Spare Parts An American Dream
Tony’s story is truly an American dream.
Tony has gone from "spare parts" to heavyweight champion. On June 28, 2006 Tony beat highly regarded Dominic Guinn for the WBC Continental Americas and The WBO Intercontinental heavyweight championship belts. Next stop, the world heavyweight championship belts.
Tony’s rise to the top of the heavyweight scene is far from the traditional one. He was not an Olympic medallist, a national amateur champion, or golden gloves champion. His start in boxing came at the age 28 after winning the Toughman contest.
From this type beginning, Tony’s place in boxing should be primarily a sparring partner for top contenders, never the main event. Tony never bought into that, and neither did we. We thought hard work, determination, focus, and the right team, would be our recipe for becoming champion.
Tony was originally trained and managed by Tom Browner. During 2005, the legendary team at PMG Boxing was brought aboard to assume management of Tony’s boxing career. At PMG’s first meeting about signing Tony, the question was asked, “what do you think about signing Tony Thompson? First response, “sign him now!! In 6 fights we will be world champions. This kid can fight.” So we signed.
To bring Barry Hunter aboard was the first order of business of PMG Boxing after the signing. Barry is without doubt one of the best trainers in boxing today.
Nate Peake, Chairman of PMG Boxing, Steve Francis, NBA All Star and primary shareholder of PMG Boxing, and Greg McCormick, Executive Officer of PMG Boxing, together with Tom, Barry, and BB, Rod, Dominick, Jason, Wayne, Sharmba, Lamont, Anthony, Tyrone, Vaughn, Jeff, Ben, Jennifer, Tammi, and Goossen Tutor Promotionals formed the mad scientist team which created the monster known as SPARE PARTS .
The following sites contain articles recently written about Tony, to read the entire article visit the site address:
http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=1857
“As for Thompson, this victory has propelled him to a higher
income and surely a top-ten rating. Having a record of 28-1 with seventeen
knockouts, he should be matched against top-ten heavyweights soon. (Calvin
Brock, who fought last week, springs to mind.) He has already beaten B-level
heavyweights like Zuri Lawrence and Vaughn Bean and now Guinn. He boxes in a
southpaw stance, giving him an advantage against most fighters. He throws many
punches at a time and knows how to get out of the way once he finishes a
combination. Weighing a trim two-hundred-forty pounds against Guinn and being
nearly six-and-a-half feet tall, he should be able to compete against the
giants from
“Heavyweight contender Tony "The Tiger" Thompson
moved closer to a coveted world title shot after dominating one-time notable
prospect Dominick "The Southern Disaster" Guinn Wednesday night at
the HP Pavilion in
Thompson picked up the vacant WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight title with the win, which headlined ESPN2’s Wednesday Night Fights telecast.
Thompson admitted before the fight that it's been difficult for him to find suitable opponents. At 6'5 ½” and 238 lb., he is a huge southpaw. As exhibited against Guinn, he has relatively fast hands and puts his punches together well. He can counter-punch effectively on the inside and mix short hooks, crosses and uppercuts better than most big men.”
http://blog.thesweetscience.com/2006/06/29/tony-thompson-joins-the-mix-as-a-heavyweight-player/
“Thompson sticks it to the Southern Disaster in
Gentlemen and ladies,
there is a new player in the heavyweight division.
Based on his performance in
OK, I hear you. I’m not getting overexcited here.
Guinn, the Southern Disaster, looked like a man ready for a change of vocational scenery during his performance broadcast on ESPN2.
But the 6-5 1/2 inch tall Thompson (28-1, 17 KOs) has now won 24 straight fights, weighed 12 pounds less than he has as a pro, and does the basics quite well.
Plus, he’s got some of the nuances down as well. Watch him on tape or TiVo and you’ll see that he punches, and then a la Klitschko, he pushes off with his glove to give himself time to vacate after he delivers. He knows it all starts with the jab, and maintains his breathing well during heated action, proving himself to be a superbly conditioned athlete with a solid workrate.
