By Jason Kim: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KO’s) is looking forward to his rematch against 40-year-old Tony Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s) on July 7th at the Stade de Suisse in Berne, Switzerland. Wladimir wants to fight a lot better than he did last time he tangled with the 6’5″ Thompson four years ago, winning by an 11th round TKO.

Wladimir gave Thompson much too much respect in that fight, and allowed him to hang around until the 11th. Wladimir finally got serious with Thompson in the 11th, with trainer Emanuel Steward practically begging Wladimir to get rid of Thompson, taking him out with several hard combinations. Wladimir took a lot of shots in the fight before taking Thompson out, and was bloody by the end of the fight from a cut sustained early on in the fight.

Wladimir has to throw more combinations in the rematch, and he’s got to fight a lot harder than he did last time if he wants to get Thompson out of there early. If Wladimir plays it safe by clinching after every punch thrown like he did against 39-year-old Jean-Marc Mormeck last March, then Wladimir will take a lot of punishment from Thompson and will likely get badly marked up again.

What makes the southpaw Thompson so tough is his combination of the southpaw stance and his huge size and long reach. The 6’6″ Wladimir actually had the shorter reach and wasn’t able to simply bomb away from the outside without getting hit like he normally does when he fights. Thompson with his long reach was able to connect with punches from the outside all night long.

Wladimir looked lost out there, like he didn’t have a clue what to do. Steward was telling Wladimir all along to take the fight to Thompson and finish him off, but Wladimir fought will little fire, choosing to clinch constantly. That’s the wrong opponent to choose a clinch and grab style against, because it allowed Thompson to hand around longer than he might have otherwise been able to do. It also allowed Thompson to nail Wladimir with shots as he was coming in trying to grab. Thompson landed a lot of punches when Wladimir was dashing in to grab him in one of his routine clinches.