Berbick Beats Thomas, <i> Adds</i> to Confusion

LAS VEGAS — Attempting to establish order in the heavyweight division, given its near-comic disrepair, is a remarkable notion. And possibly a misguided one. Because the problem in the once-glorious division may not be that there are too many champions (three and holding) but that there aren’t any at all.

Certainly this little seven-fight (minimum) tournament, which started Saturday night when Trevor Berbick upset Pinklon Thomas on a unanimous decision, is well-intended. As it stands, the plan is to eventually match the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation champions and produce a single champion by the summer of 1987. It’s a fine idea; the proliferation of heavyweight champions has certainly been a factor in the division’s lessening credibility.

But more than that is the transience of the champions. No heavyweight since Larry Holmes was relieved of his IBF crown last year has shown any capability for a strong and long reign. Consider that going into Saturday night’s fight, there was a roster of eight former champions who are still active contenders. Thomas, the one who showed even some promise as a champion--he had made one successful title defense, impressive these days--turned it over, almost on request.

It was every bit as big an upset as Michael Spinks’ decision over Holmes. Thomas (26-0-1 and 21 knockouts going into the fight) was not only heavily favored in Saturday night’s fight with the quirky Berbick, alternately the Fighting Preacher and the Young Buffalo, but he was also favored to win the tournament. He had the tools, the dedication and ambition to survive the perils of championship boxing.

So it was thought. But Berbick (30-4-1 with 23 knockouts going into the ring), who had lost to the likes of Bernardo Mercardo and S.T. Gordon in his up-and-down career, won the 12-round decision, 115-113, on all three judges’ cards at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, pushing a slowed and puzzled Thomas all over the ring.

This may be bad news for a division in which the new champions automatically tend to fall apart in their elevated circumstances. The welter of WBA champions--who knows how many in the last few years--retreated to drugs, drink, a fast life. And all failed to make even one successful defense of their title. Thomas, the former drug addict who turned his own life around, was thought to be different. If Thomas, the nice guy, the one everybody wanted to succeed, can’t survive this life, who can?

To be sure, no one accuses Thomas of the kind of self-destruction that haunted the likes of Michael Dokes and the others. Rather, it was speculated, Thomas had simply undertaken too much as champion--beginning a singing career, a managing career. This is a guy who had been accused all his life of being too independent, not hiring managers. For this fight, he didn’t even have long-time cornerman Angelo Dundee. He had spread himself too thin. Maybe all you need to know is that his introductory song, well, he had recorded it.

Thomas, 28, his eyes a tad puffed up from Berbick’s in-fighting, didn’t put the idea to rest. “I did what I had to do,” was about all he said. Nevertheless, beginning in about the sixth round, after a wild fifth when he and Berbick fought brow to brow, he was obviously tired. He was motionless when allowed to be and even when motivated in later rounds--he should have sensed he needed a knockout to win--he did not really press Berbick.

Thomas got $650,000 for the fight but will now be denied the big paydays he wanted as the tournament rolls along. Almost certainly, he will get back into the tournament, perhaps as a challenger to either Spinks or Tim Witherspoon, the man he defeated for the WBC title. “I’ve overcome a lot of obstacles,” said Thomas, a man who came to boxing at the advanced age of 19 after prolonged heroin usage. “This is just a drop in the bucket.”

If Thomas was not pretty in pink, Berbick, 31, was no oil painting himself. He presents a strange figure in the ring, so unorthodox is his style. Yet his style, as it turned out, was perfect for Thomas. He fought close and did not allow Thomas to use his vaunted jab to much advantage. And, coming out of their head-to-head exchanges, Berbick occasionally stung him. Thomas’ left eye was cut by the eighth round, and the other eye was swelling a little.

Both men were gracious after the fight, surprising in that they spent a lot of time before and even during the fight barking at each other. Berbick kept complaining of Thomas’ thumbing, for one thing. Afterward, wearing his new championship belt, Berbick was less upset. He said it was maybe just a bad habit of Thomas’. In fact, Berbick was full of respect for the fallen champion. Flexing a left hand he is sure is broken, Berbick said: “He has the toughest head I ever felt.” High praise in the boxing world.

That Berbick would be gracious is all the more amazing when you think that he may have been fighting for nothing. His purse of $50,000 had been attached by the commission in connection with complaints from a Texas promoter. And further, as Berbick admitted, he had a chance to win more than $125,000 on a $25,000 bet. But the ordained minister, though sorely tempted, could not go through with the bet. God wouldn’t have liked that.

And so the tournament rolls on, but no longer with any assurance of producing stability. There may just be one champion at its conclusion, but if we have learned anything, it won’t be the same one for very long.