After his impressive knockout of Trevor Berbick to win the WBC Heavyweight title, Mike Tyson was set to fight the winner of the December 12, 1986 bout between WBA champ Tim Witherspoon and James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith, a late replacement for Tony Tubbs. My sister taped a copy of that fight from Madison Square Garden for me, and I watched it so many times, I can’t remember. Smith shocked me when he knocked Witherspoon down 3 times in the opening round, ending it and making ‘Bonecrusher’ the new WBA Heavyweight Champion.
Smith was a likeable sort, and when questioned about how he would handle Mike Tyson in their upcoming bout, he said “I’m gonna have to hit with some hard shots early to cool him down, but I think it’ll be the same result as with Witherspoon.” Confidence is never a bad thing, and he was gonna need it.
My sister again taped the March 7, 1987 clash between Tyson and Smith from the outdoor arena at the Hilton in Las Vegas. The fight was a stinker, with Smith grabbing and holding so much, his new name was ‘Bone-hugger’, after his cowardly performance. Tyson landed enough combinations throughout the 12 round snoozer, and it was laughable to me when Smith finally threw a hard right hand that buzzed Tyson in the last 30 seconds of the twelfth round. Too little too late, and it’s a fight I never watched a second time, it was that bad.
Three months later, the now WBA and WBC Champion Mike Tyson was back in Vegas to accept the challenge of former champ Pinklon Thomas. My youngest sister was on her honeymoon, so I went to her apartment to catch the action on May 30 from the same outdoor arena at the Hilton in Vegas. Thomas had been a heroin addict as a youngster, and was shopworn, leaving him absolutely no chance of winning in my book. I wanted to see the HBO fight out of curiosity as much as anything, and waited anxiously as the opening bell rang.
Tyson hurt Pinklon badly, and the thing I remember the most was the expletive-laced tirade that Angelo Dundee went on after the first round. He was protesting the doctor looking at Thomas, but his fighter was allowed to continue after the minute rest was up. To his credit, Thomas regrouped, started to land his great left jab, and actually won a couple of rounds.. He was tiring badly however, and in the sixth, a relentless 15-punch combination finally put Pinklon down and out. I was incredibly impressed by the 21 year old Tyson’s power and poise, and saw no one on the horizon to beat him.
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