Tony Thompson: The Last American Heavyweight Hope??

As we all know, American heavyweights have gone soft and are not a major factor anymore in the heavyweight division....The heavyweight division is now dominated by fighters from the former Soviet Union...There are 7-8 Eastern European fighters in the Top 10 heavyweight rankings right now. Tony Thompson is the highest ranked American heavyweight right now, he is finally getting a dream title shot at The heavyweight Champion of the world Wladimir Klitschko...Thompson's chances are slim to none against Klitschko and he will most likely end up getting brutally KO'd. After Thompson gets KO'd by Wlad, who is left??..... - John Ruiz is still lurking around as a contender, but even his own countrymen can't stand him and wish he would just go away. - Calvin Brock is a good fighter with potential, but he may never recover from that brutal KO he suffered against Wlad. - Brewster,Toney,Rahman and Briggs are not a factor anymore. - Chambers,Arreola,Walker,Johnson,Chapman and Witherspoon are the young up and coming American heavyweights, but I am not too impressed with any of them...Chambers showed some nice skills against Povetkin, but he ended up getting overwhlemed by the tougher, hungrier Povetkin. Looks like Eastern Europeans will be Dominating the Heavyweight division for a very long time. :D Get. Over. Yourself.

Bump........

I'd love to see Thompson pull it off...... Sorry bud, Wlad is gonna dominate Thompson and knock him out....Looks like your gonna have to find a new American Hope.

I'd love to see Thompson pull it off......

Eastern Europeans are indeed dominating the heavyweight scene. However, as long as John Ruiz is lurking, no title is safe. He has the talent to make any fight an ugly fight where the judges are more or less forced to give him the decision. As long as he isn't knocked out (see the Tua fight) he can win a decision. That and he was robbed against Valuev.

i couldn't really care about the heavyweight division anymore.

There is NO HEAVYWEIGHT out there that can beat Wlad at this point. PERIOD! Tony Thompson is a nobody, and I would be shocked if he lasted more than 4 rounds. Wlad is a beast and can hurt (KO) people with his jab. I was fortunate to see him spar with Chris Arreola, Kevin Johnson and Paolo Vidoz. What was amazing is how Wlad showed the other fighters how to throw punches from angles. I studied his fights very carefully, then I watched Arreola-Hayes and Arreola-Wills and KINGPIN-Wills and I saw alot of Wlad's advice in their fights. Watch how Kevin Johnson rolls with a punch, or how Arreola and Johnson wait for the right moment to punch (it may be boring but they learned it from Wlad). Wlad can dictate a fight and not throw a punch, THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL COMPLETE DOMINATION.

Thompson is actually a pretty good fighter - a southpaw volume puncher with pretty good power, an excellent workrate, as well as really good size. That said, his defence looks leaky, & he's a volume puncher with skills, not a boxer, so Wlad should be able to use his jab & land the straight right behind it pretty well. He's a serious opponent though, & am amazed that he has gone under the radar in the US scene for so long.

The real problem with Wlad is that the heavyweight division doesn't have a challenger of his caliber. He only compounds the problem by putting most people to sleep with his boxing(the fans).

1. Castillo was previously undefeated 2. Peter was previously undefeated, and has not lost since 3. Byrd was the titleholder, and had never been so totally dominated before. He got KOed recently for the same reason Jones did, he had lost too much weight in the previous months. 4. Brock was undefeated at 29-0. 5. Austin hadn't lost in five years, Wlad took him down in two rounds. 6. Brewster eye was fine at the time, is fine now and he's looking to fight again soon. 7. Ibragimov was the undefeated WBO world titleholder, won a Silver medal at the 2000 Olympics, and had earned his title by defeating Shannon Briggs lol, being undefeated doesnt mean anything if you go on to lose to journeymen in your next fights. Brewster didnt show up for the Wlad fight and was coming off a huge layoff. I havent heard aything about him trying to mount a comeback, but I hope youre right. Ibragimov is not good. Im not even going to bother trying to debate this. I laugh at you trying to put Austin in a good light and dont even try to defend Peter, even you have said he only wins his fights via rabbit punching. the man was almost gone against Jameel McCline and his best wins consist of a shot, fat old Toney and an ancient old man in Maskaev.

