BoxRec

I dont know if anyone else has notice but apparently Pinklon Thomas looks extremely ill & gaunt these days and people covering the recent hall of fame weekend were basically hinting very carefully that he is not just a slimmed down ex fighter but in actual fact something terminally wrong with him.

Most people think straight away of the drugs i.e. heroin he dabbled in but he kciked that in his early teens so its doubtful anything from those days could come back to haunt him this much later surely?

Has anyone come across Pinky or any other info even the guy who wrote The Long Round & made a favourable chapter on Thomas pointed out that he appeared to be underweight.

Any thoughts/opinions..?

I've been thinking the same thing since Boxing News did that piece on The Hall Of Fame and there was a picture of Pinklon Thomas looking very thin and gaunt. The piece also made a comment about this.

In that book you mentioned The Long Round by Dominic Calder-Smith the author mentioned the fact that Pinky was a fitness fanatic these days and was looking a lot thinner than in his fighting days, maybe has just over done it?

Pinklon Thomas as you mentioned in his teens was a drug addict so maybe now he has become addicted to excersize or obcessed with his body image? Addiction is not always a chemical dependancy it's sometimes just a state of mind.

With reference to Pinky moving away from the drug scene in his teens, now Overhand don't gat all excited and Overheated if I've been missinformed here but didn't Pinky have a brief drugs relapse around 1989 after his lose to Holyfield?

Eitherway I hope the guy is ok and not ill in anyway. He was a good fighter and has by all accounts has lead a very positive life after his boxing career working with troubled teenagers.

I never heard of that but i doubt he ever got back into heroin. maybe some other drugs. The difference betwen his fights with Holyfield and after Hunter, Bowe etc is beyond belief the guy was absolutely shot to shit.

Ive heard stuff from people who have met Pinklon personally in the flesh such as lee groves 7 they def do not think it is 'overtraining' way more ominous.

No disrespect to Pinky but I've always had my suspicions about how he suddenly lost his form overnight... he was shot even against Tyson. This may have no bearing on what his happening to him today but you never know. On the other hand if he is perhaps overdoing the fitness thing these days he may have an eating disorder...... what ever is going on with him I hope he comes out ok as he's done a lot of positive things with his life since his boxing career...

Tyson's knockout of Pinklon Thomas was his most impressive fight.

Thomas had a great chin.

No disrespect to Pinky but I've always had my suspicions about how he suddenly lost his form overnight... he was shot even against Tyson.

thomas was not shot. he was still one of the best contenders in the world and 29 years old, not far from his prime. he fought well in he early rounds of the tyson fight displaying a very good jab, no way was he shot.


tyson beat the best contenders of the 1980s

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:

No disrespect to Pinky but I've always had my suspicions about how he suddenly lost his form overnight... he was shot even against Tyson.

thomas was not shot. he was still one of the best contenders in the world and 29 years old, not far from his prime. he fought well in he early rounds of the tyson fight displaying a very good jab, no way was he shot.


tyson beat the best contenders of the 1980s

Watch Thomas during some of his title fights and then whach him against Tyson... his timing and reflexes are off and his legs are gone... its not the same fighter of a few years before... age has got nothing to do with it...

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:

No disrespect to Pinky but I've always had my suspicions about how he suddenly lost his form overnight... he was shot even against Tyson.

thomas was not shot. he was still one of the best contenders in the world and 29 years old, not far from his prime. he fought well in he early rounds of the tyson fight displaying a very good jab, no way was he shot.


tyson beat the best contenders of the 1980s

Tyson beat a string of mostly faded fighters in the 80s... its funny how some people run down Larry Holmes opposition yet praise Tysons, when Tyson mainly feasted on the fading dregs of the top fighters of the early 80s.... against Thomas Tyson beat a man with no legs... simple as that...

Tyson was at his best when he scored a KO over Pinklon Thomas.

