Hasim Rahman vs. Pinklon Thomas

People talk about Thomas a lot on this forum. With Thomas they wonder, "What could have been?" and they talk about his good jab. At his best, Thomas was a good fighter to say the least. His career was slow going at first, he fought basically no one worth mentioning thru the 1st 4 years of his career. Eventually he would beat James Tillis KO8, he drew with Gerrie Coetzee after 10 rounds, Alfonzo Ratliff KO10, Tim Witherspoon WMD12 for the WBC HW world title, and Mike Weaver KO8. He lost a close decision and the WBC belt to Trevor Berbick. He came back with 3 KO wins and then challenged Mike Tyson for the WBC and WBA belts, Tyson won KO6. Holyfield stopped him in the 7th round, Bowe stopped him in the 8th round, and eventually Tommy Morrison stopped him in the 1st round.

Rahman was involved in some pretty exciting fights. On his way up he beat Ross Puritty, Trevor Berbick, Obed Sullivan, and Jesse Ferguson by decision. He outboxed David Tua before he was hit after the bell for round 9, did not get any extra time to recover, came out for round 10 still hurt, and was stopped in the 10th round still on his feet. Rahman came back with 2 KO wins and then fought Oleg Maskaev. He outboxed Maskaev for 7 rounds. In round 8 Maskaev hurt him with a shot that sent him thru the ropes. Rahman actually hit his head on the floor... his feet were up on the table while his head on the floor and he could not make it back inside the ring within 20 seconds. Two KO losses at this point, both controversial IMO. Rahman went 4-0 (3) in his next 4 including a stoppage win over Corrie Sanders KO7 (Rahman was dropped) and a stoppage win over Lennox Lewis (KO5) for the HW World Title. Lewis stopped Rahman (LKOby4) in their rematch but Rahman fought well vs. Holyfield but came up short (LTD8th round) after a clash of heads caused a huge lump on Rahman's head forcing the fight to the scorecards after 7 rounds. He fought Tua again and appeared to have outboxed him but the fight was scored even after 12 rounds. He lost a close decision to John Ruiz but was not in the best of shape. He came back with 6 wins and a draw in his next 7 fight. He beat Al Cole W12, Kali Meehan KO4, Monte Barrett W12 (wins WBC belt), and drew with James Toney. He lost the WBC belt vs. Oleg Maskaev (LKOby12). He outboxed Maskaev for most of the fight but got caught in the 12th round, good fight.

Who wins?

 

Pinklon Thomas is one of those guys who gets a lot of credit despite his disappointments.

He had good overall skills and for a short moment looked like he would be a top HW for a long time... but he never actually was IMO.

He struggled vs. Gerrie Coetzee (D10). Tim Witherspoon was not physically or mentally prepared (which was often the case) and still almost beat Thomas (Thomas WMD12 for the WBC belt). He stopped Weaver but so had 5 other people, 6 others would after Thomas. He looked good vs. Tillis. Tillis had been beat by Weaver and would also be stopped by Greg Page (KO n the 8th) 3 1/2 months after being stopped by Thomas. Where are all of the quality wins? Yes, his jab looked good... so did Bruce Seldon's.

It was hard being a Rahman fan. He'd look good one fight, then in a high profile fight he'd outbox a guy for most of the fight then find a way to lose. He was better than Maskaev and even Tua IMO but he never got a win vs. either one of them... instead he went 0-3-1 vs. them and was stopped 3 times. His KO wins over Sanders and Lewis are hard to ignore. He fought well vs. an old but determined Holyfield but came up a little short... had the fight continued (Rahman started growing another head due to a clash of heads) maybe Rahman could have pulled ahead on points. I blame Rahman for not staying in shape and getting the job done vs. guys like Ruiz and Toney. Like Thomas, he could have done more with his career.

I think Rahman could have pulled off a close win here.