Thompson, a 34-year-old
http://www.boxingtimes.com/analyses/2006/060628thompson_guinn.html
“Tony "The Tiger" Thompson ran his winning streak to 24 victories in a row by posting a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision over a lackluster Dominick "Southern Disaster" Guinn.
The 6'5 ½" southpaw Thompson hurt Guinn in the 6th, and dominated the bout for the rest of the evening and it appeared at times that referee Jon Schorle might even stop the one-sided contest in the 10th or the 11th round. However, the safety first Guinn, whose claim to fame came three years ago when he scored a seventh round TKO over former contender Michael Grant, managed to go the distance with a less than inspiring performance.
Thompson landed enough hard right jabs, right hooks and clubbing left hands to nail down the victory on all three judges' scorecards, 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111. With the victory the 34-year-old Thompson was awarded the vacant and dubious WBC Continental Americas heavyweight belt.
--Long Train Coming--
The fighters traded the first several rounds as both men attempted to establish their rhythm yet neither boxer was able to connect with more than a few meaningful punches. Coming off an impressive 10 round unanimous decision over England's Audley Harrison last April, this time out Guinn (26-4, 18 KO's) labored in getting off his shots against tall lefthander.
With 1, 860 paying customers looking on the action finally
picked up in the sixth round. With 1:49 to go in the round, Thompson (28-1, 17
KO's) tagged Guinn (229 ½) with a whistling counter right hook flush on the
jaw. Guinn,
Instead of keeping his lead left foot outside of the southpaw's stance, Guinn, 31, continued to circle in the wrong direction and repeatedly was looking down the barrel at Thompson's accurate and damaging left cross. With 1:01 to go in the round, Thompson hurt and rocked Guinn, 6'3", with another hammering left hand to the jaw. Thompson finished out the 6th, by landing a series of thudding and clubbing punches that jolted Guinn and he looked somewhat dejected when he returned to his corner.
Thompson continued to pull away in the second half of the fight and returned to scoring not only from distance but also in close quarters against his opponent, who repeatedly made the mistake of moving right rather than left.
At the 1:50 mark of the 10th, the southpaw snapped Guinn's head straight back after landing two telephone poll-like right jabs square on the chin. With a minute to go in the round, Thompson hurt Guinn again with two jolting right hooks to the side of the face. Guinn dropped his hands and nodded at Thompson, who answered by bouncing yet another right hook off his opponent's head. Moments later, Thompson was back on target and he nailed Guinn with a left cross to the head followed by an arcing right hook to the jaw. Thompson connected with a number of punishing shots and referee Jon Schorle seemed on the verge of halting the contest simply because Guinn was unable to return fire.
Thompson opened the 11th, by rocketing another savage right jab off of Guinn's profile setting the tone for the remainder of the next three minutes. Thompson continued to tee off on Guinn for the rest of the round, and he was forced to retreat and simply offered little to no resistance. With 1:11 to go in the 11th, Thompson caught Guinn with another snapping right hook high on the jaw and once more he was forced to give ground.
Both the referee Schorle and Guinn's trainer Goosen seemed to be just one more hard combination away from stopping the contest but the uninspired heavyweight managed to survive the round and eventually finish the fight on his feet.”
http://www.superboxing.co.za/default.asp?id=183726&des=article&scat=superboxing/international
“Heavyweight Tony Thompson scored an upset points victory
over highly regarded Dominick Guinn in
Thompson won on points over 12 rounds. The scores were 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111.
The 34-year-old Thompson, a southpaw whose record now stands at 28-1 (17 stoppages), started off slowly but began to dominate in the later rounds, using his jab to good effect against the shorter Guinn.
This was an impressive performance from the largely unknown Thompson and a possible the end of Guinn’s career.”