let's consider this. he has been pretty consistant throughout his career besides a couple minor hiccups. but he is a unified champ who is constantly recognized as the most talanted, best heavyweight for some time now. he also has fought 53 times. how many top boxers can say they have fought that much. truth is, the more u fight, the more your chances of losing are - no matter who u fight. and he has lost once with questionable circumstances, once from inexperience, and one time by being totally unprepared and paying for that mistake. seriously, i would have wk in the top ten, even at #10 if need be. he is so skilled he should be between #6 and #10 i feel. but of course, having a heavyweight in the top 10 has always been a problem really. at least as long as i have followed boxing the last 18 years or so. to be honest, I never really cared about how many fights a guy has had. otherwise someone like 142-3 Buck Smith could be considered a good fighter, which he was not at all. hell, you could just look at someone like Albert Sosnowski, who is 43-1 and be mistaken as a good fighter, and from what Ive seen hes...at least...below average. http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=14398&cat=boxer I dont expect him to be undefeated! I feel that people overrate fighters way too much when theyre undefeated. but the people Wladimir has lost to/won against are not impressive. I feel like these people have a good argument to be rated above Wlad, or equal to him. -Mayweather -Pacquiao -Calzaghe -Juan Marquez -Israel vasquez -rafael Marquez -Miguel Cotto -Cristian Mijares -Ricky Hatton -Bernard Hopkins -Winky Wright -Kelly Pavlik(maybe) I mean, its not like Wladimir has even beaten the best in his division. I know its not his fault, but wheres his win over the next best in his division, Chagaev? or even Valuev? he only just recently picked up his second alphabet belt, and from the weakest champion. Its not like its impossible for him to make the p4p list, not at all. but he needs better wins. hes already close to making p4p lists because of his dominance, he just needs the right opponents.

Not by the racist American media. name one credible unified heavyweight champ that wasnt p4p? or this another "THE MEDIA IS RACIST AGAINST WHITES" Type crying

lets be realistic here, since Wlad's loss to Brewster he has beaten... 1. Eliseo Castillo-a nice win, but not an amazing one 2. Sam Peter-Who most fans of Wladimir call 'overrated', who was outboxed by a fat James Toney in the first fight, and who was almost knocked out by Jameel McCline. He knocked down Wlad three times, two knockdowns due a lot to rabbit punches and 1 by a real punch. 3. Chris Byrd, who was at the end of his career and recently was brutally knocked out by an average fighter when he tried to move to a more natural weight class. 4. Calvin Brock-Who is now retired from what Ive heard, was never that great to begin with (he struggled with Timur Ibragimov) and went right on to lose to not-so-great Eddie Chambers fairly badly. 5. Ray Austin-Hee hee hee 6. Lamon Brewster-Coming off a loss, a long layoff, and is now retired because of his eye problems in the Liakhovich fight. 7. Sultan Ibragimov-Who was never that great to begin with, struggled with Ray freaking Austin, and couldnt even put a dent into a 7 million year old Holyfield who shoulnt have been given a shot to begin with.... Its not a bad record, but lets be honest. Its not better than other, more deserving fighters. let's consider this. he has been pretty consistant throughout his career besides a couple minor hiccups. but he is a unified champ who is constantly recognized as the most talanted, best heavyweight for some time now. he also has fought 53 times. how many top boxers can say they have fought that much. truth is, the more u fight, the more your chances of losing are - no matter who u fight. and he has lost once with questionable circumstances, once from inexperience, and one time by being totally unprepared and paying for that mistake. seriously, i would have wk in the top ten, even at #10 if need be. he is so skilled he should be between #6 and #10 i feel. but of course, having a heavyweight in the top 10 has always been a problem really. at least as long as i have followed boxing the last 18 years or so.

