In a bout that’s almost two years overdue, Samuel Peter (29-1, 22 KOs) will finally get his shot against WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev (34-5, 26 KOs) on Saturday night at the Plaza de Toros, in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Peter, 27, has had to work hard for this match, by first having to defeat James Toney not once but twice consecutively to earn the shot as Maskaev’s mandatory, and then having to wait another five months beyond that after Maskaev injured his back, causing the cancellation of their October 6, 2007 bout.
Peter instead was forced to take on 6’6” journeyman Jameel McCline, who in turn gave Peter all kinds of problems for the first six rounds, knocking him down three times before Peter came back and pulled out the fight due to his superior stamina. The win, as close as it was for Peter, was mostly due to Peter having multiple injuries at the time, and having little training for a fighter of McClines’s size.
Leading up to this Saturday’s bout with Maskaev, Peter has been uncharacteristically bold in his comments, saying “I’m going to punish you and beat you up,” and “I’m going to eat you alive,” to name just a few of his more volatile quotes. Some of it appears to be a knee-jerk reaction from the fact that Peter has struggled in two of his last three bouts against Toney and McCline. Many in the media have already been saying that Peter is a different fighter since his loss to Wladimir Klitschko in September 2005, a bout in which Peter was hurt badly in the 12th round by a scorching left hook from Klitschko, and barely survived the round without being stopped.
Before that bout, Peter’s chin had been considered one of the best in the division. Getting knocked down three times by the light hitting McCline would see to back up people’s claims about Peter not being the same fighter. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen. One thing is for sure if Maskaev has any chance at all, it will likely be by trying to stay away from Peter for as long as he can, for if he comes in contact with him for any length of time it could be a short fight. It doesn’t help Maskaev much that he’s 39 years-old, and hasn’t fought in 15 months since beating Peter Okhello.
But what is worse, is that Maskaev is coming off a serious back injury, without any chance for a tune-up in between. Add in his history of bad knockout losses – five of them – and it seems to suggest that Maskaev is in deep trouble on Saturday night. He doesn’t have the size of the reach, like Klitschko did, to stay on the outside and prevent Peter from landing his bombs. This means, of course, that Maskaev with have to either run, trade with him, or attempt to tie him up whenever he comes in close. I expect to see a little of each but none of it will help in the end, unless I miss my guess.
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