Samuel Peter signs contract for fight against Wladimir Klitschko

By Jason Kim: Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s) signed a contract on Thursday to step in and fight IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) on September 11th, according to Fight News. Peter, 29, has won his last four bouts against B level fighters to earn the number #2 ranking by the IBF.

Peter will now be fighting Wladimir on September 11th at the Commerzbank-Arena, in Frankfurt, Germany. Klitschko, 34, was supposed to be fighting number #1 ranked IBF heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin, but his trainer felt that he wasn’t quite yet ready for a fight against Wladimir at this point. Peter already has fought both Klitschko brothers, losing to both in the past five years.

Peter did a good job against Wladimir, though, knocking him down three times en route to losing the fight by a 12 round decision. However, all three knockdowns appeared to have been caused by punches to the back of Wladimir’s head, and it’s debatable whether any of them should have counted. Wladimir is a lot more sound defensively compared to the, and Peter has really got his work cut out for him if he wants to beat Wladimir.

In their fight in 2005, Peter was unable to land with any regularity, and was limited to landing his shots when he was able to get Wladimir backed up against the ropes. Klitschko will have a huge benefit of having his Brother Vitali Klitschko’s blue print to use for beating Peter.

In Vitali’s win over Peter in 2008, Vitali was able to keep Peter off of him by leaning back, throwing short left hooks and jabs to control the fight. Peter was caught over and over again with Vitali’s short left hooks as Peter was coming in. This later caused Peter to pretty much give up after the first five rounds, and just take punishment until the fight was stopped after the 8th round.

Wladimir doesn’t lean back like his brother Vitali when he fights, but he might need to consider doing so for the Peter rematch, because he can’t afford to get hit with too many of Peter’s looping shots if he wants to win. Peter hits too hard and his looping shots often tend to land to the back of the head for his opponents.

Wladimir was hit a lot by Peter when trying to clinch with him. You can expect that this will be part of Peter’s game plan in trying to beat Wladimir. Vitali didn’t bother with clinching to stop Peter, because he wasn’t worried about taking his shots. By continuously nailing Peter with hooks, jabs and chopping right hands, Vitali made the end come much quicker for Peter.

Had the fight gone past the 8th round, Peter would have likely taken a terrible beating and probably would have been stopped well before the 12th. Wladimir has the boxing skills to duplicate Vitali’s performance, but he may not have the chin. Peter has a very chance of knocking Wladimir out if he can wade through his jabs and land something hard in close. Peter needs to make Wladimir pay for his constant clinching by hitting him while being held.

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