Tony Thompson might be the biggest threat out there for Wlad right now. And guess what. They're scheduled to fight this summer. Does anyone give Thompson a shot in this fight? He's been somewhat overlooked but has looked solid in nearly all of his outings, and has size, pretty good power, a good work-rate and seems to be durable. Can he beat Wlad? What does everyone think?
Thompson is a good fighter, big and strong. I'd give him a fair shot, even if he dosen't win this time around, I think he wins a title in the future.
I'd agree 100% if he were 5 years younger, in regards to capturing a belt in the near future. But the spirit of your post is dead on, tony's a solid fighter, and this fight should be more competitve than people claim will be the case.
Tony is probably the best opponent Wlad has faced in a couple of years, unless I'm forgetting someone.
Maybe I'm wrong financially, but Thompson would have had a much better chance against anyone else in the world (except in-shape Vitali) and his people should have tried to make that happen instead of this fight. No one outboxes Wlad and Thompson doesn't hit hard enough to put Wlad away. Wlad makes it look easier than it should be and won't get the credit he deserves.
Thompson is a good fighter for a boxer, but a Gridiron player level fighter, he unfortunately is not, so he probably wont win. Still, Wlad will be exposed by the winner of that new reality show that pits all those Gridiron players together in a boxing tourniment.
He has somewhat heavy hands, though I don't think they're necessarily fast. I think late might be the only option for him, as I think if Klitschko punches first he controls the pace/action of the fight. Thompson is big, but doesn't fight big. He doesn't sit on the outside and jab and drop his straight left. He uses short punches up the middle...so it's up to him to make it that kind of fight. I don't see him doing it early, but he might be able to do it late. This has the looks of a late-round fight if Klitschko can't put Thompson away in the middle rounds. An early knockout would be a bit unexpected to me.