Larry Holmes is overrated by the modern "experts."

granberry wrote:Tyson was at his best when he scored a KO over Pinklon Thomas.

Larry Holmes is overrated by the modern "experts."

How do you work that one out?... looking at their respective careers anyone with some boxing knowledge and objectivelity can see that it is Tyson who was overrated not Holmes. Tyson was a front runner who never won a fight when facing someone who fought back... Holmes in his prime was in a different league to Tyson...
Tyson may have been at his best when he beat Thomas but Pinky certainly wasnt at his best and thats the point... same with Tysons win over Mike Spinks... Spinks had two shot knees by the time Tyson agreed to fight him... had the fight taken place 2 years earlier it would have been a very different fight....

silkov wrote:

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:

No disrespect to Pinky but I've always had my suspicions about how he suddenly lost his form overnight... he was shot even against Tyson.

thomas was not shot. he was still one of the best contenders in the world and 29 years old, not far from his prime. he fought well in he early rounds of the tyson fight displaying a very good jab, no way was he shot.


tyson beat the best contenders of the 1980s

Tyson beat a string of mostly faded fighters in the 80s... its funny how some people run down Larry Holmes opposition yet praise Tysons, when Tyson mainly feasted on the fading dregs of the top fighters of the early 80s.... against Thomas Tyson beat a man with no legs... simple as that...

who were these faded fighters???



- holmes beat a green trevor berbick

-tyson beat a prime trevor berbick



- holmes beat a green carl williams, tyson beat a prime carl williams


-holmes beat a green bonecrusher smith, tyson beat a prime bonecrusher smith fresh off his 1 round destruction of tim witherspoon


u say tyson fought faded fighters(even though almost all the heavyweights he faced were in there 20s or early 30s coming off big wins) but i can turn it around and say holmes fought a slew of green fighters. experience counts!!!



tyson fought tony tubbs, pinklon thomas top heavyweights of the 80s holmes never fought


- tubbs was 28 years old and in his prime when he fought tyson

- thomas was 28 years old and though not peak, was still a very dangerous contender

- tony tucker one of the best heavyweights of the 1980s was prime

- bruno was certainly prime

- spinx was undefeated linear heavyweight champ who beat holmes.

- holmes was over the hill but still a legite dangerous challenger



so once again who are these faded fighters?? tyson fought the best heavyweights of the late 80s and dominated them all. he fought everyone. tyson ducked no one, in fact fighters ducked tyson. witherspoon wanted no part of tyson. he almost shit his pants seeing tyson demolish pinklon thomas(who beat spoon).



it appears to me tyson fought and DOMINATED some of the top heavyweights of the 1980s who holmes NEVER FACED.

Spinks had two shot knees by the time Tyson agreed to fight him... had the fight taken place 2 years earlier it would have been a very different fight....

oh please, how are all these heavweights suddenly becoming shot right before they fight tyson?? they were in there primes 2 years earlier, then all of a sudden they are shot???


only reason you say spinx was a much better fighter "two years earlier" is cause he beat ur man larry holmes(who u rank very highly) and you feel the need to hype up this spinx to make holmes look better.



spinx avoided tyson 86-87. he wanted no part of mike until he had to fight him in 88. spinx also ducked top contender tony tucker. he would rather take on a shot version of gerry cooney.


would spinx have beaten tony tucker?? i dont know


had the spinx tyson fight taken place two years ago, it would have saved spinx two years of fighting old cooneys and tangstads since spinx would have retired after a 1 round KO loss

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:spinx avoided tyson 86-87. he wanted no part of mike until he had to fight him in 88. spinx also ducked top contender tony tucker. he would rather take on a shot version of gerry cooney.

I'm not sure Spinks and Butch Lewis avoided Tyson as such they just went for the money instead. There was a LOT more money on the table for Spinks to take on Cooney than Tucker. Spinks and Lewis knew that the Mega money Tyson fight could wait and build up over the next few years into the huge event it was, so why risk fighting the likes of Tucker in the meantime? Spinks had proved his heart and reputation at Light-Heavyweight and I guess he was just after a good pension payday.

