By Jason Kim: Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (33-3, 26 KO’s) will be facing young 23-year-old prospect Nagy Aguilera (15-2, 10 KO’s) on March 12th in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator in Dallas, Texas. The strange part about this fight is that Russian Alexander Povetkin had already become the mandatory challenger for IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko by virtue of his wins over Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers in the IBF heavyweight title elimination tournament which was held in late 2007 and concluded in January 2008.

Whatever the case, Peter is in a good position to get a shot against champion Wladimir Klitschko if he can get by Aguilera. Peter has rebounded from his back to back defeats by Vitali Klitschko and Eddie Chambers with three wins over 2nd tier opposition opponents Marcus McGee, Ronald Bellamy and Gabe Brown in 2009.

Best of all, Peter has dropped weight from a high of 265 and has melted down to a low of 240 in his last fight in December. This is Peter’s best weight in over nine years dating back to 2001. Not only that, but Peter looks good and is fighting like he did years ago. It remains to be seen whether Peter can duplicate his efforts against top tier opposition. Aguilera isn’t currently ranked in the top 10, but he could make it interesting with his youth and speed.

In his last fight, Aguilera shocked the boxing world with a 1st round knockout over 40-year-old in December. It would have been interesting to see how the fight had gone if Maskaev didn’t get blasted out so quickly. Although Aguilera stopped Maskaev early in the fight, he doesn’t have huge power. If Aguilera is going to beat Peter, he’s going to have to do it by out-working him and trying to avoid his big shots. If he stands in front of Peter all night long, he likely won’t last long.

A victory for Peter will set him up in a position where he can fight Wladimir Klitschko in a long awaited rematch. There first fight five years ago in 2005 was an exciting bout with Peter knocking Wladimir down three times but ending up losing the fight by a 12 round decision. Wladimir staggered Peter in the 12th round with a big left hook but was unable to finish him off.

This would be a very tough fight for Wladimir if he’s forced to fight Peter. In 2008, Peter defeated Maskaev by a 6th round stoppage to capture the WBC heavyweight title. Peter didn’t hold onto the title for long unfortunately, losing it in his first title defense eight months later to Wladimir’s older brother, Vitali Klitschko in an 8th round stoppage loss.

Peter would follow that loss with a disappointing 10 round majority decision defeat at the hands of Eddie Chambers in March 2009. It was a very winnable fight for Peter, but he didn’t help himself by coming into the fight at a huge 265, looking like he hadn’t trained hard for the bout. Never the less, the fight was very close at the end and could have gone either way. It would have been interesting to see what an in shape Peter would have done with Chambers.