He is the son of five time martial arts world champion Geoff Thompson and used to play tennis in his youth.
[2] After 13 fairly easy victories Thompson fought his first real test against former IBO Crruiserweight challenger Vasil Ducar.
[3] Thompson then faced British rival Luke Watkins for his next fight in his first defence of his IBF European cruiserweight title.
Despite taking a lot of punishment Thompson dropped Watkins twice in the sixth rounds before the ref waved it off.
Opetaia showed the difference in class and easily stopped Thompson in the fourth dropping him twice in the process.