by James Boyle: I had the unfortunate “privilege” of attending the Klitschko / Ibragimov debacle back in February. I had gone thinking it was going to be about a 4 or 5 round boxing lesson given by an amazingly athletic man who at nearly 6′ 7″ would just be too big, too strong, too fast and too talented for his smaller foe..
The shame about that fight was that all of those things are true, but Wlad didn’t use his natural abilities because, well, he was probably thinking back to the last time he fought a southpaw and what happened then. So what we got was one of the worst title fights in the divisions history (The Chris Byrd / Davarryl Williamson farce still ranks or should I say reeks as my all time favorite choice for worst title fight) because Klitschko just keep Ibragimov at bay with a tireless, but boring jabbing strategy. But now Klitschko faces another southpaw in a few weeks, and this guy doesn’t have the size deficiencies that Ibragimov had.
At 6′ 5″ and with a reach of 81″ Tony Thompson at least is nearly the equivalent of Wlad in stature. Wlad is going to have to open up at some point to get the respect of Thompson, and it has to be relatively early. In the Ibragimov fight, Klitschko didn’t throw a right hand until the 4th round. And by the 7th round he had only thrown 4. At least that’s what I counted. After that he did attempt some more power shots and by compubox stats he landed a paltry total of 40 for the entire fight. So what’s a Wlad to do come July 12th? He certainly is going to need to make this a fight if he wants to regain some of the respect lost by boxing fans. I do think however that Manny Steward will devise a plan that will be successful against yet another southpaw. Ever since Wlad punched himself out against the iron chinned Lamon Brewster several years ago Manny has slowed Wlad down. He usually comes out for the first and even second rounds just thudding that jab out before he starts dropping some bombs. It’s a good strategy and has worked because it enables Wlad to gain a lead in his fights and helps him build up confidence. I’m sure that will be the case in this fight too. The boo birds will be out in force and will likely start a huge crescendo of boos in the very first round if this happens. But by the second round it’s going to be time for Klitschko to crap or get off the pot. He’s going to have to risk throwing the right hand and hooking off the jab as he does better than anyone else in the division. He’ll have to take a few shots too, but that’s boxing, you’re going to get hit. So his questionable chin will be tested.
But it’s time for him to man-up and decide that he wants to be a great champion. Those kinds of fighters take the risks that are necessary to be considered great. But in the end I think Wlad who certainly is a better athlete than Thompson will, along with Steward’s tutelage find a way to stop Thompson before the 10th round. Thompson is a good fighter with decent power. However, he hasn’t fought the same competition that Wlad has (and I realize that isn’t saying much), and he certainly has not been in a big fight kind of atmosphere, And at 36 nearing 37 years of age how much does he have left even though he has relatively low mileage on his body. So I have to go with the big man here to win by a stoppage and to regain some of the credibility that he lost back in February.
After that I would love to see Klitschko fight and defeat Sam Peter again and claim another title belt. He beat him easily once before (two of those knockdowns were bogus). He exposed Peter as just a raw puncher with little or no boxing skill or savvy. Peter had also been exposed by James Toney in their first bout in which Toney was robbed and then even by the timid Jameel McCline who knocked Peter down 3 times but didn’t have the killer instinct to finish him off. Peter is the most over-rated heavy in the division, probably because so many people want another Tyson-esque power puncher as champ. Unless Peter somehow lands a Sunday punch which is doubtful Klitschko will beat him even easier than the first time, with a very good chance of stooping him.