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Tony Thompson impressed the boxing world Saturday, but for the wrong reason—his ability to take a punch. And he demonstrated it time and time again, throughout 10 full rounds, before falling to a straight right hand midway through the 11th, courtesy of heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Klitschko looked strong though not as dominant as the scorecards would indicate. Thompson controlled the tempo often and was the agressor early on, with his odd southpaw style, long arms, and solid defense confounding the champion. But he lacked offensive power, and as he tired later in the fight his offense disappeared completely.
Meanwhile Klitschko drilled away, getting through the Tiger's defenses more and more. The fight bore much resemblance to Alexander Povetkin's win over "Fast" Eddie Chambers. In that fight, too, the American fighter scored early and defended well, but as the rounds passed by so did his strength. Chambers and Thompson used a similar defensive posture that their Eastern opponents often tried to drill through with brute force.
Round by round summary/scoring
Round One: Thompson made this an awkward round for the champ, stalking him and landing a few hard shots. But Wlad got a couple good ones in, too. Most people gave this to Thompson, but it was very even. Score: 10-10.
Round Two: One of the Tiger's paws slipped on the canvas in the early seconds of the round just as he was hit with a right hook; the ref correctly ruled it was not a knockdown. But a short while later Klitschko scored on a good combination that backed Thompson up to the ring post, and for a moment it looked like it could all be over. Somewhat surprisingly, Thompson stepped out of it unfazed. This was the first indication that he would be able to handle Wladimir's best shots. A Thompson hook to Klitschko's eye started a very bloody mess on the champion's face, but it was a small cut, made worse by a headbutt the two shared that opened Thompson's eye as well. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (20-19).
Round Three: Klitschko was more active this round, trying to impose his tempo on the fight. Thompson defended well and countered decently until about halfway through the round, when his offense disappeared and he held the arms up, peek-a-boo defensive stance for the rest of the round while Klitschko punched away. He was strong enough to defend well but was already too tired to mount a counterattack. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (30-28).
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Round Four: Klitschko kept the pressure on this round, actively trying to solve the problems that Thompson presented. This was one of the more entertaining rounds, both men landing good shots. Klitschko's were harder shots on average. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (40-37).
Round Five: A very even round. Though HBO's card gave it to Klitschko, I thought it was as even as the first round. Thompson again showed he has a great chin, as he walked through everything Wlad hit him with, and got in some of his best shots of the fight. But he didn't control the round. Score: 10-10 (Klitschko 50-47).
Round Six: The first half of this round was akin to the 2nd half of Round Three—with Thompson doing nothing offensively. Wlad seemed to be tiring as well. Thompson came alive, though, in the last minute and a half, attacking as aggresively as he did at any moment of the fight. As Thompson opened up, Klitschko countered well and won the round. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (60-56).
Round Seven: Thompson's flurries in the last round turned out to be his last gasp. This is where his work rate dipped. In fact, it vanished for nearly the whole round. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (70-65).
Round Eight: Similar to the last round, except Klitschko was getting past the Tiger's defense more often, leading to better and bigger punches. Thompson made a very easy target, standing in front of the champion, throwing few if any counters. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (80-74).
Round Nine: As above. The fight was clearly getting out of hand for Thompson. His gloves even needed retaping as if to underscore this point. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (90-83).
Round Ten: More of the same. Thompson couldn't muster any offense, but he wouldn't go down. That is, until the final seconds of the round, when an advancing Wladimir stepped onto the Tiger's toe, causing him to topple backwards, hard, onto the canvas, with Klitschko collapsing on top of him. Thompson got up very slowly and his leg looked hurt. He recovered to finish the final seconds of the round. Score: Klitschko 10-9 (100-92).
| The anticlimactic final round |
Round Eleven: It's not certain what effect the fall had on Thompson; correlation does not necessarily mean causation, so the fact that Wladimir knocked him out midway through this round is probably circumstantial. Thompson says the effects of the fall were temporary, but he sleepwalked through the round until the KO punch. Barely standing up to beat the ten count, he was wobbly and the fight was called. More than likely, the cumulative effect of the punishment he'd been taking was more responsible for the KO than either the fall or the KO punch itself.
In Conclusion
Thompson made a valiant effort, but couldn't sustain it for a full fight. After six rounds he was impressing me with his solid chin and even for the fact that he'd survived half the fight. At one point the announcers said that Thompson had landed more shots on Klitschko than had any other opponent. But they were rarely power punches, and in the last several rounds Thompson slowed down, almost waiting for the inevitable very-unanimous decision to arrive.
Instead, Klitschko ended matters with a KO punch. The champ could have coasted to the decision as well with no worries, but after the lackluster Ibragimov fight he clearly felt he needed to finish the fight early. It was the first time Thompson has been knocked out.
Even with the KO, though, Wladimir hardly put on a dynamic performance. He was still a safety-first fighter; he just had more trouble defending against a man nearly his size, with longer arms. At times they resembled two giraffes fighting, as each tried to push the other's long arms out of the way to gain a clear shot. Tellingly, mid-fight, Klitschko scored with an impressive combination and followed it up with a clinch, showing that he feared a counter from Thompson—who was doing little offensively by this point—more than he was looking for an opportunity to do more damage. He did, however, use the right hand immediately and consistently throughout the fight, something he didn't do against Ibragimov.
Klitschko raises his record to 51-3 with his 45th knock out, while Thompson falls to 31-2 suffering his first. The Tiger will fall from #6 in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Rankings to somewhere just outside the top 20. Whether he attempts to climb back up for another title shot, or whether, at 37, he takes his paycheck and calls it a day, we don't know. But after seeing him get pummelled by "Dr. Steelhammer" for ten straight rounds, we shouldn't blame him at all if he chooses the latter.
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