By Allan Fox: #4 IBF, Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) could be on the verge of getting a third shot at IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko if the 41-year-old Thompson can beat undefeated #1 IBF, Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) next month in their IBF heavyweight eliminator bout on August 24th at the Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
The International Boxing Federation gave their approval today that the Thompson-Pulev fight will be an IBF heavyweight eliminator bout with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger of the winner of the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alexander Povetkin fight on October 5th.
Last week, Pulev and Thompson agreed to the fight, according to Dan Rafael, and they were just waiting for the IBF to sanction the fight as a final IBF eliminator bout. With the IBF agreeing to let the Thompson-Pulev fight go ahead as an IBF eliminator, the bout can move ahead.
Thompson has already fought Wladimir twice before in the past. He was stopped by Wladimir in the 6th round in 2012 and in the 11th round in 2008. Their first fight was a lot closer with Thompson giving Wladimir all he could handle until Thompson hurt his knee late in the fight when the two fighters fell to the canvas during a clinch.
After that defeat it was thought that Thompson wouldn’t get another crack at Wladimir, but Thompson put himself in good position for try by stopping highly hyped British heavyweight David Price in back to back fights in 2013.
Thompson could have problems with the 6’4 ½” Pulev, as he’s a much different type of heavyweight compared to Price. Pulev has a solid chin, he paces himself, he’s got a great jab, and he doesn’t get flustered the way that Price did recently in his 5th round TKO loss to Thompson on July 6th. What Pulev has going for him is his chin, size, and jab.
What he doesn’t have is the inside game that Thompson has, and he’s not a power puncher despite being a huge heavyweight in size. Pulev’s chin really hasn’t been tested all that much because he’s faced a lot of flawed heavyweights without skills and/or power.
Pulev has victories over Alexander Dimitrenko, Alexander Ustinov, Travis Walker, Michael Sprott and Derric Rossy. None of those heavyweights are in the same class as Thompson, and the victories don’t tell us anything about how Pulev will do against a heavyweight like Thompson. One thing is for sure and that’s Pulev is going to need more than a jab to beat Thompson.
Just jabbing him isn’t going to be enough for Pulev to get a win, as Thompson won’t be stopped in that manner. Pulev is also going to have to be able to take a lot of head shots in this fight because Thompson is going to land a lot of punches.
Thompson told Dan Rafael at ESPN “I saw some film of [Pulev] and he looks pretty good. He’s fast and active. He’s a pretty good heavyweight fighter. It should be a fight with good action…this fight with Puev is huge.”
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