By Allan Fox: The last time IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 50 KO’s) fought Tony Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s) in 2008, Wladimir played it safe by pecking away at Thompson with jabs and single right hands for 10 rounds and having poor luck in hurting him.

Wladimir, with his trainer Emanuel Steward pleading with him to go after Thompson to take him out, Wladimir finally fought with a sense of urgency in the 11th round and stopped Thompson with a flurry of power punches that ended with a hard right hand.

In their rematch on July 7th in Switzerland, Wladimir has to really go after Thompson with an all out assault if he wants to end this fight without getting marked up like he did last time. A young Wladimir, before his KO losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster, would have gone after Thompson in the first couple of rounds and likely stopped him immediately in 2008. However, the Wladimir that fought Thompson in 2008, was gun shy and timid without there being any reason to be because Thompson had no power or hand speed to speak of.

Wladimir can end this fight in the first or second rounds if he goes after Thompson the way his trainer Steward wants him to. He can’t just let Thompson hang around to land his jabs, right hooks and straight left hands all night long because he’ll mark Wladimir up if he’s allowed to hang around that long.

Thompson will do exactly what he did last time by staying on the outside looking to land his slow, steady jab and then follow it with a right hook and a left hand down the middle. Thompson landed a lot of shots against Wladimir in their fight in 2008 simply because he was one of the few fighters were Wladimir didn’t have the reach advantage. Although Wladimir was an inch taller than Thompson at 6’6″, Thompson had the longer reach and was able to hit Wladimir even when he was on then outside.