Ringside Report Looks Back at Former WBC Heavyweight Champion Pinklon Thomas

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

He was the very first to hold the IBO heavyweight title in his second to last fight whilst his final fight was for the WBF heavyweight strap. In the alphabet soup of the boxing world with titles all over the place and regulatory bodies springing up and falling down with stinking regularity, those facts might not win him many admirers, but he did hold the WBC title too. Given that his trainer for quite a lot of Pinklon Thomas’, 43-7-1, 34 KO’s, career, was the famed Angelo Dundee, it looked like if there was any opportunity then he would be well prepared as he was around in a golden era for boxing.

Thomas’ upbringing was both a cliché of a man seeking to escape poverty and inspirational in its telling. By the time he was 12 years old, he was trying heroin. By the age of 14, he had a $150 a day habit. At 15 he was out of school. Petty crime was part of his daily existence, with armed robbery thrown in as part of his make-up, as he needed to feed his habit. At 17 he got married, and whilst his wife joined the Army, he was refused entry.

They moved around until they came to Seattle and the projects, she received an honorable discharge and was by now pregnant. Thomas however as far from the stable figure as he was using more drugs than he was selling, his bills were mounting, and he was evicted from his home.

Thomas was, however, like a typical addict, far from shy in making outlandish boasts. He told people he was a professional boxer; he had never boxed in his life. Challenged to show his skills he entered a gym, he hit the bag over a few minutes and ended up running out to throw up – he had enjoyed a heroin and cocaine speedball just before going inside a place that was to prove his salvation.

Having found the gym, Thomas worked towards a career that saw him professionally active between the years, 1978 and 1993. Thomas’s amateur career was short – he only fought three times, turning professional in August 1978 with a six-round split decision over Ken Arlt on the 29th of August 1978 at the Seattle Center.

And then, he was off on his odyssey towards world glory.

With little by way of amateur experience to draw upon he amassed a creditable record that saw him in with Tim Witherspoon in August 1984. That record was 25 fights, 24 wins and one draw. The draw had been up against future WBA champion Gerrie Coetzee, in the Sands Casino Hotel in the January of 1983. In amongst his wins had been the 1982 signature win against Ringside Report favorite, James “Quick” Tillis with an 8th round stoppage.

His trainer, Dundee was fulsome in his praise of his prospect declaring that Thomas’ lead hand, was “… as close to a Sonny Liston jab as I’ve ever seen.” It probably came, therefore, as little surprise that Thomas ended up facing Tim Witherspoon for the WBC championship. Having had the praise of his coach for his jab, it was the jab that was the principal weapon he used to outpoint the champion. He won it in the Riviera Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, with a majority decision in his favor. He was to reflect in a Ring Magazine interview years later that, “It was the greatest accomplishment of my life at that time.”

The champ then sustained a detached retina in training which kept him out of the ring until he defended his title against Mike Weaver, back at the Riviera, in the June of 1985. He retained it with an 8th round knockout where Weaver’s jab, whilst attached to the losing fighter, got Thomas’ respect; he later described it as the best jab he ever faced – given his own prowess, that is some praise.

The Riviera, having been the scene twice of his two world title wins, was not to prove a lucky omen third time round when he faced Trevor Berbick on the 22nd of March 1986. It was a decision loss against, a man, Thomas was later to describe as being the best overall fighter he ever faced – he said, Berbick had “an awkward style. He wasn’t an easy target. … very strong, he was a strong man. Me and Trevor Berbick went 12 hard rounds. I think Trevor at that time had a lot of experience, he was fighting me for the championship. It’s a big difference when you’re defending your title and when you’re just fighting a 10-round fight.”

And so, it proved as the hunger of Berbick took his belt away, a loss, he lamented in that Ring Magazine article with signature modesty, “I didn’t have Angelo Dundee in my corner, I was going through a divorce, I was making music. I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to do, I wasn’t mentally prepared to defend my title. I lost the fight by one or two points and that was in the last rounds.”

Berbick had gone into the fight as the underdog, this was a massive shock.

His career recovery, having gone well thereafter, meant that in 1987, he got the opportunity to challenge for both the WBA and the WBC belts. Having been in with the likes of Witherspoon and Berbick, was there a man who could match them for prestige? Step forward one Mike Tyson.

It was the 30th of May 1987 and they fought at the Las Vegas Hilton in the outdoors.

Thomas fought Iron Mike, nursing a serious shoulder injury, sustained six weeks before the fight, but he managed to hold his own until in the 6th round, when a furious series of combinations from Tyson, sent Thomas to the canvas and out the fight. Thomas did manage to beat the count, but the referee knew a man beaten when he saw one and stopped the fight. Thomas was later to comment, that Tyson, didn’t impress me at all, “He stopped me at that time. I wasn’t knocked out cold; he hit me with 16-18 solid shots, and I stood up at the end. He punched pretty good, but there was no punch that was gonna knock me clean out.”

Retirement beckoned and Thomas would flirt with it for the rest of his career. In 1988, an active period included taking on Evander Holyfield, in Holyfield’s second heavyweight contest, where Thomas appeared ill prepared and was outgunned after 7 rounds when his corner pulled him out.

Dundee had had enough and told him to retire and refused to work with him again.

Thomas didn’t.

On the 12th of June 1990, he took on and lost on points to Mike “The Bounty” Hunter, he then took on Riddick Bowe in September of that year and was pulled out after 8 rounds he went on and fought for and won the International Boxing Organization’s first heavyweight title on the 14th of November 1992, at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium, winning by split decision against a journeyman called “Poncho” Carter. On the 29th of January 1993, he finally hung up the gloves after being stopped in the 7th round of the World Boxing Federation heavyweight title at the Township Auditorium against Lawrence Carter.

But he still harbored hopes and in 1999 a rematch with Tim Weatherspoon was supposedly on the table but a fight against Larry Holmes for the winner could not be guaranteed so it never happened.

Now, 30 plus years clean he resides in Orlando, Florida, the last I can find, and once retired it could be argued he found his groove. He founded a great project called Project P.I.N.K. (Pride in Neighborhood Kids) and is a highly sought-after motivational speaker. Of course, for those of us who love boxing – any fighter who fought for the WBF, IBO, WBA and WBC world titles is notable.

Given the start he had, he has truly shown it is not where you start that matters but where you finish…

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