how the hell can a unified champ with a 50 win record not be top ten? i know people are stupid and biased for their views, but how can so-called experts deny his success? fuck em anyways. i don't know anybody who thinks klitschko shouldn't be in the top ten p4p. anyways, fuck whether a fighter is american or not. it does not matter in the ring. only people who wish they were pro fighters are living through their countries fighters that much. squeelpiggy, it is obviously not all k fans are racist. i being one example. and i definitely know how u feel when u see klitschko is unbeatable threads. i hate those too. but don't take it out on the fighter. diss that fan. so, again, fuck who is from where. why such a big deal? it is retarded to follow the herd. nothing good ever comes from that.lets be realistic here, since Wlad's loss to Brewster he has beaten... 1. Eliseo Castillo-a nice win, but not an amazing one 2. Sam Peter-Who most fans of Wladimir call 'overrated', who was outboxed by a fat James Toney in the first fight, and who was almost knocked out by Jameel McCline. He knocked down Wlad three times, two knockdowns due a lot to rabbit punches and 1 by a real punch. 3. Chris Byrd, who was at the end of his career and recently was brutally knocked out by an average fighter when he tried to move to a more natural weight class. 4. Calvin Brock-Who is now retired from what Ive heard, was never that great to begin with (he struggled with Timur Ibragimov) and went right on to lose to not-so-great Eddie Chambers fairly badly. 5. Ray Austin-Hee hee hee 6. Lamon Brewster-Coming off a loss, a long layoff, and is now retired because of his eye problems in the Liakhovich fight. 7. Sultan Ibragimov-Who was never that great to begin with, struggled with Ray freaking Austin, and couldnt even put a dent into a 7 million year old Holyfield who shoulnt have been given a shot to begin with.... Its not a bad record, but lets be honest. Its not better than other, more deserving fighters.

how the hell can a unified champ with a 50 win record not be top ten? i know people are stupid and biased for their views, but how can so-called experts deny his success? fuck em anyways. i don't know anybody who thinks klitschko shouldn't be in the top ten p4p. anyways, fuck whether a fighter is american or not. it does not matter in the ring. only people who wish they were pro fighters are living through their countries fighters that much. squeelpiggy, it is obviously not all k fans are racist. i being one example. and i definitely know how u feel when u see klitschko is unbeatable threads. i hate those too. but don't take it out on the fighter. diss that fan. so, again, fuck who is from where. why such a big deal? it is retarded to follow the herd. nothing good ever comes from that.

are you serious? have you seen peter's last 2 fights? he was down 3 times and barely squeaked by a shot mccline and was hurt by slow motion punches thrown by an old shot maskeav. he's regressed in my opinion Imagine this: Thompson knocks Wlad out early in a shocker claiming the IBF/WBO titles. Vitali knocks Peter out for the WBC late this year. Vitali and Thompson fight and Vitali knocks Thompson out to unify 3 titles. 1 year from now, Vit is undisputed champ and Wlad is disgraced and out of boxing...

Don't start throwing insults around just because most people don't suck Wlad's balls as hard as you. Of the 5 boxing sites I visit, 4 do not have Wlad in the top 10. Looks like you're wrong... The Ring: http://www.thering-online.com/ringpages/ratings2.html Setanta: http://www.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Other-sports/2008/01/14/Boxing-Setantas-P4P-Rankings/ BBC Sport: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/4181323.stm BoxingScene: http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=pound Who cares what those sites say??...Those are OPINIONS....Tons of people have Wlad in the top 10 p4p....Wlad is one of the most talented fighters in boxing, he dominates his opponents and KO's most of them (50 wins, 44 KO's)

are you serious? have you seen peter's last 2 fights? he was down 3 times and barely squeaked by a shot mccline and was hurt by slow motion punches thrown by an old shot maskeav. he's regressed in my opinion But Wlad spent his last fight praying he didn't get hit by accidentally throwing a right hand. Has Wlad regressed? I don't mind Wladimir Klitschko, or even Vitali for that matter but their crazy racist fans really sicken me. And this concept of the reason Wlad isn't ranked being the "Racist American media" is laughable. The p4p top ten contains black fighters, white fighters, hispanic fighters and a filipino. Wlad isn't a p4p ranked fighter because he relies on his height and relative size to win and if you removed those size based advantages he wouldn't be nearly as successful.

Wlad has improved and Peter hasn't? are you serious? have you seen peter's last 2 fights? he was down 3 times and barely squeaked by a shot mccline and was hurt by slow motion punches thrown by an old shot maskeav. he's regressed in my opinion

Those Eastern European fighters are so good that one of them might one day be ranked in the top 20 p4p. lol,,one of them is already in the top 10 or 12 on most lists moron