Mike Tyson vs Pinklon Thomas - Full Fight - 5-30-1987

Mike Tyson vs Pinklon Thomas - Full Fight - 5-30-1987

Bout Summary:

Mike Tyson retained his World Boxing Council-World Boxing Association heavyweight title tonight, knocking out Pinklon Thomas at 2 minutes of the sixth round of their scheduled 12-round fight in the Las Vegas Hilton Outdoor Stadium.

The end came after a fast and furious first round by Tyson was defused by Thomas, who resorted to jab-and-grab tactics that left Tyson groping for a way out of his foe's grasp.

For Tyson, the answer came abruptly in the sixth. He hurt Thomas with a right to the body, followed swiftly by a right uppercut to the chin. That punch sequence is a favorite of Tyson's, and often produces great damage. But for Iron Mike, it was a left hook to Thomas's head that put The Pink Man, as Thomas is called, in deep trouble.

When the left hook landed, Thomas reeled backward, with Tyson in hot pursuit. Tyson let his hands go, pounding Thomas with rights and lefts until Thomas, a 29-year-old fighter from Los Angeles, fell backward onto the canvas.

Thomas was glassy-eyed, and blood was streaming down his face. Referee Carlos Padilla leaned over Thomas and began his count. By the time he got to nine, Thomas's trainer, Angelo Dundee, had climbed into the ring and was signaling that he wanted the fight ended. Padilla ended it, and the fight was officially declared a technical knockout.

In the preceding fight, Tony Tucker won the vacated International Boxing Federation heavyweight title when he stopped James (Buster) Douglas at 1 minute 36 seconds of the 10th round of a scheduled 15-rounder.

In winning the bout, Tucker earned the dubious prospect of fighting Tyson in the final of Home Box Office's heavyweight unification series on Aug. 1 here.

Off his showing tonight, Tucker is no great threat to the 20-year-old Tyson. Tucker appears neither a clever enough fighter to avoid Tyson's blows, nor a stiff enough puncher to discourage him. His ability to withstand a punch is suspect, too. Douglas, a clever but not overpowering fighter, shook him several times before fatigue began to set in.

Not that Tyson is without flaws. As James (Bonecrusher) Smith did in Tyson's last title defense in March, Thomas was able to keep Tyson offstride, after the first round, with the jab-and-grab tactics.

When forced to fight at close quarters, Tyson becomes strangely inert. What's more, against fighters who are prone to clinch, Tyson's jab has proved inferior to the rest of his arsenal. The short-armed jab of the champion lacks the snap and frequency against opponents who clinch.

He hurt Thomas and bloodied him with devastating lefts and rights, and seemed on the verge of finishing the former W.B.C. champion. But Thomas - who, as Tyson said afterward, took "a great shot" - survived the round and, rather than trade punches with Tyson, went to Plan B. That was a more conservative approach, and Thomas had his moments with it, using a heavy-handed jab to keep Tyson offstride and then tying him up when the Catskill, N.Y., slugger moved in. At times, he met the oncoming Tyson with short right hands. Mostly, though, he confounded Tyson by frequent clinches. When Tyson couldn't find a way to stop the clinches, the crowd of 12,706 booed on more than one occasion.

Before the sixth round, Thomas had to change the glove of his left hand when, he said, the attached thumb on glove began to come apart.

"The fight didn't go my way," Tyson said. "I can't make excuses. It was almost two bum fights in a row, which is no good financially."

But the champion said he thought eventually he would get to Thomas.

"I knew it was not going to last," Tyson said. "He didn't have anything for me."

Tyson revealed that his trainer, Kevin Rooney, was urging him between rounds to box more. But in the minute interval between the fifth and sixth rounds, Tyson said he asked Rooney for "one more round" to pursue his own approach. That approach was bombs-away. And it worked.

Now Tyson can look forward to the Tucker bout. While Tucker is not yet signed, his promoter, Cedric Kushner, indicated that he expected the negotiations to be resolved so that a unification bout would take place.

Whoever emerges as the victor in that Aug. 1 match would be the first unified champion since 1978, when Leon Spinks beat Muhammad Ali.

Of course, that title may be undercut even before the unified bout is waged. After Michael Spinks and Gerry Cooney meet on June 15 in Atlantic City in a bout billed as The Heavyweight Championship, the winner is likely to claim he is the real champion. While the Spinks-Cooney bout lacks the sanction of the three governing bodies of the sport - the W.B.C., W.B.A. and I.B.F. - the victory is expected to be recognized as the heavyweight champion by several state commissions.

With the victory, Tyson is now 30-0 with 27 knockouts. Thomas's record goes to 29-2-1 with 24 knockouts.

Match Date: May 30, 1987

[j.m.]

These fights were the best when I was a will never understand the feeling of watching Mike fight in his prime.

[vjrgjob]

Angelo Dundee screaming at the doctor to go away 😂😂

[perpetualmotion]

I remember as a kid watching these Tyson fights on Hbo. It was such an event. When other kids my age were Hulkamaniacs I was obsessed with Kid Dynamite. He was my real superhero.

