By Allan Fox: #8 IBF, Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) will be battling unbeaten Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) on August 24th as a possible IBF eliminator bout to get a shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Facing the 6’4 ½” Pulev is definitely the toughest road to get a title shot against Wladimir, but it is the quickest one that Thompson can get.
He’d be waiting for a long time to get a crack at WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, and that avenue is pretty well blocked given that Thompson isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of those organizations.
Thompson, 41, told RingTV that the fight will be happening, saying “I just found out today that it is for sure. I’m feeling good and you don’t turn down a chance to get back to the championship. The more I fight, the better I am.”
Thompson has already fought Wladimir twice before, getting stopped both times. Thompson was stopped in the 11th round in a competitive contest in 2008, and then blown out last year in 6 rounds by Wladimir in July.
Thompson’s chances of beating Wladimir would be poor in a third fight, but the payday that he’d get by being the mandatory challenger for Wladimir would be substantial. It would be a win-win fight for Thompson even in losing to the 6’6” Wladimir.
Thompson will have his hands full against the 32-year-old Pulev because he’s one of the best heavyweight contenders in the division. It’s still hard to say how he’d match up against the likes of other heavyweights such as Dereck Chisora, David Haye, Magomed Abdusalamov, Bermane Stiverne, Chris Arreola, Tomasz Adamek, Robert Helenius, Bryant Jennings and Deontay Wilder.
Pulev would likely beat some of those guys, if not all of them. His best asset is his jab, but whether that would be enough for him the aforementioned fighters is unclear.
For Thompson to beat Pulev, he’ll have to get past his jab and beat him up in close the way he did David Price recently. If Thompson lets Pulev keep him on the outside, he’ll be jabbed into submission the same way that Alexander Ustinov was by Pulev last year in September.
Pulev is kind of trick though. When his opponents get past his jab, he likes to grab them in a clinch in the same manner that Wladimir does with his opponents. Thompson will have to be able to fight with Pulev holding him in close if he wants to win this fight because Pulev will clinch him each time Thompson gets past his jab.
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