Also nobody forced Spinks to fight Tyson in 1988 he was obviousley nearing the end of his career anyway and could have retired after the Cooney or Holmes rematch.

Spinks knees for the Tyson fight were shot to pieces by all accounts which robbed him of his much needed movement and mobility. He also froze and unlike the Qawi fight were he controlled his fear to make him a better fighter, against Tyson the fear controlled him and he crumbled.

However even if Spinks' knees had been 100% for the Tyson fight I believe Tyson would have still beat him, too strong and too fast.

you can say wut u want about "primes"........tony tubbs came to fight and outboxed tyson in the first round and then all of a sudden tyson hit tubbs and tubbs legs turned to jelly and just like that he was out cold. it didnt matter if he at his absolute fuckin peak or totally shot, once tyson hit tubbs it was alllllll over.

- same with thomas, he had never seen power or combinations like that in his life..... once tyson hit him it was allllllll over. dundee was shitting his pants in the corner seeing tyson wail away on thomas in the 6th. dundeee had not seen such firepower since joe louis.



- holmes says tyson was not the hardest hitter he faced.......thats cause holmes does not remember getting hit by tyson, he was hit so damm hard. holmes was out like a light after that final right hand. utter domination. holmes had never faced firepower like that before.



- berbick a very strong and durable guy..........tyson hits him in the 2nd round......BOOM..... next thing u know berbick is looking like a man who had 20 shots of vodka and cant stand up straight.



tyson didnt just beat these guys, HE DOMINATED THEM ALL. HE DOMINATED THE BEST THE DIVISION HAD TO OFFER IN THE LATE 80s. HE DOMINATED THEM SO EASILY THAT YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY SEE THESE GUYS EVEN ON THERE BEST DAYS EVER BEING ABLE TO HANG WITH MIKE.


funny how many tyson opponents say he wasnt the hardest hitter they faced even though when they get hit by tyson they shake all the way down to the legs before falling down out cold. no other puncher they faced had that effect on them. tyson made opponents do funny things.





o might i add, tyson unified all 3 titles in 1 year. holmes reigned for 7 years and never even attempted to unify

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:you can say wut u want about "primes"........tony tubbs came to fight and outboxed tyson in the first round and then all of a sudden tyson hit tubbs and tubbs legs turned to jelly and just like that he was out cold. it didnt matter if he at his absolute smeg peak or totally shot, once tyson hit tubbs it was alllllll over.

- same with thomas, he had never seen power or combinations like that in his life..... once tyson hit him it was allllllll over. dundee was shitting his pants in the corner seeing tyson wail away on thomas in the 6th. dundeee had not seen such firepower since joe louis.



- holmes says tyson was not the hardest hitter he faced.......thats cause holmes does not remember getting hit by tyson, he was hit so damm hard. holmes was out like a light after that final right hand. utter domination. holmes had never faced firepower like that before.



- berbick a very strong and durable guy..........tyson hits him in the 2nd round......BOOM..... next thing u know berbick is looking like a man who had 20 shots of vodka and cant stand up straight.



tyson didnt just beat these guys, HE DOMINATED THEM ALL. HE DOMINATED THE BEST THE DIVISION HAD TO OFFER IN THE LATE 80s. HE DOMINATED THEM SO EASILY THAT YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY SEE THESE GUYS EVEN ON THERE BEST DAYS EVER BEING ABLE TO HANG WITH MIKE.


funny how many tyson opponents say he wasnt the hardest hitter they faced even though when they get hit by tyson they shake all the way down to the legs before falling down out cold. no other puncher they faced had that effect on them. tyson made opponents do funny things.





o might i add, tyson unified all 3 titles in 1 year. holmes reigned for 7 years and never even attempted to unify

Lets just agree to disagree Brock because you are never open to another persons opinion and ofcourse you must have been there at the time and everything, so carry on thinking that Tyson was this invincible God brought down by nasty Buster Douglas and Robin Givens!... yeh right!...

