Photo credit: KMG/Dmitriy Abramov – By Jim Dower: At today’s weigh-in for Saturday’s clash between IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) and Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s), the 34-year-old Klitschko came in at 246 at the scales. Peter, 30, weighed in at a cut up 241, which is four pounds heavier than in his last fight against Nagy Aguilera in March. However, Peter looks much more muscular than he was for that fight, so you have to figure that Peter has been working harder and putting on more size for his fight against the 6’6” Klitschko.

The bout will be taking place at the Commerzbank-Arena, in Frankfurt, Germany, where Klitschko lives. This should be an interesting fight because the two fighters mixed it up five years ago in one of the most exciting bouts of 2005. Wladimir won that fight by a 12 round decision but was knocked down three times and was lucky to escape with a win.

It’s disappointing that it took five years to get the two fighters back in the ring together, because Wladimir has been badly in need of competitive opponents during the past five years. His lack of opponents, and one-sided fights, has caused HBO to stop showing his fights on their cable network in the United States. Peter is the one fighter, besides perhaps WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, which can bring out the best in Wladimir or maybe the worst, depending on how you look at it.

Wladimir is considered to be the best heavyweight in the division, but Peter has an excellent chance of knocking him out because of his huge power. If Peter can connect with one of his big power shots, he could take Wladimir out in front of his larger German capacity crowd. There’s expected to be at least 45,000 fans in attendance for this fight. Peter wants to take on Haye next if he can get by Wladimir. Oddly enough, Peter may have a better chance of landing a fight with Haye than Klitschko because he might be more willing to give a little in the negotiations.