Never looked at Thomas like I looked at Page or Dokes, but he did have that strong jab and good power. Happy he got out of his drug habit.
Strong post ! He certainly had a shot against an aging Holmes while Thomas was at his own best .. wonder how the man wh defeated Witherspoon would have competed against the same Tyson he fought .. ?
Well Tyson was on fire then wasn't he. So anyone faced Tyson had to do great just to survive most of the time. Tyson still wins but Thomas wins his share of the rounds. I'll go with Tyson putting on a late spurt and stopping Pinklon in 10.
So true they all fit in the bracket indeed. But I think all those exposed to the devils hand shake are tested by fame its just then and now the devil has more treats to offer.
Lewis was always high when he wasn't fighting. (LOL) You literally had to charge him at a press conference and bite him on the leg to get a reaction out of him.
Mike Tyson talked about drug use and fighting in the last book about him. Basically, he pointed out that fighters throughout the history of the world - from boxers to gladiators and soldiers - routinely got drunk or wasted in the days or the night before entering into battle. Because it can be terrifying. Fighting is hard. It's a brutal sport. Like in war, you can lose your life. The fighters who didn't tended to be the ones who are the outliers. Heroin, though, not so good.
I sparred a round with Pinklon in 1992. One of my most cherished memories is me jabbing him in the eye late in the round, him blinking a few times and his expression changing and me going ‘oh boy’ to myself — loading up my best southpaw left hand and letting it go, only for Pink to slip it and sink a right hand to the body that took all my breath away and a right to the jaw that left it clicking for about 4-5 weeks (I was about to go to the doctor and it went away). On my fridge I have a photo someone captured of that right hand disappearing into my rib cage area as my left is going over his head and one of us together afterward.
Injuries played a big part as well. In Pinklon's own words: On the Witherspoon fight: " I was really pumped for that fight. I trained at Joe Frazier’s gym in Philadelphia. Angelo Dundee was with me for that fight. I had good sparring partners for that fight which I kept messing up my right knuckle and went down the street to Temple University and got in the whirlpool bath a lot and had ultrasound. Three weeks before the fight I was having some serious problems with it. There are two things that happened before that fight that most people don’t know. Two days before the fight I had two cortisone shots in my hand because it was killing me. Also about two or three days before the fight I was sparring with Kenny LaKusta from Canada. He hit me with a shot and my vision went bad. I was seeing double at the time and didn’t know that I had a detached retina. So I went into the fight seeing double along with my knuckle being really messed up. But I wanted it so bad because I had trained so hard and nothing was gonna keep me from it. I fought a good fight and won the decision. After the fight it wasn’t bothering me that bad so I didn’t see anyone about it. A week later I was in Canada for the WBC convention and was walking up a hill with a guy that ran security for me. I couldn’t see him beside me looking out of one eye. I went to a hospital in Philadelphia and found out I had a detached retina. Don King told me I may have to retire. I told Don that I had come to far to quit now." On the Weaver fight: " I was really confident because I was in great shape. I set up camp in Atlantic City and had real good sparring partners. I bought in a guy to help me on my hand conditioning. I felt real good and knew it would be just a matter of time before I got to him. I knew he could punch and I knew I couldn’t stand toe to toe. But I said I wasn’t goanna back up for him and I didn’t. I saw his gas tank running low after about six rounds. Sugar Ray Leonard, who was doing commentary for the fight called it right. He said Thomas is throwing jabs looking to set him up to lower the boom and that is exactly what I did." On the Berick fight: "I wasn’t 100% at all. I was going through some real personal problems with my wife. I set up training camp in California about three weeks ahead of time to prepare. My wife and kid were in Michigan and they came to all my fights. I could always hear them hollering for me. They didn’t come to the fight and that hurt. Another thing was that they didn’t want Angelo Dundee in my corner. I’m not sure who didn’t and why but Angelo didn’t show up because I guess he thought he wasn’t gonna get paid. I really missed him in my corner. Another thing leading up to the fight was that I was in a studio in Burbank making a record. Another interesting bit of information is that Berbick and I were the only two heavyweights that weren’t signed with Don King. A week before the fight he got to Berbick and Berbick signed with him. I still don’t think I lost the fight, it was very close. I was the champion, I wasn’t hurt or knocked down and I think I should have got the decision. I think the reason I didn’t get it was because I didn’t go with King." Vs Tyson: "Let me say this, and I haven’t told a lot of people this. I fought Tyson with a broken right shoulder. Angelo knew I was having problems during training. I was in the gym sparring and we both threw right hands and I heard my shoulder pop. This was about six weeks before the fight. Instead of going to a doctor, I went to a chiropractor. He just told me to not use it for awhile. I started training again and couldn’t really even hit the speed bag or the heavy bag. I was just running and doing what little I could. I got on location about three weeks ahead of time and Angelo could tell something was wrong. I had to change my style for the fight and that hurt. I found out later that I had a broken bone in my shoulder. If you watch the fight you’ll see that I just used a good jab and little of my right hand. If you listen to the commentary you’ll hear them say I was taking rounds from Tyson. I took the second, third, fourth. At the end of the fifth I told Tyson “Boy, your ass is mine now.” I go back to the corner and find out my glove is split. They did not have another set at ringside and had to go outside the building to get them. This takes about nine or ten minutes and I thought I had Tyson right where I wanted him before this. Unfortunately he got a long break and by the time the fight resumed Tyson was fresh again. When we resumed he hit me with some good shots, one of them in my shoulder. If you watch the fight you can see my hand instantly come down, my shoulder just went. After I went down I got up at eight but I couldn’t go on, I was pretty hurt."
