Tony Thompson vs. Carlos Takam on June 6th in France

By Boxing News - 04/24/2014 - Comments

thompson211By Allan Fox: #6 IBF, #6 WBA heavyweight contender Tony Thompson (39-4, 26 KO’s) will be taking a tough fight against #13 WBC Carlos Takam (29-1-1, 23 KO’s) on June 6th in a scheduled 12 bound bout at the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan, Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France. The 42-year-old Thompson will be fighting in front of the France-based Takam’s home fans in this fight, and Thompson’s going to need to put in the kind of performance that we saw from him in his last performance against Odlanier Solis last month for Thompson to ensure he gets the win.

Thompson needs a win in this fight to keep alive his hopes of getting a world title shot in 2015. He’s twice fought heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko for world titles, but both efforts led to knockout losses for Thompson in 2008 and 2012. Thompson would love to get one more shot at Wladimir for his IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles.

Thompson missed a perfect opportunity to lock himself down as the IBF mandatory for Wladimir when he was beaten by Kubrat Pulev last August in losing a 12 round decision. Had Thompson won that fight, he’d be getting a guaranteed fight against Wladimir for later this year. Thompson fought well against Pulev in the first five rounds, but then he ran out of gas in the last 7 rounds and ended up losing the fight.

Thompson came into the Pulev fight weighing 264 with a lot of excess fat around his waistline. He looked like he hadn’t trained right because there was no way he going to be able to beat a heavyweight like Pulev with that amount of fat around his middle.

Thompson defeated Solis by a 12 round split decision last March in Turkey, and the fight should have arguably been a unanimous decision instead of a split decision. Thompson clearly won the fight, but the split card shows you how difficult it can be for a visiting fighter like Thompson to get a win on the road.

Takam, 33, fought to a 10 round draw in his last fight against unbeaten heavyweight contender Michael Perez last January at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Takam outworked Perez and fought well enough to deserve the decision, but he ended up having to settle for a draw for his troubles.



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