Peter: “I hope he [Wladimir] comes to fight and not wrestle”

By Boxing News - 09/10/2010 - Comments

Image: Peter: “I hope he [Wladimir] comes to fight and not wrestle”Photo credit: KMG/Dmitriy Abramov – By Dave Lahr: The last time Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s) fought Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s), the Ukrainian fighter was hugging him pretty much all night long at every chance he could get to prevent Peter from throwing his power house punches. It only partially worked, as Peter was still able to pry Wladimir off of him long enough to knock him down three times in the fight. This time, Peter is really hoping that Wladimir, now the IBF/WBO heavyweight champion, doesn’t choose to clinch and wrestle him all night long like last time.

Peter says “I hear and see what they’re trying to do. I just hope he [Klitschko] comes to fight and not wrestle.” I hope so too, but I’m not going to count on that happening. Wladimir is probably going to use his 12 round decision win over Peter last time as a blueprint in how to beat him this time. This means that you can expect Wladimir to be holding on to Peter at every opportunity to keep him from throwing any of his big punches.

The referee, if he’s doing his job correctly, will penalize and/or disqualify Wladimir for his choosing to hold excessively. This is boxing and not MMA. What Wladimir was doing in the first fight with Peter was one long stalling tactic to keep Peter from throwing punches. It wasn’t a fight; it was some kind of MMA hybrid bout in which Wladimir would land his own shots and then dive in and grab Peter to prevent him from answering back with his own.

Needless to say, the fight was more than ugly to watch. It was downright painful, because you knew that the referee should have done something to correct the situation with Wladimir clinching continuously, and yet the referee just stood there like a mannequin all night long without doing a thing. Peter was out there on his own and had to take matters into his own hands with a few rabbit shots every now and then get Wladimir to let go of him.

This time, Peter is going to hit Wladimir with everything but the kitchen sink to get him to stop hugging him and start fighting. I hope Wladimir likes getting pelted in close, because he’s going to be getting hit with some vicious shots from Peter every time he elects to hold instead of fighting.



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