By Allan Fox: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 51 KO’s) easily dispatched 40-year-old Tony Thompson (36-3, 24 KO’s) in the 6th round in their rematch on Saturday night at the Stade de Suisse in Berne, Switzerland.

The end came in the 6th when Wladimir landed three booming right hands that put Thompson on the canvas in a pile. He was slow in getting up and by the time he made it to his feet the referee called a halt to the bout. Besides that knockdown, Wladimir also dropped Thompson in the 5th round from a hard right hand in the last seconds of the round. There wasn’t enough time for Wladimir to finish Thompson off when he beat the count. Wladimir might have been able to finish Thompson off had he been a little more accurate with his punches, but he missed in a couple of tries.

This was an unusual bout for Wladimir because it seemed like he made a conscious effort not to clinch. Wladimir did clinch but not nearly as many as he’d done in recent bouts. Another thing that stood out for me was that Wladimir rarely threw any jabs during the fight. It was as if he was trying to make it an exciting fight by throwing nothing but power punches. Wladimir threw a few jabs in each round, but nearly the number that he probably should have had he been fighting smart. The lack of a jab made it much harder for Wladimir because he didn’t have anything to set up his right hands.

He was basically throwing lead right hands all night long. In addition to that, Wladimir failed to use his left hook, which used to be his best weapon for knocking his opponents out. Wladimir only threw that punch a handful of times for some reason.

Thompson looked completely petrified all during the fight. He showed his fear by failing to throw punches. He rarely threw anything in the fight and seemed more intent on trying to get out of the way of Wladimir’s big shots.

Other action on the card:

Tony Harrison TKO 1 Flavio Turelli
Istvan Szili UD 8 Daniel Urbanski
Nuri Seferi UD 8 Giulian Ilie