Tony Thompson

photo courtesy of www.klitschko.com -By Erik Schmidt: Using mainly powerful shots, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (51-3, 45 KOs) took out the tall 6’5″ Tony Thompson (31-2, 19 KOs) in an impressive 11th round TKO tonight in Hamburg, Germany. Wladimir picked up momentum as the fight progressed, punching a little harder in each of the rounds until the 11th round, when he went all out with big punches and eventually crushing Thompson with a big right hand that sent Thompson crashing to the canvas on his back.

The fight was stopped when Thompson didn’t make it off the canvas in time to beat the count. It fortunate for Thompson that he chose to stay down, because he would have likely taken even more punishment if he had tried to continue to fight on. At this point, Wladimir was fighting at his optimal level, not punching in the reserved, conservative manner that he had fought in most of the rounds.

Thompson, 36, who had looked good in recent fights with TKO wins over Luan Krasniqi and Cliff Couser, was in over his head against the equally as tall but much more powerful Wladimir Klitschko.

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photo courtesy of www.klitschko.com –By Eric Thomas: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko successfully defended his heavyweight titles tonight with a tougher than expected 11th round TKO of American challenger Tony Thompson (31-2, 19 KOs) at the Color Line Arena, Altona, in Hamburg, Germany. With Thompson suddenly looking tired and beaten late in the 10th round, Wladimir finally turned on his offensive firepower at the start of the 11th round and succeeded in flattening Thompson, 36, with a big right hand.

Thompson laid there for a few seconds on his back, looking as if he wouldn’t be getting up, but then tried to make it up but didn’t make it up quite in time before referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at 1:38 of the 11th round. Both Thompson and Wladimir were badly marked up on each of their faces from the shots they threw at one another, with both of them also being cut over the fight as well. As expected, Wladimir threw the much harder shots in the fight, punishing Thompson with powerful right hands in every round of the fight. At the time of the stoppage, Wladimir had a commanding lead and looked to have won almost all of the rounds of the fight, except for the 1st round in which Thompson appeared to edge it with his much softer combinations.

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Photo courtesy of www.klitschko.com and Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions. By Sean McDaniel: All week long, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) has looked timid around challenger Tony Thompson (31-1, 19 KOs), looking nervous when speaking to him in press conferences and in having to stand eye to eye with him while posing for pictures. In fact, I can’t remember Wladimir looking this nervous since his two-round blow out against Corrie Sanders in 2003.

Perhaps it’s nothing, but in the war of nerves, Thompson, 36, has appeared to easily win it, making Wladimir flinch, as if Thompson were going to punch him when the two stood toe to doe for photos. This Saturday’s fight is going to be a big departure for Wladimir, 32, who has faced mostly shorter opponents in recent years, and because of his often huge size advantage that he typically commands, he’s able to get away with jabbing on the outside and limiting the amount of punishment that he sustains.

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By Eric Thomas: With seven children to feed in his household and not a whole lot of money to pay for food, Tony Thompson (31-1, 19 KIs) has a lot more motivation going into this Saturday fight than IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs), who already is extraordinarily wealthy in comparison, having made millions in the fight game and with extensive endorsements. Indeed, perhaps no real understand of where Thompson, 36, is coming from in this regard because Wladimir has never hurt for money, coming from a family that was more middle class than poor.

I think the difference in wealth will be the deciding factor in this fight, because Thompson has never made any real big money as of yet in his eight-year boxing career, despite having an impressive record of 31-1 along the way. The problem with his record, however, is that it’s come against mostly C-class fighters and not against the upper tier fighters that really count. In fact, Thompson only has four semi-recognizable names on his record – Dominick Guinn, Timor Ibragimov, Luan Krasniqi and Cliff Couser – and none of them are top 15 fighters at this time.

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By Aaron Klein: Since winning the IBF heavyweight title two years ago in April 2006 with a 7th round stoppage of Chris Byrd, Wladimir Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) has been a huge disappointment to many boxing fans, who had hoped that Wladimir would take on the best in the division and cement himself in the minds of people as the number #1 heavyweight in the division. Instead, however, Klitschko has meandered along, fighting Calvin Brock, Ray Austin, Lamon Brewster and most recently Sultan Ibragimov, few of which the fans wanted to see him fight. Perhaps more disappointedly, Klitschko, other than his fight with Austin whom he blew out in the 2nd round with a flurry of multiple left hooks, has looked average to poor in his other fights against very beatable fighters.

Sure, he’s won them all, but he’s turned into a tentative, safety-first type fighter, looking almost terrified of throwing his right hand. At this point, he seems almost pathological on his part, some kind of problem which affects him internally, preventing him from throwing his right hands.

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