IBF Gives Klitschko The Exception To Fight Thompson

By Boxing News - 04/10/2008 - Comments

wladimir464641.jpgBy Eric Thomas: In a move that comes to no surprise to me, the IBF has decided to give IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) an exception to bypass his IBF mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin (15-0, 11 KOs), in which case Klitschko will now be able to go ahead with his plans to defend his WBO title against the number # 1 mandatory challenger, Tony Thompson (31-1, 19 KOs), about which will likely take place in July.

Wladimir Klitschko, 32, is reportedly ecstatic with the news of the decision, though it’s unclear why it would make much difference to him since he’ll have to defend against Povetkin sooner or later, and gives the appearance that Wladimir is for some reason avoiding having to fight him until he absolutely has to. According to Wladimir, he wants to fight Thompson first because he’s been waiting longer than Povetkin. Thompson, just to be clear, has been waiting for his title shot for a year, while Povetkin has only been waiting since January 26th, since defeating Eddie Chambers to win the IBF tournament to decide on who Klitschko’s mandatory challenger would be.

Based on his comments, Klitschko prefers to fight Thompson out of fairness, given the fact that he’s been waiting the longest. However, judging by the comments in the various internet forums, many fans see this decision as a calculated move to avoid fighting Povetkin, who is considered to be the second best heavyweight in the division, until he absolutely has to fight him. That’s not to take anything away from the 36 year-old Thompson, I’m certain, but he clearly doesn’t have the power, or the heavy pressure style that Klitschko typically has problems dealing with in his fights.

Thompson, a tall 6’5” 245 lbs southpaw, hasn’t lost in eight years, although most of his competition has consisted of B and C level fighters, which makes it hard to define how relevant he is as a worthy challenger. Much has been made of his biggest win of his career, a 5th round TKO over German-based Luan Krasnigi, in the WBO title eliminator bout in July 2007, but Krasniqi, 36, was well past his prime at the time of their fight.

Other than Krasniqi, Thompson has beaten few other good heavyweights, other than Timor Krasniqi (the cousin of former WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov), Dominick Guinn and Cliff Couser. That’s not an impressive list if you ask me. His other opponents are far less recognizable than these fighters, which make it understandable why Thompson has been able to remain unbeaten for the past years, and perhaps why Wladimir is so interested in fighting him rather than Povetkin.

To some people, Klitschko’s move to temporarily skip over Povetkin is unfair to him, a move seemingly hand pick an opponent, in Thompson, that is a lesser threat to Klitschko, whom has had a history of knockout losses to hard sluggers like Povetkin. In that department, Klitschko has little to worry about from Thompson, a much weaker puncher than Povetkin and a far less danger offensive threat to Klitschko. Most people would agree that Povetkin is the far more dangerous opponent, and for this reason, Klitschko’s statement that he is fighting Thompson because he has had to wait the longer of his two mandatory challengers, doesn’t seem to be holding water with some of us.



Comments are closed.