I think Brockton has a fair point when he does his comparison with common opponents for both fighters, I was going to do a similar comparison but was not quick enough. Another guy who they both fought was Marvis Frazier although Tyson fought him before he became champion. The result was Marvis making an early exit in both fights but he was a bit more green in the Holmes fight.

So instead of comparing common opponets I will do an evaluation of Holmes title defense opponents compared to Tysons.

Holmes opponents

Alfredo Evangelista-never very good before or after
Ossie Ocasio-untested before he fought Holmes, not very good after
Mike Weaver-struggled before, pretty good but not great after
Earnie Shavers-up and down before, past his prime after
Lorenzo Zonon-not very good before or after
Leroy Jones-legit at the time, faded after
Scott Laoux-never was able to distinguish himself at any time in his career
Ali-washed up
Treaver Berbick-marginally legit, always thought he was overated
Leon Spinks-marginally legit at the time, shot ater
Renaldo snipes-marginally legit
Gerry Cooney-legit at the time, although he had serious question marks
Tex Cobb-not very good before or after
Lucien Rodriguez-not very good before or after
Tim Witherspoon-legit at the time,faded after
Scott Frank-green at the time, didn't do anything after
Marvis Frazier-to green to be considered legit
Boncrusher smith-agree with Brocktons asessment
David Bey-another green fighter who faded
Carl Williams-legit at the time
Michael Spinks-untested at heavyweight but proved to be legit

Tyson opponenets

Bonecrusher Smith-legit at the time
Pinklon Thomas-legit at the time but soon faded
Toney Tucker-legit
Tyrell Biggs-green at the time, faded after
Larry Holmes-past his prime
Toney Tubbs-looked out of shape
Michael Spinks-looked good up till that fight
Frank Bruno-marginally legit
Carl Willaims-legit but fading
Buster douglas-legit and well prepared as it turned out as he found himself for that fight, struggled up until that point

kick asner wrote:I think Brockton has a fair point when he does his comparison with common opponents for both fighters, I was going to do a similar comparison but was not quick enough. Another guy who they both fought was Marvis Frazier although Tyson fought him before he became champion. The result was Marvis making an early exit in both fights but he was a bit more green in the Holmes fight.

So instead of comparing common opponets I will do an evaluation of Holmes title defense opponents compared to Tysons.

Holmes opponents

Alfredo Evangelista-never very good before or after
Ossie Ocasio-untested before he fought Holmes, not very good after
Mike Weaver-struggled before, pretty good after
Earnie Shavers-up and down before,past his prime after
Lorenzo Zonon-not very good before or after
Leroy Jones-legit at the time,faded after
Scott Laoux-never was able to distinguish himself at any time in his career
Ali-washed up
Treaver Berbick-marginally legit
Leon Spinks-marginally legit at the time, shot ater
Renaldo snipes-marginally legit
Gerry Cooney-legit at the time
Tex Cobb-not very good before or after
Lucien Rodriguez-not very good before or after
Tim Witherspoon-legit at the time,faded after
Scott Frank-green at the time,didn't do anything after
Marvis Frazier-to green to be considered legit
Boncrusher smith-agree with Brocktons asessment
David Bey-another green fighter who faded
Carl Williams-legit at the time
Michael Spinks-untested at heavyweight but proved to be legit

Tyson opponenets

Bonecrusher Smith-legit at the time
Pinklon Thomas-legit at the time but soon faded
Toney Tucker-legit
Tyrell Biggs-green at the time, faded after
Larry Holmes-past his prime
Toney Tubbs-looked out of shape
Michael Spinks-looked good up till that fight
Frank Bruno-marginally legit
Carl Willaims-legit but fading
Buster douglas-legit and well prepared