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=4607
Easy Come, Easy Go: Thompson Dominates
By Mark Vester
“The comeback of heavyweight contender Dominick Guinn
(26-4-1, 18KOs) was short lived as he dropped a unanimous twelve-round decision
to Tony Thompson (28-1, 17 KOs) at the HP Pavilion in
After defeating Olympic gold medal winner Audley Harrison in April, Guinn appeared to be on the road back to success, but in what has become a trend in Guinn's career, he loses a bout most experts picked him to win. Guinn promised the boxing fans a new and improved fighter and he was unable to deliver on the promise.
Thompson, a slick southpaw, dominated Guinn from the start of the fight. In the tenth round of the contest, Thompson had Guinn in trouble and appeared to be on the verge of putting him away. The final scores were 119-109, 118-110, and 117-111, all for Thompson.
Thompson, only lost once in his career, when he dropped a four round decision in his fifth pro-fight. The impressive win over Guinn may land him a decent ranking by one of the alphabet organizations.”
http://www.fightwriter.com/?q=node/262
“In Tony Thompson, Guinn meets a near-6ft 6ins, 250-pound southpaw, but the “Southern Disaster” from Hot Springs, AR, actually seems to fight better against the bigger heavyweights as he showed when knocking out Michael Grant, soundly outpointing the 6ft 5ins, 236-pound Duncan Dokiwari and of course dominating almost all of the 10 rounds against Audley Harrison.
Unlike
This is a big opportunity for Thompson, who has been seeking the breakthrough type of fight for a long time. He knows he must make the most of it because he surely realises that the managers and promoters of the better-known heavyweights will not be rushing to match their fighters with him — a big southpaw who has ability. As the great British fight figure Mickey Duff would say: “Who needs him?”
http://www.fightnews.com/digital187.htm
Tony Thompson Talking Titles!
June 27, 2006
By
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“It has been a long, methodical road through the heavyweight
division for Tony "The Tiger" Thompson. The 34-year-old native of
Now, Thompson prepares to take the first major step of his
career as he challenges Dominick Guinn for the vacant WBC Continental Americas
Heavyweight title in front of a nationally televised ESPN2 audience on Wednesday,
June 28 at the HP Pavilion in
Thompson, who has won 23 straight bouts since losing a four-round decision to Eric Kirkland in July 2000, told Fightnews that he has taken a patient attitude as he waited for this opportunity.
"I've been staying positive and working hard because I knew eventually this time would come," Thompson said. "I knew that I had to be ready when the chance came."
Thompson said the bout against Guinn is very important because it can lead to more important bouts.
"This is a leeway belt to the WBC title," Thompson said. I'm using this as a stepping stone to the world title."
Thompson's previous bit of notoriety came in November of 2002 when he finished second to Maurice Harris in Cedric Kushner's "Fistful of Dollars" heavyweight tournament. None of Thompson's bouts in the tourney appear on his official record.
Thompson recently won the Maryland State Heavyweight title
by stopping Brandon Cabell in the fourth round On January 26 in
Guinn will be Thompson's most accomplished opponent to date.
The native of
Thompson said this matchup is a battle of two desperate boxers.
"I know he is a tough fighter and he's in the same boat that I am, pretty desperate," Thompson said. "I know a lot of people don't want to fight me and if I lose this shot, then that gives people all the excuses not to fight me. They will do anything to keep me out of the championship loop."
"I think the heavyweight division is very exciting right now," Thompson continued. "Because there has been so much talk about not having a dominant heavyweight, everyone is going to start stepping up to fight each other and I believe that will make for some exciting and action-packed bouts."
Thompson said that he feels physically ready for this contest.
"My training is going very well," Thompson said. "I've dropped about 20 pounds since my last fight and I'm training hard. I think you will see a different makeup in my strength and capabilities in this bout."
To hear the full interview with Tony Thompson, visit Boxing Along The Beltway
Other sites with Tony Thompson materials.
http://www.brickcityboxing.com/index.php/a/2006/06/29/p279
http://www.braggingrightscorner.com/thompsonadded031706.html
http://15rounds.com/boxing/News/2006/06/thompson-062806.php
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=7455&more=1