. What's gonna happen is I'm gonna go to Las Vegas, Thomas is going to belt this guy out in the first round and my career on HBO is gonna be abruptly over,’” he said. “Little did I know that Trevor Berbick hired the very famous trainer, Eddie Futch, to train him, and that's the only fight that Eddie Futch ever trained Trevor
So anyway, Trevor Berbick wound up winning the unanimous decision, HBO liked what I had to say and they've been asking me back ever since. Every time I used to run into Eddie Futch, I would say, ‘Hey Eddie, you're responsible for my career on HBO. If it wasn't for you training Berbick, I would've never been on HBO.’ He used to get a big kick out of that.”

Thanks to the upset, he became a fixture.

link:

https://www.*******.com/saying-goodbye-harold-lederman--138990

 

I am hoping to sit down to watch this one tonight with a big cup of coffee and a fat cigar. Appreciate both of your cards. I find it interesting that both of your cards are wider than the judges, and that you both felt it was close. I am also surprised there is no conflict over this fight (I’ve never seen it so I have no agenda), generally when you find judges scoring 1 rd day deference on all the cards there is usually at least a ripple of controversy. I have yet to see someone say Thomas should have won...I hope I am not the first lol.