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.

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.

[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.

In the co-feature for the vacant IBF championship, Tucker recovered from a slow start to defeated Douglas by knockout in the tenth round.