The heart and spirit was all that remained....... His skills were dust by age 30......... atsch MR.BILL
Thomas would decision Page. Both had excellent chins so i dont see a stoppage here. Any of you that were Fans then know that Thomas was pretty highly reagarded and that Some thought he would beat Holmes back when Holmes was starting to Slip a little bit around the time right before Spinks beat him.
Some people also picked Page to beat a declining Holmes as well. And there were folks picking Tubbs to outpoint Holmes too if that could/would've happened. So that Thomas measuring stick isn't all that much different.
Well a few thought that Holmes had ducked Page. But most fans had already accepted the fact that Page was an underachiever. And yes Thomas was considered the best of the rest at one time. I distinctivley remember that especially after he beat Witherspoon. Who was considered the next best after Holmes,Thomas.
Agreed, Perspective goes a long way in boxing. A lot of people were disenchanted with Page's performance against Berbick on the undercard of Holmes-Cooney, a fight that was specifically designed to market Greg as the next hype contender. For all his shortcummings, Pinklon Thomas had at least one thing going for him, and that was the fact that he had stayed unbeaten through 1985, without dropping any losses to previous Holmes victoms.
YEY Zadfrak was off the mark when he mentioned that Page was considered Thomas s equal. At the time Thomas was more highly thought of as a fighter.
More highly thought of counts for not much."heavyweight potential" of a fighter--just how often does it pan out anyway? It's a landmine full of underachievers. Thomas sure didn't last long after that Witherspoon bout and sure didn't look unbeatable prior to that against Coetzee. He struggled a lot with an overweight and old Weaver. Looked terrible against Berbick in 85. Page had an A+ performance in 81 or so against Ledoux. Another one years later when he went in as a huge underdog to Coetzee in S. Africa and ko'd the guy for the title. In between he had flat efforts like his broken hand loss to Berbick and Chaplin and others. Have you even seen those fights? At the time? Greg Page looked better in those fights than any I ever saw Thomas in. Probably the best A+ version of a Pinklon Thomas bout I ever saw was his ko over Tillis. I'll go with Greg Page.
Exactly. Observers that have seen the true best of Page will almost all agree he rises to heights well above Thomas. Thomas hit far more consistent heights but on a one off top night vs top night she's clear for me.
Well the thing is the shoe will be on the other foot sometime in the future. They'll be explaining a Mike Tyson in a comparison against fighter X to someone in the future. And that guy will defend themselves saying I saw the Tillis/Spinks/Holyfield/Lewis/Danny Wiiliams fights so I sure don't think that Tyson has much of a chance against X.
Have i ever seen any of those fights,at the time Thats funny cause i was about to ask you the same thing. Saw everyone of those fights back then,back when it was on basic Tv and some on HBO. Page was to inconsistent at least all of Thomas losses were when he was past his prime Page was getting beat all the time when he was in his. Thomas struggled with Weaver a little bit but Weaver was pretty rejuvinated and hadnt looked that good in a while and Thomas ended up scoring a very impressive ko in the end, Watch that fight again Weaver still looked buffed out. You are exaggerating when you stated how overweight he was he might have been heavier than before but hardly overweight. I agree that Page looked impressive against the favored Coetzee and in my opinion that was his best win. I remember Chaplin getting jobbed in one of those decisions against Page and Chaplin was crafty but hardly a world beater not even a legit contender. Like ive stated before and i think another post did also, Thomas was a consensus number 2 HW and arguably even number1 during his short prime. I believe that by the time he fought Berbick his time had passed, But for about 3 years the Majority of fans had him rated higher than Page. Maybe you should check out an old ring or Ko magazine to refresh your memory.
Ok check this it Bro, im not one of the You tube generation Posters here. So cut that out:nono IF you have read some of my post ive been a hardcore fan since the 70s a few years before these guys even came on the scene.
Page and Thomas were close in age, but Page burst onto the scene first and was racking up wins in 1980 and 1981 to where he was highly touted to be a champion, regardless of his jiggly fat tissues being apparent to onlookers........ In fact, Page was being ragged hard about being close or at 240 soft pounds for a guy who was merely 25 or 26 yrs old and considered rising in the ranks, so he crashed dieted for Trevor Berbick in 1982 and came in at 221 pounds but lacked power and strength...... And Page got his ass kicked by Berbick and dropped the decision in the Vegas heat..... After that, Page said **** it and went right back to 240 + or - pounds........ Pinky Thomas came into view for good with his '83 draw with Gerrie Coetzee on TV.... And his '84 win over Tim Spoon on HBO propelled P.T. as a serious heavy to be dealt with.... Than his '85 title fight war with Mike Weaver on HBO was wicked ****........ Thomas almost got his ass kicked there after dropping Weaver early, but Thomas got his **** together and parked Mike Weaver with a right cross in round 8 to close the show....... P.T. would never look good every again in the ring against world class opponents...... MR.BILL
In fairness to Greg concerning Berbick, he did break his thumb early in the fight.Plus, there were others things going on outside the ring.But he always had problems with guys with good strength, Berbick being one of them.
Berbick basically mauled a weak, injured and lackluster Page in Vegas back in '82....... But I was stoked for Berbick at the time....... MR.BILL:bbb
I think the problem when you talk about Page beating the likes of Scott Ledoux and Coetzee is that they are not world-beaters, and for a natural talent like Page, he would always easily beat them. Coetzee was always chinny, too, so I don't think these wins are as impressive as they are made to be. Consider the fact that Bruno knocked Gerrie out in one round. Thomas didn't have the natural gifts or pedigree as Page, but he was much more consistent as a fight up until he fully gave in to his drug habit. Pinky's jab was a great weapon, and he was a very good two-handed fighter. Even without the great natural ability of Greg, I would pick him to decision Page simply for the fact that Greg was lazy and could be outhustled.