Is Samuel Peter The Savior Of The Heavyweight Division?

By Scott Gilfoid: In the past couple of years the heavyweight division has all but dried up as far as talent and excitement goes. This coincides with the beginning of the Eastern European heavyweights, like Wladimir Klitschko, Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev, Nikolay Valuev, Oleg Maskaev and Alexander Povetkin, whom have slowly taken control over the division, beating many of the older stars. However, this hasn’t exactly been a good thing, in that most of the Eastern European fighters have been incredibly boring to watch, fighting in a typical technical safety-first style of fighting and driving all the fans away to watch more exciting fights in the lower weight classes.

In the past, the heavyweight division has always been considered to be the driving force behind boxing, the division that most people wanted to see. That’s all changed unfortunately, as now most fans could care less about watching a heavyweight fight. Even the top heavyweight – Wladimir Klitschko – is almost guaranteed box office poison due to his timid style of fighting, one in which he is afraid to throw right hands, left hooks or any type of punch other than a jab.

This leads me to the one fighter who I feel will ultimately save the heavyweight division from ruin – WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-1, 23 KOs). In terms of excitement and punching power, Peter takes a back seat to none in the heavyweight division. He’s already had wars with Wladimir Klitschko, whom he almost beat in 2005, James Toney, beating him twice, and most recently a sixth round stoppage of former WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev. Peter never takes a backwards step and isn’t afraid to be hurt in a bout as he seems to be a fighter that doesn’t know the word fear.

His is somewhat crude, I’ll freely admit that but still quite effective none the less. Yet there is no heavyweight out there that can compare with him when it comes to bringing excitement to a fight. Previously, Wladimir Klitschko was thought to be the one that would be able to bring fans back to the heavyweight division, but he’s been a dismal failure at attracting fans, mostly because of his aforementioned cautious style of fighting. Unlike Peter, Klitschko seems content to jab his way to victory, which many fans find incredibly boring to watch. Peter, though, is pure explosive power, as he attacks his opponents with an animal fury from the start to the finish of his fights. Few of his opponents are lucky enough to make it to the final bell, given his extraordinary two-fisted power.

Peter has a big fight coming up in the near future against Vitali Klitschko, the brother of Wladimir, and a former champion in his own right. If Vitali does make into the fight without bowing out with an injury of one kind or another, Peter will likely be able to cement his name as one of the most popular fighters in boxing. I give Vitali little chance at beating Peter, who will probably be far too strong for the aging and injury-prone Vitali to contend with. Following that fight, there’s talk of Peter fighting a unification bout with his old nemesis Wladimir Klitschko, in a revenge bout that many in the boxing world have been waiting for since they last fought in 2005.

This fight will be the crowing glory for Peter, should he come out on top. It’s a matchup that Wladimir barely won last time out, for he was knocked down three times by the powerful punches from Peter and just barely escaped without being knocked out. Since that time, Peter has gotten stronger as a fighter, ironing out some of the holes in his game; Whereas Wladimir has been slipping as a fighter in the past couple of years and has lucked very vulnerable against opponents like Calvin Brock and Sultan Ibragimov.

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Posted March 26th, 2008 l 367 Views

Tags: Samuel Peter

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Comments

Adam:

Oh ya and Jeff makes great points in his response.Wlad has slipped?Ya right into 3 heavyweight belts.Boy that’s one heck of a slip.

posted July 19th, 2008 at 3:07 am

This article is flawed and inaccurate from the start to the finish.You say klitschko has been content to jab his way to victory?Oh.I guss that’s why he has a 90% knockout ratio in his 51 wins.(51-3 with 45 KO’s)Doesn’t sound like a guy that jabs his way to victory to me.But when did a jab not be a part of a gameplan.Then you say Peter is so exciting to watch?So im taking it that you didn’t watch both Toney-Peter fights.Those fights where like watching paint dry.Both fighters scared to throw punches.The savoir for Heavyweight boxing is Wladimir Klitschko.If your looking for a big mouth crap talker then it aint wlad.If your looking for a boxer that respects the sport and respects the fighters he’s beating to a pulp them wlads your man.There’s nobody ut there that can beat wlad so get used to watiching hin on HBO.

posted July 19th, 2008 at 3:04 am

JD from http://hoeno.blogspot.com:

I agree with Jeff. Very biased. I can’t see much about Peter that earns that kind of bias either. He’s certainly a heavy hitter and yeah, sluggers always wanted but he is neither technically credible nor professional enough to show up like an athlete. HW boxing doesn’t need another sloppy looking guy to take down the credibility of athleticism in the sport. The Maskaev/Peter fight is just what we need in terms of heavy hitting HW excitement but Peter alone isn’t a fan’s dream or the savior of the sport by any means.

posted June 27th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Jeff Meyers:

This article strains credulity. The premise, really, is that Peter is exciting and an aggressive big puncher and hence the savior. Absolutely true regarding his aggressiveness and power, but he’s no savior. He lacks the will to condition himself properly and, more importantly, is too slow and plodding to ever rule the division for any extended period of time.

Plus, the article is factually inaccurate. Klitschko didn’t “barely lose” last time, he dominated by winning nearly every time and finally staggering Peter in the 12th round. I guarantee you Peter was more hurt in the final round than Wlad was the entire fight.

And Wladimir has slipped and Peter gotten better since their fight? What do you base this on besides conjecture? Wlad hasn’t lost a fight and almost tore Brock’s head off — did you see the bout? Peter, meanwhile, has regressed. He almost lost to Jameel McCline, a gatekeeper at best with nowhere near the power and technical skills that Wlad possesses. Both Vitali AND Wlad will knockout Peter if and when they square off.

Not a very good article. Too biased and at odds with the facts.

posted March 28th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

Stevie D:

The points you raised are very valid the Eastern European fighters are boring, however although Peter is more exciting and very powerfull, he is still ultimately a slugger devoid of any real quality. I am really hoping that David Haye can prove he has the chin for this division if he does then his flair and quality is what we need in the Heavyweights.

posted March 27th, 2008 at 9:22 am