Down the Pub: Cage Rage 13 Preview
James “The Colossus” Thompson vs. Andy “The Rock” Costello
Pedro Wrobel Sep 8, 2005
James Thompson
(Pictures) is 8-2 as a pro. He is also
huge. At 6’ 5” and over 260 pounds of solid muscle, Thompson is
used to using his physical gifts to dominate his opponents.
Although he has decent wrestling and ground skills, “The Colossus” is basically a heavy-handed brawler. He’s torn through most of the competition the UK has to offer, coming up short only against opposition of the highest quality. The UK-based Georgian wrestler, Tengiz Tedoradze, made him look really bad back in June 2004, and most of you saw what Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) did to him in 10 seconds at PRIDE 28.
Andy Costello (Pictures) impressed me when I first saw him fight. This was back at CR 6, when he pounded Marc Goddard into the canvas. Since then Costello has fought twice and lost twice, looking uncertain and lackluster in both showings. An undersized Daniel Burzotta highlighted Costello’s lack of submission defense at CR 10, and Robert “Buzz” Berry beat the snot out of him en route to a KO at CR 11.
The Berry-Costello fight is what’s convinced me here. If “The Rock” can’t handle Berry then there’s no way that he’ll be able to take the bigger, younger Thompson. This will be another first round KO.
Although he has decent wrestling and ground skills, “The Colossus” is basically a heavy-handed brawler. He’s torn through most of the competition the UK has to offer, coming up short only against opposition of the highest quality. The UK-based Georgian wrestler, Tengiz Tedoradze, made him look really bad back in June 2004, and most of you saw what Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) did to him in 10 seconds at PRIDE 28.
Andy Costello (Pictures) impressed me when I first saw him fight. This was back at CR 6, when he pounded Marc Goddard into the canvas. Since then Costello has fought twice and lost twice, looking uncertain and lackluster in both showings. An undersized Daniel Burzotta highlighted Costello’s lack of submission defense at CR 10, and Robert “Buzz” Berry beat the snot out of him en route to a KO at CR 11.
The Berry-Costello fight is what’s convinced me here. If “The Rock” can’t handle Berry then there’s no way that he’ll be able to take the bigger, younger Thompson. This will be another first round KO.
