By Jim Dower: Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-3, 23 KO’s) will be coming in at his lowest weight in four years when he steps in the ring tonight against journeyman fighter Marcus McGee (22-16, 11 KO’s) in an eight round bout at the Grand Mayan, Nuevo Vallarta, in Nayarit, Mexico.
After coming in at a career high of 265 for his last fight, a 10-round majority decision loss to Eddie Chambers in March, Peter finally decided to get serious about his weight and has trimmed down to a slim 243 for his bout against McGee. Although this is a fight that Peter could probably win no matter how badly out of shape he might be, it’s a good sign that he’s coming in at his best weight.
Since losing a narrow 12 round decision to Wladimir Klitschko four years ago in September 2005, Peter has gotten steadily bigger, weighing in the mid 250s up until Peter’s fight’s fight with Chambers where he made the mistake of getting even bigger at 265. Even in his title fight with Vitali Klitschko last year, Peter came into the fight at a hefty 253 and was stopped in the 8th round by Klitschko.
The weight is a good start for Peter, but it probably isn’t the only thing that Peter needs to change. He hasn’t been as agreessive as he used to be since the fight with Wladimir four years ago, and that’s something that Peter needs to work out, because he’s much more effective when he’s fighting all out and attacking his opponents hard.
With two losses in his last two fights, Peter can no longer afford any more defeats if he wants to stay ranked in the top ten. He’s still young at 28, but he needs to start showing it in the ring because Peter has looked progressively worse in his past two fights. It seems like a million years ago when Peter scored a 6th round stoppage over Oleg Maskaev last year in March to win the WBC heavyweight tile.
Rahman to fight on Tua-Cameron Undercard on October 3rd
Two-time heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (45-7-2, 36 KO’s) will be looking to turn his career around when he returns to action on the undercard of the David Tua vs. Shane Cameron fight on October 3rd in New Zealand. Rahman, 36, will be facing a still to be determined opponent on that date but it figures to be a well known Australian fighter. There’s not a lot of options available to Rahman given the lack of quality Australian heavyweights, but hopefully it’s someone like Kali Meehan or John Hopoate.
There is talk of Rahman possibly fighting the winner of Tua-Cameron in the future, but let’s hope not. Rahman needs to be moving forward in his career and a second fight against Tua isn’t what he needs right now if he wants to stay relevant in the heavyweight division. Preferably, Rahman needs to be put in with a top 15 opponent and not an unranked fighter like Tua.
However, if Tua beats Cameron impressively, then Tua will likely get bumped up into the top 15. Rahman, ranked #8 in the IBF, was recently defeated by Wladimir Klitschko in a 7th round stoppage in December. Rahman, looking out of shape at 253, fought passively in the fight, throwing few punches and just taking punishment. He looked like he didn’t want to be there.
Rahman defeated Lennox Lewis in a 5th round knockout in April 2001. However, Rahman immediately lost the title in his next fight, a 4th round TKO in a rematch with Lewis seven months later in November 2001. Rahman then struggled for awhile, losing a eight round technical decision to Evander Holyfield in June 2002.
Rahman then fought to a controversial 12 round draw against David Tua in March 2003, and later lost to John Ruiz in a 12 round decision in December 2003. Rahman then got his act together and won six consecutive victories ending with the capture of the interim WBC heavyweight title with a 12 round decision over Monte Barrett in August 2005.
However, Rahman lost the WBC title in a 12th round stoppage in 2006 to Oleg Maskaev. Since that loss, Rahman has been struggling to turn his career around, beating four journeyman fighters before fighting to a three round no decision against James Toney last year in July 2008.