Carl "The Cat" Thompson - don'tcha just love him?

[Guest]

Thompson has been stopped a few times, by the likes of Crawford Ashley in 6, Yawe Davis in 2, Ralf Rocchigiani in 11, Johnny Nelson in 5. The only time he lost by KO was against Sellers in an absolute slugfest.

I was referring to Nelson's behaviour after Carl's rematch against Eubank(I think!?). He'd previously lost the first fight against Rocchigiani (that he was comfortably ahead on points in)due to a shoulder injury or something, it then took two years for a rematch to be made, in the Italian's backyard where Thompson triumphed. Things were starting to look brighter for a man who seemed to always be getting the short end of the stick. He then defeated Eubank twice in epic fights and it looked like the Gods were finally smiling down on him. After He'd beaten Eubank, in the post fight interview, he was approached by Nelson and his Trainer Brendan Ingle. Here's a quote from an article from another boxing site:

Having just beaten Chris Eubank for the second time, Thompson was in the middle of a post fight interview when he was interrupted by Johnny Nelson and trainer Brendan Ingle, initially just a bit of banter which Thompson made light of “you’re too good for me Johnny” turned into a bit of a jostling match which Thompson wasn’t pleased about “hey this is my night Johnny”.

That may not seem like much, but at the time I remember being so happy for Carl, and so pi*sed off that the poor guy wasn't allowed to bask in a little of the glory he'd earnt so deservedly.

Nelson beating him directly after that just seemed like a very cruel twist of fate for Carl.



I think I'm a fan of Haye's for good reason, he has the potential to become a great fighter, but he needs to walk before he can run. Thompson could have legitimately been stopped in a couple of the early rounds in that fight, but He deserved the win, if only to prove to Haye that he doesn't have to blow everyone out in a few rounds to reach the top, I'm sure he'd have been forgiven for fighting a smarter fight, as opposed to the more crowd pleasing route of going hell for leather without a plan B.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Haye was looking to set up the rematch as a part of his remaining few fights with the beeb. I dont think we'll really know whether Haye has what it takes until then. My worst fear is that he goes the same way as Pele Reid, God help me if **** unfolds in that manner.

I think most British boxing fans appreciate Carl, It's not often that we see fighters with as much heart and humility as him.

Thanks for that, Hayefan, an interesting post. I'm surprised Carl has been stopped at all, he seems like a machine. A stoppage in two?

Pele Reid? Pardon my ignorance.

I do like David too, he seems very humble and sensible. It would be worrying if that was a flaw in his make-up that he could never overcome though. (the stamina)

[Toller]

I saw the Rothman-Thompson fight, that was an awesome fight. Thompson was taking a beating, then BOOM! That was like a scene from Rocky!

I'm a big fan of David Haye, I can't see who wouldn't be - that kid has got potential to earn some big bucks if only he can sort his problems out. I remember him saying after his last fight that he really wants to get in the ring with Thompson again saying something about how it needs to be soon to make it a great fight otherwise he might become too good for Carl.

[HayeFan]

A stoppage in two?)

Yeah, Carl got stopped quite a few times. I was always worried about the guy getting rocked when he fought. His resiliance seems to have grown since then. Or at least his ability to stay upright has.

Pele Reid? Pardon my ignorance.

He was a British kickboxer turned heavyweight prospect who looked pretty awesome on his way up. He used to do the splits on entering the ring, and a roundhouse kick to salute his victories. He ran up 13 straight wins all by knockout with only 2 of those going past the second round. Then it all came crashing down on him.

He got caught, was badly hurt and put down in his 13th fight. He was lucky to come away with the win after the guy he was fighting sustained an injury and couldn't continue.

A weakness had been exposed and no matter how skilled and powerful he had seemed, his next 3 opponents exploited his almost non-existant defense to it's fullest. He got stopped 3 times in a row. Reid was done. He had a few more wins but was never the same fighter.

Pele's first loss.

I do like David too, he seems very humble and sensible. It would be worrying if that was a flaw in his make-up that he could never overcome though. (the stamina)

David's problems with stamina stem back to his amateur days. He was notoriously lazy back then, relying on his natural talent to carry him through.

He was also stopped a couple of times as an amateur. There were rumours of an up and coming Heavyweight by the name of David Dolan who had allegedly starched him in a sparring session. Howard Eastman also sparred with him at one time. David was very green though and got toyed with.

His stamina and poor defense are worrying, but when you hit like a freight train, have superb speed and reflexes and killer instinct to boot, its hard not to see massive potential.

For my money, even at this very early stage in his career I'd fancy him against any of the top cruisers out there. The boy's got world class written all over him, Thompson defeat or not.

If he doesn't prove worthy of that praise I can live with that, as I haven't been as excited by a british fighter above middlewight since calzaghe tore onto the scene.

[Guest]

Yeah, I'd go with that, Hayefan. Interestingly, I read an interview with Thompson saying Haye didn't hit as hard as he'd expected. But yeah, exciting fighter, definitely.

[Toller]

Pele Reid KO'd Vitali bigstyle when he was a kickboxer, though it was a kick not a punch. I think it's safe to say the roles would be reversed if they'd fought as boxers!

[Guest]

Really? What was Vitali's kickboxing career record?

[Sidestep_1]

I always liked Thompson but didn´t think he could beat Haye at the age of 40. Wow, after that beating in the first three rounds, he schooled young Haye . Anyway, Haye is a big prospect, and Thompson hopefully gets title shot in that weak division (maybe a rematch against Nelson).

[Kimmy]

Haye is too chinny it appears to make it in the boxing, in a world title sense anyhow. He needs to go back to basics big time. Fighting Thompson in his 11th fight, what a foolish ****** move!

[Sidestep_1]

Fighting Thompson in his 11th fight, what a foolish ****** move!

Ok, doesn´t look good in the record, but Haye was doing well in the early rounds, ans in the post fight interview he seemed pretty relaxed because he knew about mistakes. He seems to be self-confident, but not over-confident.

[Toller]

Really? What was Vitali's kickboxing career record?

I'm not sure of his kickboxing record, but apparently Vitali was a 6-time world kickboxing champion. I know someone who does some kickboxing and he tells me Vitali was out cold for a while from a spinning kick to his jaw (I don't know a great deal about kickboxing though).