It seems as if it only took two rounds and three knockouts to erase what World Boxing Council interim heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (29-1, 22 KOs) had built up in 29 previous bouts as he was blasted around the ring by the journeyman Jameel McCline, causing Peter, 27, to have to struggle to pull out the 12-round decision. It wasn’t a pretty picture, as the sight of Peter being dropped time after time by the light-punching McCline opened up a lot of boxing fans’ eyes about Peter, making them question their previous assumptions about him being a nearly invincible knockout puncher.
Some one would later say that Peter’s chin had been damaged in an earlier bout, a fight with the hard-punching Wladimir Klitschko in September 2005. In that fight, Peter showed little respect for Wladimir’s power, walking in directly at him in a straight line, round after round. Wladimir, mainly fighting defensely off his back foot for most of the bout, finally let loose with a big left hook in the 12th round that badly staggered Peter. On two other occasions in the round, Wladimir stunned Peter with two big right hands, and had him well on the verge of a knockout. However, instead of going after him and finishing him off, Wladimir backed off and let the round end, playing if safe because he had the fight in the bag.
Perhaps, some people say, it was that round that did the damage to Peter’s chin, and only now we’re seeing the effects a couple years later. Sure, Peter fought four times following his bout with Wladimir and showed no signs of having a weak chin, but remember, those fights were against Robert Hawkins, Julius Long and James Toney – none of which could punch their way out of a paper bag. To that extent, even McCline doesn’t have much of a punch, which has to be a concern for Peter, as he’s about to step it up against a fighter that can punch with a lot of power when he takes on WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev (34-5, 26 KOs) on March 8th for their title showdown.
Should Peter get by Maskaev, 38, it get’s even more dangerous for Peter, as he then has to fight former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. At 6’8″ 250 lbs, with a ton of power in his right hand, Klitschko would most surely test Peter’s chin early on, and if he has any hidden neurological problems, Vitali will quickly find out. Unlike Wladimir, Vitali will be gunning for a knockout from the earliest moments of their fight, and will not be playing it safe. Knowing that stamina may be an issue, Vitali will likely try and stop Peter as fast as possible to prevent the bout from going deep, possibly causing Vitali to fatigue enough where it would cause him to lose the fight.
Peter will bring out the best in Vitali, as he’s always been fierce when he has a fighter coming straight at him the way that Peter will. Short of a injury by Vitali, I see this fight as a potential knockout loss for Peter. I don’t think his chin will be able to stand up under Vitali’s sledgehammer rights, no matter how long Vitali’s been out of the boxing. He’ll still very dangerous in the first several rounds of the fight, and that’s when I see Peter trying his hardest to knock him out.
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