No, comparisons like that are totally wrong, for a start was Foreman a better fighter than Ali because he koed Norton, Frazier, Chuvalo (stopped) etc while Ali had tough fights with all these fighters?.... ofcourse not... styles make fights. You might as well compare Holmes and Tysons respective efforts against Holifield... Holmes at 42 did better than a 28 year old Tyson. Also anyone who knows about the life and careers of Carl Williams and Pink Thomas knows that they were past their best when they fought Tyson. As for Tysons other defences... the opposition is mediocre at best. Tysons people made Mike Spinks wait two years for their fight, ...this is a fact. By the time Spinks finally got the fight both his knees/legs were gone and he went into it knowing that he didnt have a chance because he wouldnt be able to move about like he'd want to.
At the end of the day Tyson made a handful of defences against mostly mediocre opposition while Holmes made 20+ defences against generally far better opponents... anyone who can claim that Tysons resume is more impressive is really dreaming to be blunt... these are the sort of people who thought that Tyson would reclaim the world title up to his loss to Mcbride...

I want to point out I was not making a pro Tyson or pro Holmes argument, I'm not saying you said I was just wanted to make that clear as I assessed both fighters opponents as some being good and some not so good. I still think Brockton's point was a fair one when you put it in the context that they both made defences against some of the same fighters and Tyson had fared well. I know you could throw in all sorts of contengencies such as Earnie Shavers beat Jimmy Young and Young beat Foreman who in turn beat Frazier While Shavers was beaten by Ron Stander and pretty soon you could make a case for Ron Stander, but when comparing fighters and their defences you have to go by the information at hand and common opponents is part of that as well as other factors.

silkov wrote:

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:you can say wut u want about "primes"........tony tubbs came to fight and outboxed tyson in the first round and then all of a sudden tyson hit tubbs and tubbs legs turned to jelly and just like that he was out cold. it didnt matter if he at his absolute smeg peak or totally shot, once tyson hit tubbs it was alllllll over.

- same with thomas, he had never seen power or combinations like that in his life..... once tyson hit him it was allllllll over. dundee was shitting his pants in the corner seeing tyson wail away on thomas in the 6th. dundeee had not seen such firepower since joe louis.



- holmes says tyson was not the hardest hitter he faced.......thats cause holmes does not remember getting hit by tyson, he was hit so damm hard. holmes was out like a light after that final right hand. utter domination. holmes had never faced firepower like that before.



- berbick a very strong and durable guy..........tyson hits him in the 2nd round......BOOM..... next thing u know berbick is looking like a man who had 20 shots of vodka and cant stand up straight.



tyson didnt just beat these guys, HE DOMINATED THEM ALL. HE DOMINATED THE BEST THE DIVISION HAD TO OFFER IN THE LATE 80s. HE DOMINATED THEM SO EASILY THAT YOU COULD NOT POSSIBLY SEE THESE GUYS EVEN ON THERE BEST DAYS EVER BEING ABLE TO HANG WITH MIKE.


funny how many tyson opponents say he wasnt the hardest hitter they faced even though when they get hit by tyson they shake all the way down to the legs before falling down out cold. no other puncher they faced had that effect on them. tyson made opponents do funny things.





o might i add, tyson unified all 3 titles in 1 year. holmes reigned for 7 years and never even attempted to unify

Lets just agree to disagree Brock because you are never open to another persons opinion and ofcourse you must have been there at the time and everything, so carry on thinking that Tyson was this invincible God brought down by nasty Buster Douglas and Robin Givens!... yeh right!...

sure im open, u were one of the ones who opened up my opinion on holmes. i went back studied the tape and became far more impressed and i changed my opinion about larry.


u seem to be the one that is not open to change ur opinion about tyson......u made up ur mind about the guy....... "he was just a overated punk rapist who had no heart and beat on faded fighters and anyone who steps up to him will beat him". thats not very intelligent

