By Jason Sardelis, photo courtesy of www.klitschko.com – July 12th, Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany heavyweight champion Wladimir “Dr. Steelhammer” Klitschko 51-3, 45 Ko’s defended his IBF,WBO and IBO titles with a long over do right hand on the chin of former sparring partner Tony “The Tiger” Thompson 31-2, 19 Ko’s. Thompson ,cool and calm like the “king of the jungle” won the first round with Klitschko again appearing uncomfortable facing a southpaw. Klitschko was slapping down Thompson’s punches as he did in February against Sultan Ibragimov.
In the second round “Dr. Steelhammer” started to find his right hand, then Thompson landed a good left and the two clashed heads cutting each fighter over the right eye..
Rounds three and four were more of the same Klitschko pawing the “Tigers” jab and firing his big right. The crowd came to a roar on every Klitschko power punch, whether it scored or not. In round four Thompson began to attack the champion’s body with Klitschko still looking to drill a right through Thompson’s high guard.
In the middle rounds Klitschko would answer Thompson’s body shots with some of his own which opened up some more room for that big right hand.
By now Thompson began to look more like a pussycat than a tiger. His punches lacked any pop he never appeared to just let it go. In the latter third of the fight Thompson had clearly adapted the sparring partner mentality continuing to look to referee Joe Cortez for help and stalling after a tangled fall to the canvas.
In round eleven Klitschko unloaded a perfectly timed right catching the “Tiger” like a “Siegfried & Roy” sedative shot dropping the challenger to the canvas. Referee Cortez began the count while Thompson struggled to his feet but called it at 1:22 of round eleven when the “Tiger” began to teeter.