Pinklon Thomas vs Larry Holmes why didn't it happen and who would have won? 1985

Pinklon and Bonecrusher Smith were my favorite boxers in those days. Pink would have done alright against Holmes but Smith...not as much.

 

Was hoping Pinky would have won a real life fight.....but Holmes back then, seemed to always get a break with the judges in close fights.

 

I’m a big Pinkon fan, but the OP distorts the facts:

He burst on the scene in 1982 with a win over Quick Tillis, then drew with Gerrie Coetzee his next fight in ‘83.

After that he beat a couple of cruisers (Alonzo Ratliff and Michael Greer) and a couple of, to be generous, trial horses (Leroy Caldwell and Bruce Grandham).

Then he won the title off Witherspoon in ‘84 and only fought once in ‘85, his impressive win over Mike Weaver in his only successful defense. He then dropped the strap to Trevor Berbick in ‘86.

By 1984-85, Holmes was coasting to the end of his career, beating Bonecrusher Smith, David Bey and Truth Williams before losing to Michael Spinks.

Could Pinklon have beaten the Holmes of Spinks I? Very possibly. Had Larry defeated Spinks and had Thomas defeated Trevor, there could have maybe been a unification in Larry’s probable final pre-comeback fight IF there was enough of a payday to be made with Holmes going for unification in his bid for 50-0.

Problem was, Pinklon didn’t hold onto the title so little chance of that anyway. He failed to establish himself as the heir apparent to Holmes or as the guy who was regarded as the OTHER guy to Holmes as ‘co-champs.’

If you really want to know why it didn’t happen, probably two-fold, with both answers being: Don King.

Holmes was still working with King, or willing to do so. Thomas was fighting for King. So if there was money to be made, real money, King would have done it. But nobody was salivating over Pinklon nor demanding that the unification be made. For Don, banking on Pinklon or SOMEBODY holding onto the non-Holmes “other champion” title was a better proposition than unifying ... because Holmes would likely ride off into the sunset within a fight or two anyway.

So King (a) saw no short-term financial benefit in making that unification in the VERY narrow window within which it might have happened, and (b) saw Pinklon as either another short-timer (which proved correct) or, best-case scenario, someone who would be worth more later if he kept winning.

 

Holmes could not beat a lhw in 1985, thomas beats him and it was why holmes avoided him

 

Holmes should have fought Coetzee, nevermind Thomas, who I thought narrowly lost to Coetzee.

 

Holmes win's. He'd be up for this fight, a lot more than he was for Spinks 1 .Larry puts on one of his greatest performances for years and dominates pinklon for a unanimous wiin .

 

It sounds a rocky movie not a reality

 

Lol ,but that would mean Holmes getting battered around the Ring for 14 rounds ,both men getting dropped in the last round ...but Holmes jussst making it up in time!!
Now that's a Rocky movie ..

 

Lmao
With the song eye of the tiger

 

Holmes still does everything better than Pinky in 85. Holmes still wins the battle of the jabs and hes got a better faster rt hand. Holmes UD

 

It is a distortion to say Pinklon was a “top gunner” in 82/83 ... by the end of 1983, his only quality win was over Quick Tillis (82). He had a draw with Coetzee (83).

That’s his entire resume as a “top gunner.” That’s hardly the case of a guy who was at the top of the division being avoided.

You seemed to imply that in 82/83 he could be argued as the top challenger out there, unless by “top gunner” you mean he was a fan of the movie with Tom Cruise. But I ruled that out since it wasn’t realeased until 1986. So it’s a distortion either way.

In ‘84 he won a version of the title. And like every other guy not named Larry Holmes during that period, he quickly lost it. A few successful title defenses might have made the case that he was a top guy instead of being part of a revolving door of wannabes.

 

This really is a great post that really explains it as I remember it and saw it. Today, we can look back and pity the fact it never happened but back then it just didn’t seem possible to get unifications to happen in that weight class. We were just aware that things just seemed so tied up and impossible to happen the way it should.

But saying that, They both signed to take part in the HBO tournament, which potentially showed they were prepared to fight one another.