(Photo: michaelsterlingeaton.com) By Jason Kim: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will be defending his titles this Saturday night against Tony Thompson in Berne, Switzerland. This will be one of the few fights that the 6’6″ Wladimir has had in which his opponent is nearly as tall as him.

The 6’5″ Thompson has the longer reach if not the better power and speed. Although few boxing fans are giving the 40-year-old Thompson any chance in this fight to unseat the big Ukrainian, Wladimir believes Thompson is going to make it a very tough fight.

Wladimir said this as quoted by Sports Illustrated “Tony Thompson is definitely not an easy job. I compare him to a spider: Big body, small head, long arms, which is perfect for boxing and makes it super complicated to fight against.”

Wladimir forgot to add that Thompson is a southpaw and he previously gave Wladimir one of his tougher fights of his career in 2008 before bowing out in the 11th from a hard combination from Wladimir. Thompson can give Wladimir a lot of problems again unless Wladimir is able to solve his riddle and get hi out of there early. His trainer Emanuel Steward will no doubt be pleading with Wladimir to show some offense to try blast Thompson out as soon as possible. However, Steward doesn’t have an easy time getting Wladimir to follow his instructions because he’s often reluctant to take any chances of getting hurt after being stopped by Corrie Sanders, Ross Puritty and Lamon Brewster in the distant past.

Those knockout losses left a big impression on Wladimir, because he doesn’t believe in letting his hands go like he used to, and prefers instead of landing jabs and right hands followed by a clinch. Oftentimes Wladimir doesn’t even throw a punch before grabbing his opponent. It looks awkward and it’s painful to watch, because you know Wladimir is capable of so much more if he could get his mind right and just fight with some intensity.