Klitschko-Thompson Preview

This Saturday live on HBO at 4:30pm EST and replayed at 10pm EST, IBF/WBO Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his belts against WBO mandatory challenger Tony Thompson. Klitschko is coming off a very boring decision win over Sultan Ibragimov in which he took the WBO belt. Thompson has not fought since 2nd round TKO over Cliff Couser in September. Thompson has not lost a fight in 8 years and presents a challenge to Klitschko whether anyone wants to believe it or not. Thompson is a 6'5 southpaw with decent power. Klitschko may have to fight Thompson, unlike he had to do against Ibragimov in February. Klitschko and Thompson are very close in height and weight, the only question becomes he who executes better. Rumors of past sparring between Klitschko and Thompson vary between the fighters. Thompson has said he was beating Klitschko, but of course Klitschko remembers a different story. Whatever happened then, will not matter come Saturday. Now in order for Klitschko to win, he needs to establish his extremely powerful jab. He will need to keep moving because Thompson is a southpaw and will be coming at him. So Klitschko will need to jab and follow up with hard right hands. However he does not need to stand still and admire his work. Aim for the body with some of his punches, to slow the 36 year old Thompson down. Klitschko needs to keep the right distance between himself and Thompson. So he may have to work on the inside a little with Thompson, which is where good body shots can be effective. Klitschko needs to keep his hands up and not get hit on his weak chin. For Thompson to win, he needs to keep moving. Establish your jab from the beginning. Do not be still or allow yourself to be cornered by Klitschko. The fact that Thompson is very close in height to Klitschko can make it better for him to land his punches. He will be punching straight instead of up. Thompson needs to land some good body shots to help lower Klitschko's guard so he can tag his weak chin. Thompson needs to keep his distance, but work well when they are on the inside. Thompson may want to make Klitschko fight instead of box. Klitschko boxes nice, but can get a little unnerved with a fight. When he is fighting, he sometimes forget to keep his guard and can get caught. Thompson may want to explore this to possibly get a KO. As I stated this fight can be interesting because Thompson is not a small heavyweight like Ibragimov. Thompson has fought over in Germany before and is not nervous. He is confident he can win and has not lost in 8 years. We could have a good fight Saturday, check it out.