Klitschko vs. Peter: Will Samuel knock out Wladimir while in a clinch?

By Dave Lahr: Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) dodged a heat seeking missile last time he fought the powerful Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s) in 2005, beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight where Wladimir was put down not once but three separate times in the fight. Now after skillfully beating mostly weak punchers in his last nine fights, Klitshko, 34, will finally be back in with Peter in a long awaited rematch.

There had been talk of Wladimir fighting Peter again years ago, but Wladimir was dragged in a different direction, away from the huge punching Peter. As it turns out, it may be a good thing that Wladimir didn’t fight Peter again because there’s a good chance that Wladimir would have been knocked out. But they’re finally fighting now and both of them are still in their prime years.

If anything, Peter is lot better than he was back in 2005, as Peter is much leaner and better able to move around the ring quickly compared to in 2005 when he was carrying around a lot more fat on his stocky 6’1” frame. There’s been talk about Wladimir possibly knocking Peter out in this fight. This is foolishness, of course, because Peter doesn’t get knocked out. He may have been stopped once previously by Wladimir’s older brother Vitali Klitschko, but that was from an accumulation of blows and the fight was stopped in between rounds, not from one particular shot.

It was stopped because Peter wasn’t competitive with Vitali. However, that was when Peter was younger and carrying around more fat. He’s not that fighter anymore and I would bet that he would stop Vitali in a rematch if it were fought today. It’s too bad that Vitali can’t be next, because it would be interesting to see what Peter would do the 38-year-old Vitali now.

But Wladimir is a lot easier than Vitali because of his brittle, glass-like chin. Peter will find Wladimir’s chin sooner or later in the fight. Wladimir won’t be able to shut Peter down by clinching and running. You can only hold Peter back for so long by running before he finally catches up to you and lowers the boom. But I expect for Wladimir to try and do more clinching than running, because he knows he can’t run long enough to keep Peter away.

So instead Wladimir will try to cinch his way to victory using the old punch and clinch technique. This won’t work because Peter is working on beating up Wladimir while being held. It won’t take more than one free arm for Peter to reach around and tag Wladimir on the side of the head as hard as he can to get Wladimir to let him go.

But as hard as Peter punches, I won’t be surprised if he scores a knockout in that fashion. It would be hilarious but I can see it happening. Wladimir draped all over Peter like a jacket and then Peter reaches around and tags Wladimir with his free hand and knocks him out cold.

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