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Tony ‘The Tiger’ Thompson is a tall, cagey, southpaw counter-puncher whose record is 36-3-0. He has knocked out 24 of those opponents and he himself has been knocked out twice.
Not exactly a shimmering shiny scalp list, but a decent one no-less, consisting of facing Wladimir Klitschko twice and American prospect Chazz Witherspoon. Thompson did of course lose the fights he had with Dr. Steelhammer; the other loss comes early in his career to Eric Kirkland.
At 41, some would say he is coming to the end of his career as a prize-fighter, if you have seen his last outing, which one must judge upon, against said Klitschko , you would say he is well past his best now and therefore makes for quite a frustrating, snooze fest of a fighter.
In general, Thompson will cock that left hand counter of his as if to throw it but at the last minute decide not to as he could probably only throw it convincingly…three times, absolute max, before he has spent himself for the entire round.
A bit harsh?
Ok, the bottom line is since his first loss to Klitschko in 2008, Thompson went on a five bout win streak, all knockouts, against solid enough guys, and in a boxer’s latter years, hat’s not bad.
It may just be that his style isn’t best suited to equally tall, very upright, pure boxers who prefer long crisp jabs followed by big booming right hands, boxers who favour keeping their hands as high as their heads and stepping off instead of rolling the shoulder.
That’s a shame for him then as that’s exactly what David Price does.
Price’s record of 15-0-0 with 13 KO’s displays that he can punch but that he is also not as experienced as Thompson
He has been building up nicely though, opponents John McDermott, Sam Sexton and Matt Skelton all fell, none getting past four rounds. Price looks like a really big puncher; when he connects he hurts, he may be a bit careless sometimes but he’s never been in trouble.
I refuse to…no I just won’t do it…I won’t…say…his…name…no…please…okay, all kidding aside, Price beat Audley Harrison also…for whatever that’s worth.
Tony Thompson is going to try and make tonight’s fight cagey, and with his experience, he probably will do so for a few rounds. If he does, Price will still knock him out, just later on in the fight.
Price is too strong and at the moment, he is on his way up. He is firing on all cylinders and with the fight taking place in Liverpool, he will have his faithful supporters behind him.
It is a test…of sorts..in the respect that Thompson having only being felled by Wladimir Klitschko.
I mean, it could all go horribly wrong, with Thompson getting in the mind-set that he can only be beaten by the best and not some upstart that he’s never heard of, and quite literally rip up the script. I seriously doubt that will happen though. I mean, what kind of fighter can get up for David Price but cannot for Wladimir Klitschko and the World Heavyweight title…twice?
Thompson will be outgunned as he tries to pick Price off with singular shots and I would be surprised to see this fight go the distance.
