“I was crying my eyes out with joy,” exclaimed Tony “The Tiger” Thompson upon hearing the official news from the International Boxing Federation (IBF) declaring him the mandatory challenger for Wladamir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) after his opponent in the IBF Heavyweight Title Elimination bout, Eddie Chambers, was forced to withdraw from their bout on October 28th, and was unable to commit to a new date that was set for December 17.
“I believe it was a tough, but honorable and right decision by the IBF and it’s president, Daryl Peoples,” said Dan Goossen of Goossen Tutor Promotions. “It was an unfortunate circumstance with Eddie forfeiting his chance and derailing the final match of the four-man IBF sanctioned box off.”
Thompson’s mandatory IBF Heavyweight Championship bout is to take place within 90 days of Klitschko’s title defense on Dec. 10 against Jean-Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22 KO’s) of France, with the winner mandated to fight Thompson.
With the WBC’s #1 heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (33-2, 28 KO’s) drawing thousands of fans in his debut bout in Mexico this Saturday, November 5 at El Domo De La Feria in Leon, Mexico and broadcast on Televisa and ESPN Deportes, Goossen believes he has the top two American heavyweights immediately capable of taking the championship belts back to the United States from the Klitschko’s.
With the worldwide success of the Klitschko’s, and the reemergence of Thompson and Arreola, Goossen believes that his American fighters will become world champions in 2012 and bring the heavyweight division back to it’s past stature and drive pay-per-view numbers in the process. “There is no doubt in my mind, that the heavyweight championship of the world should be contested in the U.S. and back on pay-per-view now,” said Goossen.
“I was ecstatic! It’s been my dream fight since I lost,” said Thompson of the opportunity to get back in the ring with Wladamir, who he lost to in 2008 after 11 competitive rounds. “I fought my way back, and now that I’m here, I’m excited to show what I can do.”
“I learned a lot from the first fight and I’m ready to put those lessons to work. You have to learn something fighting the heavyweight champion of the world and I did.”
