Klitschko will defend title in July - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

T-Bone · 04-08-2008, 10:57 AM

I hope this is more exciting than the Ibragimov fight. Maybe Thompson will make Klitschko open up a little more...the jab-jab-jab-jab was making me yawn.

Quote:

BERLIN (AFP) - Double world heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko will defend his WBO belt against American Tony Thompson on July 12 in Hamburg, Germany, it was confirmed here on Tuesday.

Thompson, 36, has 31 victories, 19 knock-outs and one defeat to make him the number-one WBO heavyweight challenger.

He will meet the 32-year-old champion at Hamburg's Color Line Arena this summer.

Klitschko still needs clearance for the Thompson fight from the IBF board in New Jersey because their official challenger is Russian Alexander Povetkin, who will face the Ukrainian at the end of the year or early 2009.

Klitschko unified the WBO and IBF titles when he beat Russian fighter Sultan Ibragimov last February in Madison Square Garden, New York.

Povetkin, 28, is Klitschko's official IBF challenger and the 2004 Olympic heavyweight champion is unbeaten since turning pro with 15 victories and 11 knock-outs.

Klitschko has 50 professional wins with 44 knock-outs and three defeats.

July date confirmed for Klitschko's title defence - Boxing - Yahoo! Sports

Boxerboy · 04-08-2008, 03:18 PM

WOW! I follow boxing a lot and I dont think i've ever heard of this Thompson guy! Wlad seems to do this a lot! Has a sucky performance and then goes out and beats on a can in his next fight! Remember Ray Austin?

Wlad had a great opportunity to make the heavyweight division credible again with his unification match with Ibragimov. With the attention it got etc. He failed badly. Fight was probably the worst i've seen. A terrible advertisment for the sport. His image to a hammering. This Thompson fight, I believe has been set up to make him look like a monster again by gettin an early KO! Much the same as the Austin fight

Gygax · 04-08-2008, 03:25 PM

Ugh, Thompson is basically a nobody. He's ranked #1 by the WBO, but not ranked in the top 15 by either the WBA or WBC. The IBF and most importantly to me (best rankings) Ring Magazine has him at #9. Looking over his record, he's fought nobody very high in the rankings. I've seen Guinn and Krasniqi fight before and I was thoroughly unimpressed. And he's 36!

Now watch, he'll go out and KO the glass-chinned Wladimir.

Jeesh, the heavyweight boxing scene is barren.