Unifying Heavyweight Title Is Priority for Pinklon Thomas

Pinklon Thomas, the WBC heavyweight champion, travels light. Usually by himself. Never with a caravan of camp followers “protecting” him the way they did Muhammad Ali and Roberto Duran. Or only thought they did.

If he’s recognized and asked for his autograph, that’s fine with Pinklon Thomas. If not, that’s OK, too. He can live with it. He has a long time now.

He came very close to being overlooked at a gathering last week called so Michael Spinks could formally renounce his WBC, WBA and IBF light-heavyweight titles now that he’s the IBF heavyweight king. Spinks, the 29-year-old younger brother of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, has no more use for those lighter titles. Not after taking the heavyweight crown from Larry Holmes Sept. 21 in Las Vegas by handing him the only defeat of his career.

Jersey Joe Walcott and Joe Frazier, both heavyweight titlists themselves, were on the dais with Spinks and Butch Lewis, who has handled Spinks since he started. Lewis introduced the two ex-champions as well as a member of the audience, former light-heavyweight champion and current New York State Boxing Commissioner Jose Torres.

But as usual, nobody seemed to notice Pinklon Thomas sitting quietly at one of the tables listening to Lewis talk about Spinks’ plans.

Lewis isn’t at all sure those plans necessarily include Gerry Cooney or Larry Holmes. Negotiating problems. Big fights are made for either money or the title, Lewis said. Cooney’s managers don’t seem to know which they want. Holmes’ trouble, according to Lewis, is he’s negotiating “emotionally.” He believes he’s still the champion and not the challenger. Translated, that means he’s making demands Lewis isn’t going for.

Everybody wants a shot at Spinks’ title now. Carl (The Truth) Williams, Greg Page, Britain’s Frank Bruno, Marvis Frazier, everybody. But, Lewis said, he and Spinks are waiting for Pinklon Thomas and Tony Tubbs, the WBA heavyweight title-holder, to get things settled. Thomas, with a record of 25-0-1, has signed for a January fight with Trevor Berbick, who beat Ali near the end of his career, and Tubbs is defending his title, possibly on the same card, against Tim Witherspoon, from whom Thomas won his crown.

Hearing Lewis mention his name, Thomas suddenly straightened up. He might’ve even said something from where he was sitting. Whatever it was, Lewis suddenly noticed him and called him up to the mike and encouraged him to speak his piece if there was anything on his mind.

Thomas did have something there, something very important to him. The unification of the heavyweight titles, a projected move that invariably evokes all kinds of conversation but very little action. Lewis laughingly urged the Thomas to say whatever he wanted to say, even reveal what happened at Spinks’ victory party after his upset of Holmes. Somehow Thomas never got the chance. Everyone was laughing too hard.

Thomas spoke about it later after practically everyone else had left the get-together.

He told how he, Spinks, Lewis and Don King were at the victory party in the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas and how he walked over to Lewis.

“I said to him ‘Butch, look, I think you, Mike, me and Don have something to discuss about unification,”’ Thomas recalled. “Butch said ‘You know we gotta live with this title a little. We’re looking to see if we can bring Cooney out.’ I said ‘Man, you can’t be serious. They’ve been dodging me nearly two years and now you’re talking about Cooney.’

“That hurt me,” Thomas declared. “First, I was ducked by Larry Holmes. Now I felt I was being ducked by the promoter representing the fighter--Butch Lewis. I was a upset, hostile. I couldn’t believe that after such a victory they were looking to bring a guy outta retirement.”

Thomas recalled walking across the room to King and telling him the heavyweight division was “all screwed up.” He and King talked about possible different opponents and about “certain numbers,” meaning money. The following day the fight with Berbick was set. So was the Tubbs-Witherspoon contest. The two ultimate winners eventually would meet and then at least the WBC and WBA titles would be unified.

Assuming Thomas gets to that “semifinal,” and wins it, then what?

“Then I go knock on Michael Spinks’ door and say let’s get on with it because there should be and really is only one heavyweight champion of the world.”