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Pinklon Thomas 213 lbs beat James Tillis 216 lbs by TKO at 0:58 in round 8 of 10 Date: 1982-08-14 Location: Stouffers Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Referee: Jackie Keough Aired On: ABC Wide World of Sports Thomas stops Tillis Associated Press, August 15, 1982 Pinklon Thomas pushed his unbeaten string to 20, stopping heavily favored James “Quick“ Tillis of Chicago with a brief combination of punches in the eighth round. Thomas took control of the back-and-forth bout with a combination of punches midway through the sixth round. An overhand right, followed seconds later by a left, brought blood from Tillis' nose and reopened a cut Tillis had suffered to his mouth in the opening round. Both fighters appeared tired opening the seventh until Thomas, with one minute remaining, unleashed a left-right-left combination and then several brief flurries that stunned Tillis. A left early in the eighth round set the stage for Thomas' finishing flurry, which sent Tillis reeling backwards toward to ropes. Referee Jackie Keough stopped the bout 58 seconds after the round began. Pinklon Thomas of Philadelphia pushed his unbeaten string to 20 Saturday, stopping heavily favored James “Quick“ Tillis of Chicago with a brief combination of punches in the eighth round of a scheduled 10-round heavyweight bout. Thomas, 24, entered the bout as the World Boxing Council's No. 14 contender. Tillis, 25, whose only loss in 23 previous professional fights came in a title match with World Boxing Association champion Mike Weaver, was the WBC's No. 6 challenger. Thomas, who weighed 213 pounds to 216 pounds for Tillis, took control of the fight with a combination of punches midway through the sixth round. An overhand right, followed seconds later by a left, brought blood from Tillis' nose and reopened a cut Tillis had suffered to his mouth in the first round. Both fighters appeared tired opening the seventh round until Thomas, with about one minute remaining, unleashed a left-right-left combination and then several brief flurries that stunned Tillis. A left early in the eighth round set the stage for Thomas' finishing flurry, which sent Tillis reeling backwards toward the ropes. Referee Jackie Keough stopped the bout 58 seconds after the round began. The knockout was the 17th for Thomas in 20 fights. Thomas was a late replacement in the nationally televised fight for Tim Witherspoon, who had been scheduled to box Tillis on Sunday. Witherspoon and Trevor Berbick, who had been scheduled to box Renaldo Snipes on Saturday, were suspended by the Cleveland Boxing Commission Wednesday after both complained of illness. The commission said the suspensions, which followed doctors' tests, were levied because Witherspoon and Berbick failed to to honor their commitments. Notes Tillis was two months and three days removed from scoring a ten-round unanimous decision win over 37-year-old Earnie Shavers (67-10-1). Many people believed Witherspoon and Berbick withdrew from their scheduled fights due to promotional issues with Don King. Thomas, who had been scheduled to fight Jeff Shelburg (22-5) on August 15 in Atlantic City, took the nationally-televised bout with Tillis on two-days notice. Quote “It was funny because at that time, I was training at Joe Frazier’s gym in Philadelphia. At that time, I was training to fight Jeff Shelburg in Atlantic City. Two days before the Shelburg fight, I get a call from Cleveland that Witherspoon had pulled out of the fight against 'Quick' for some reason I can’t recall. Georgie Benton knew I was in great shape and had really been training. We took the fight with them thinking I was a pushover. 'Quick' didn’t hurt me in the fight and I was ready to face someone in the top ten so I could make a name for myself on the boxing scene. Once I had a big win like this over a top ten guy, I made a concerted effort to get out and meet the boxing fans. Since I wasn’t known, I would stay after the big guys would leave out, signing match boxes to toilet paper, as long as it made the fans happy. I wanted the boxing folks to know me and enjoyed every bit of meeting with them.“ Pinklon Thomas in a 2010 interview with Brad Berkwitt of Ringside Report