You might as well compare Holmes and Tysons respective efforts against Holifield... Holmes at 42 did better than a 28 year old Tyson. Also anyone who knows about the life and careers of Carl Williams and Pink Thomas knows that they were past their best when they fought Tyson

disagree about williams. tyson beat a prime carl williams. holmes beat a green carl williams.




actually tyson's 86-89 was arguebaly better than holmes entire title reign in the 1980s. tyson 86-89 beat better competition than holmes did in the 1980s and tyson DOMINATED top 1980s heavyweights who holmes never faced(tubbs, thomas).

- tyson also accomplished more in one year(unified all 3 titles) than holmes did in 7 years. tyson unifed, holmes never attempted too. and tyson did so in 1 year


- tyson dominated the top 1980s heavyweights easily leaving no controversy in victoy. holmes struggled with certain heavyweights and gave no rematches to the controversial close fights

- tyson fought the best of his era 1986-89 besides holyfield who he was scheduled to fight in 1990


- holmes did not fight the best of his era( never fought tubbs, thomas, coetzee, dokes, page)





look at who holmes beat in the 1980s



green carl williams
tim witherspoon
green marvis frasier
trevor berbick
david bey
gerry cooney
renaldo snipes
green bonecrusher smith



look at who tyson beat in the 1980s


tony tubbs
pinklon thomas
carl williams
old larry holmes
frank bruno
michael spinx
tony tucker
trevor berbick
bonecrusher smith
marvis frasier
quick tillis







- tyson cleary beat better competition in the 1980s than larry holmes did






* tyson clearly established himself unquestionably the best of his era. holmes did not, for there were Alpha champs like dokes, coetzee, thomas(who was rated over holmes at one point), tubbs, page that holmes never fought. press were calling out for holmes to face some of these guys but he never did.

out of tysons 9 title defenses, 8 were current/former/future champs.

out of holmes 20 title defenses, i believe only 6 or 7 were current/former/future champs



every single guy tyson faced 86-89 in his title reign was rated in the top 10 by ring magazine.

holmes during his title reign faced a lot of unranked guys

At the end of the day Tyson made a handful of defences against mostly mediocre opposition while Holmes made 20+ defences against generally far better opponents... anyone who can claim that Tysons resume is more impressive is really dreaming to be blunt.

disagree, holmes faced a lot of green fighters. experience counts!!!! and holmes fought a lot of guys who hardly had any world class experience. tyson beat these same guys when they were more experienced. berbick, smith, williams were all green when they fought holmes. they were better fighters when they fought tyson.





ill put tysons title defenses near the level of holmes! certainly its not outrageous to believe tysons title reign is not far from holmes considering holmes fought a lot of inexperienced fighters plus he missed out on fighting a lot of the top heavyweights of the 1980s. i give the edge to larry but he did have flaws in his title reign.


i also think tyson did things alot better than holmes like he dominated his oponents more leaving no controversy of who won the fight , fought most of the best of his era unlike holmes, UNIFIED THE TITLES unlike larry.

"Also anyone who knows about the life and careers of Carl Williams and Pink Thomas knows that they were past their best when they fought Tyson."

I know about the life and careers of both.

You just don't like Tyson.

Probably the 1000th thread to be ruined by you guys having a childish frickin argument over how great or not great Tyson was. Thanks guys.

These Tyson threads always go round in circles with no conclusion & how you lot distorted a thread about the health of Pinklon Thomas into a thread comparing Tyson & Holmes opposition is both depressing & pathetic.

pinklon thomas is very underated, i rate him in my top 50 heavyweights of all time. anyone else think hes a top 50 heavyweight? he had a lot of skill and the best jab besides holmes.


hell from 83-85 while he was champ and undefeated the public started putting him on the level of holmes, YET HOLMES NEVER FOUGHT HIM.


thomas also beat spoon easier than holmes did