Wladimir to get stuck with 40-year-old Tony Thompson after the Mormeck fight

By Boxing News - 12/29/2011 - Comments

Image: Wladimir to get stuck with 40-year-old Tony Thompson after the Mormeck fightBy William Mackay: It goes from bad to worse for IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) in 2012. Not only does he have to waste the first quarter of 2012 getting ready to destroy 39-year-old smallish ex-cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22 KO’s) on March 3rd in Germany, but Wladimir then has to fight 40-year-old Tony Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s), his International Boxing Federation mandatory challenger, in his next bout in 2012.

It’s pretty clear that holding down all of the titles that Wladimir in possession of is more of a curse than a blessing. The Mormeck is a mismatch, and the Thompson fight is no different. Neither of these guys have the speed or the power to win against Wladimir. But what makes the Thompson fight so unappealing is that this is the same guy that Wladimir beat with ease three years ago by an 11th round TKO win in 2008.

Sometimes you can say this or that fighter has got a chance due to them improving over time, but not in this case. Thompson is older at 40, slower than he was last time Wladimir fought him, and not improved in any way. I wouldn’t mind this as a stay busy fight if it were to be taking place in March, but Wladimir already has a mismatch set up for March with Mormeck.

Having two mismatches in 2012 is going to use up almost the entire year, and there’s talk that Wladimir could fight Adamek in late 2012. That would be the third mismatch for the year and that would take care of the entire 2012 year for Wladimir. I’d much rather see Wladimir fight some of the bigger and better heavyweights like Robert Helenius, Tyson Fury and David Price next year instead of seeing him face guys that are old, don’t have the size or can’t punch.



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