By Ian S Palmer
Veteran American heavyweights Tony Thompson and Malik Scott are set to square off this Friday, October 30th in a 10-round bout in Orlando Florida. The fight will be broadcast live in North America on Bounce TV. The 44-year-old Thompson enters the ring with a record of 40-5 along with 27 Kos while the 35-year-old Scott is 37-2-1 and has 13 Kos to his name. This is another contests in the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series and will be taking place at the Venue at UCF.
Thompson is still a decent boxer for his age, but he can’t afford a loss if he hopes to get another crack at a world title. He dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Carlos Takam last year, but bounced back by stopping Orlanier Solis of Cuba in the eighth round earlier this year. However, even a win here won’t put Thompson back in the headlines since Scott’s more or less regarded as a good journeyman fighter. Since Thompson’s ranked number nine by the WBC, he’s likely after a shot at their champion Deontay Wilder.
Wilder is supposed to meet Alexander Povetkin of Russia in a mandatory defence, but may also take a voluntary fight as a tune up bout. Thompson said he’s not looking past Scott since he’s a good experienced boxer and can’t afford to take him lightly. Scott’s been beaten just twice and those losses came at the hands of Wilder in 2014 and England’s Dereck Chisora in 2013, who stopped him in the first and sixth rounds respectively. Therefore, Scott’s chin has been questioned, but he did rebound last fall when he beat Alex Leapai by a 10-round unanimous decision.
Thompson of Washington D.C is a well-traveled southpaw who’s biggest bouts have been a pair of stoppage defeats to Wladimir Klitschko back in 2008 and 2012. He’s also suffered losses to Takam, Erik Kirkland and Kubrat Pulev by decisions. Thompson stands 6-feet-5-inches tall and has a reach of 81.5 inches. He’s fought 236 rounds since turning pro back in 2000 and his current knockout ratio stands at 60 per cent. Thompson has underrated power and the same could probably be said of his chin, since Klitschko is the only man to have stopped him.
Scott of Philadelphia has good size too as he’s 6-feet-4-inches tall with a wingspan of 81 inches. His knockout ratio stands at 33 per cent and he has 234 rounds under his belt since turning pro back in 2000. Scott’s career got off to an excellent start as he went 35-0 before suffering his first defeat to Chisora via a highly-controversial stoppage His best performances have been against the likes of Bowie Tupou, who he stopped and Vyacheslav Glazkov, who he earned a draw with. However, Scott was inactive in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Thompson said he’ll put the pressure on Scott, but will find his opponent is quite mobile and has the quicker hands. If both boxers are in top form then this should be a competitive and intriguing contest.
Prediction
This is Thompson’s first fight in America since 2011 and since Scott is a slow starter the year off between fights won’t help him as he’ll be rusty. Thompson has taken on the better boxers during his career and that experience should be enough to see him take a relatively close decision here with a late stoppage also being possible.
