Mike Tyson: What If….. One Fight on the Mike Tyson vs Pinklon Thomas Undercard Had a Different Result

By Don Ankofski

Who would have thought that a losing fighter on the undercard of Mike Tyson’s title fight against Pinklon Thomas would one day knock out the then invincible champ? May 30, 1987. Before Mike Tyson knocked out Pinklon Thomas in the 6th round, the vacant IBF Heavyweight Championship was contested with James “Buster” Douglas, 23-3-1 facing off against the undefeated Tony “TNT” Tucker, 33-0.

Douglas came close to winning the title that night. He had Tucker hurt in both the 5th & 6th rounds but by the 10th, Douglas was exhausted and was stopped.

Tucker would immediately face “Iron” Mike just 63 days later in a unification bout, losing a 12 round decision on August 1st, becoming the shortest reigning champion in Heavyweight history.
Had Douglas not run out of gas and won the fight on May 30, he would have been in the ring that August night instead of Tucker. Styles make fights.

The big question, was Tyson’s style made for Douglas or was it just a night (Feb 11, 1990 when Douglas knocked Tyson out) that everything just fell into place for Buster? The thought here is that on August 1st of 1987, Mike Tyson defeats Buster Douglas and changes history by eliminating Douglas from a future fight. The next question is who would Tyson have taken on in Tokyo instead of Douglas? Most likely it would have been Razor Ruddock who had a fight against Tyson fall through the previous November scheduled in Edmonton.

Would Ruddock have been the new champ had they fought in Tokyo? I think so. Tyson was ready to be taken and Ruddock, not a great jabber like Douglas, but still a big, strong and athletic heavyweight would have been more than able.

Still one more thing to consider….. Had Tyson won that fight in Tokyo, regardless who it was against, he would have fought Evander Holyfield on June 18th. Holyfield was still somewhat new to the division and you have to wonder if he would have been ready for Tyson? My belief is that Evander was always ready for Tyson and he would have been crowned the Champion a bit earlier than what would eventually become (October 25,1990 vs Buster Douglas), but had Tyson been able to get past Holyfield in 1990, how long would he have gone unbeaten? Would he have gone to prison as an undefeated Champion?

One different fight result & history could be changed forever.