By Eric Thomas: With all the press that WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is getting for his upcoming fight next month against Tim Bradley, IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s title defense against 40-year-old Tony Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s) scheduled for July 7th has been has been largely forgotten.
Wladimir is aware that the boxing fans have little interest in this fight, but he points out that the fight will still be a sell out at the Stade de Suisse, in Berne, Switzerland. I have little doubt that his fight with Thompson will sell out with the German fans that will flock to see him fight. However, with fans from other parts of the world, they have little interest in seeing Wladimir fight the 40-year-old Thompson again.
Wladimir already knocked the guy out in the 11th round in 2008, and he’s worked himself back into position for another shot without even having to face a top tier opponent. That’s the disappointing thing about the sanctioning bodies. They rank fighters highly without them even having to fight a top 15 opponent oftentimes instead of making it necessary for him to prove themselves against other top fighters to get a shot at the title.
Wladimir really hurt himself by facing little 5’10” 39-year-old Jean Marc Mormeck last March. While the fight did sell out and do well in Germany like all Klitschko fans, it turned off other fans outside of Germany because of it was a terrible mismatch. Wladimir made things even worse by choosing to clinch Mormeck constantly in every round despite Mormeck being completely over-matched, too small and too weak to do anything against Wladimir.
Thompson, 6’5”, isn’t too small to compete with Wladimir, but he is too slow, and not a big enough puncher for him to take advantage of Wladimir’s weak chin. That’s Thompson’s whole problem. He doesn’t hit hard enough to be any of threat to Wladimir.
Comments are closed.