[JonBeenHereDoingit]

"I-YURN" MIKE TYSON. Best Tyson intro ever!!!

[tj]

Hats off to Pinklon, unlike bone crusher and many others he did not run, and he didn’t go into a hugging match, nor did he headbutt. He went to fight, I respect that, he had the heart of a true champion, .

[prinzdodo]

5:04-10:03 Best five minutes of this video. Mike did awesome life back then. Which he does again post-boxing career. He is the Man.

[MrSizzle]

Wow, Thomas has a hell of chin!
That first left hook around the '48:15' mark would have knocked out most fighters alone, man what a chin to take that many heavy blows from Iron Mike, amazing!

[alexferdinando]

Tyson said this was his most memorable knockout on ESPN this morning because it took 17 punches to get his opponent down. He must have watched this one over and over because he was right on target with the number 17!😅Great fight. He dug deep for this one and I’m sure that’s another reason why it was considered so spectacular to him.

[ddemonjjv]

Seeing Mike Tyson with the people at the help center was something.

[mikedisher]

You gotta give it to Thomas what a chin good fight

[rjhendrickson]

"First time Thomas has ever been knocked out" you better believe it that's Mike Tyson!

[dj_ixtwo]

Man i love to watch videos of mike speak when he’s humble. Mike is so intelligent. I don’t know literally anything about boxing but I think what made mike so great is that he was the best STUDENT. He was coachable. Like a human sponge. Early on he had the greatest coaches and mentor and he absorbed everything. Mike was their master piece.

[vicrattlehead]

Pinklon Thomas only had 1 lost prior to this fight and only by decision.
Tony Tucker, Spinks, Biggs were all unbeaten fighters aswell when they fought Mike.
Tubbs went 12 round against Bowe in late 80s
Holmes has never been KO'd before and after Tyson fight.
Alex Stewart only lost once before fighting Tyson, and that's against Holyfield after an "accidental" headbutt, but he went to full 12 rounds against Holy in the rematch. Stewart went 12 round with big George and busted up George face. Savarese went 12 rounds with Holyfield, beat Douglas in 1 round.

Off course everyone of them are considered out of shape, not in their prime, or a tomato cans only when they lost to Mike.

[philipverrill]

Look at that "Leach" that is D.King. What a shaemful individual. Great KO again Mike.

[duprez]

Pinklon Thomas is not given enough credit in this fight. He wasn't afraid of Mike. He actually FOUGHT Mike instead of holding all night. He won about 2 or 3 rounds with the jab and right cross. He simply did not have the conditioning to sustain his attack and Mike was just on another level. This disproves the myth that Mike only fought nobodies. Pinklon was a good fighter and a champion.

[SomethingThatSCREAMS]

"The Bonecrusher quickly became the bone hugger."🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[waynekelly]

Man Tyson is a human being did he make a couple of mistakes yes but who hasn't . He has a good heart n actually gave up his time n money to help these less fortunate people n whoever hates on that is an idiot . Keep up the great charity work MT.

[BoxrOffice]

Round 1

-Tyson lands a leaping left hook followed by an 8(25:25)

-Tyson throws a 3-6-4(25:55)

-Tyson slips inside the jab and lands a left hook(26:05)

-Tyson lands a 1-8-3(26:00)

-Tyson slips left and lands a 5(26:35)

-Tyson lands a strong 3-4(27:05)

-

Round 2

-Tysons slips left the lead uppercut and lands a 3(29:50)

-Tyson throws a 1-2-3-3-4(31:10)

-Pinky throws the 1-2 and shoulder rolls the counter 2 by Tyson(31:45)

Round 3
Round 4

-Tyson throws a 6-3-6(39:30)

-Tyson slips right of the jab then comes in close but pinky pushes him away and lands a lef hook(39:40)

Round 5

-pinky counters the jab with his cross(41:00)

-Tyson slips left of the jab and lands a lead uppercut(41:10)

-pinky countered the jab by shoulder rolling and throwing the left hook at the same time(41:40)

-Tyson lands the jab and the left hook(43:20)

-Tyson slipped to the right of the jab and countered with a cross(43:45)

Round 6

-Tyson throws a 8-6(47:45)

-Tyson lands a leaping left hook(48:00)

-Tyson lands a 3-4-5-6 followed by a 6-3-2 then sends pinky down with a flurry(48:10)

-Tyson throws a 3-6-4(25:55)

-Tyson slips inside the jab and lands a left hook(26:05)

[Paul-osfr]

Pinklon Thomas was made of granite, coming back from the 1st round to give 1987 Tyson some problems. Even when he was knocked out it seems like it took twice as much damage to knock him down as it would anyone else.

I never saw this fight before or knew how it went, I'm just going through Tyson fights, and I thought this would be another steamroller job but this was legit.

[jjstratford]

2:55 that’s called CHILLIN 😎 while doing an interview 😂😂😂