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| Date | May 30, 1987 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Las Vegas Hilton, Paradise, Nevada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA and WBC heavyweight titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tyson wins via 6th-round TKO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mike Tyson vs. Pinklon Thomas , billed as Hard Road to Glory, was a professional boxing match contested on May 30, 1987, for the WBA and WBC heavyweight championships. [2]
This fight, along with the Tucker-Douglas fight that preceded it and served as the co-main event of the broadcast, were the two penultimate matches in HBO’s Heavyweight World Series ; this was a tournament devised by the three major world sanctioning bodies, HBO, and promoter Don King to unify the heavyweight championships and crown an undisputed champion. [3]
To this point in the tournament, which began when Trevor Berbick defeated Thomas to win the WBC title in March of 1986, [4] Tyson had already won two of the three available titles, knocking out Berbick in Berbick’s first title defense later in 1986 and then defeating James "Bonecrusher" Smith by unanimous decision earlier in 1987 to win the WBA title.
Meanwhile, as the bout between Tyson and Thomas was signed, another was ordered to settle the IBF championship as reigning champion Michael Spinks, who had entered the tournament as champion and had already defeated Larry Holmes and Steffen Tangstad during its course, was to face challenger Tony Tucker, with the winner meeting either Tyson or Thomas in the final match to unify the titles. However, Spinks elected to pursue a more lucrative fight with former contender Gerry Cooney, and the IBF responded by stripping Spinks of their championship. [5] Tucker and James Douglas, the top two contenders, were then paired to fight for the vacant IBF title and the bout was signed for the same night as Tyson vs. Thomas.
Former champions Greg Page and Tony Tubbs fought in undercard matches, with Page defeating James Broad and Tubbs defeating Jerry Halstead.
In the co-feature for the vacant IBF championship, Tucker recovered from a slow start to defeated Douglas by knockout in the tenth round. [6]
Tucker hurt Douglas with right hand a minute into the 10th round, knocked him into the ropes where Tucker launched a prolonged assault which prompted Mills Lane to wave it off.
At the time of the stoppage Tucker led on one card 86–85, Douglas led on another by the same score while the third had it even at 86–86.
Tyson was the aggressor for nearly the entire fight, constantly getting the better of Thomas with his power punches. Tyson was nearly able to get the victory in the first round. With about 40 seconds left in the round, Tyson staggered Thomas with a left hook–right hook combination. With Thomas' back now against the ropes, Tyson delivered an 8-punch combination in an attempt to get the knockout victory, but Thomas was able withstand Tyson's assault and survived the round without being knocked down. Thomas was able to rebound and last another four full rounds with Tyson, using his left jab to keep Tyson off-stride while clinching Tyson whenever Tyson came close. The fight would come to an end with a minute remaining in round 6. 30 seconds into the second minute, Tyson was able to catch Thomas with a left hook that clearly hurt the challenger. Tyson would follow this with a relentless 15-punch combination that dropped Thomas to the canvas for the first time in his professional career. Before referee Carlos Padilla, Jr. could reach the count of 10, Thomas' trainer Angelo Dundee entered the ring causing Padilla to stop the fight and officially declare the result a technical knockout victory for Tyson. [7]
Tyson extended his winning streak to 29 fights. [8] In his next fight Tyson took on and defeated Tucker, becoming the first man since Leon Spinks to be undisputed champion and the first to do it with three world titles.
Thomas never contended for a major title again, and his trainer Angelo Dundee elected to stop training him following his loss. He would return to the ring in 1988 and fought until 1993.
Confirmed bouts: [9]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | ITV |
 United States | HBO |
James "Buster" Douglas is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1981 and 1999. He reigned as undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1990 after knocking out Mike Tyson. He also defeated other heavyweight world champions Oliver McCall, Trevor Berbick, and Greg Page.
Tony Craig Tucker is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1998. He won the IBF heavyweight title in 1987, and was the shortest-reigning world heavyweight champion at just 64 days. In an interview with Barry Tompkins, he referred to himself as the "invisible champion," due to the press and general public largely neglecting him. He is best known for giving Mike Tyson in his prime a relatively close fight, in which he, in the words of Larry Merchant, "rocked Tyson" in the first round. However, Tyson went on to win a unanimous decision. As an amateur, he won the 1979 United States national championships, the 1979 World Cup, and a gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games, all in the light heavyweight division.
Boxing in the 1980s was filled with important fights, events and personalities that shaped the sport. Boxing in the 1980s was shaped by many different situations, such as the continuous corporate battles between the different world sanctioning organizations, the void left by Muhammad Ali as the sport's ambassador and consequent search for a new boxing hero, the continuous presence of Don King as the sport's most famous promoter, the surge of rival promoters as Bob Arum, Butch Lewis and Murad Muhammad, and major rule changes. In 1986, Mike Tyson emerged as a fresh new face in the heavyweight division, which had seen a decline in champion quality level after Ali's retirement and, later on, after longtime WBC ruler Larry Holmes' prime. In addition, the IBF and WBO began operating.
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Buster Douglas vs. Evander Holyfield, billed as The Moment of Truth, was a professional boxing match contested on October 25, 1990, for the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight championships. The bout took place at the Mirage in Paradise, Nevada, USA and saw Douglas making the first defense of the titles he won from Mike Tyson in February 1990.
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The heavyweight unification series, also known as the Heavyweight World Series, was a sequence of professional boxing matches held in 1986 and 1987 to crown an undisputed champion of the heavyweight class. The series was produced by HBO Sports and promoted by Don King. It ended with Mike Tyson as undisputed champion, holding the championship belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA), and World Boxing Council (WBC).
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