By Jim Dower: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) did what he had to do to take Nigerian heavyweight Samuel Peter (34-4, 27 KO’s) out in the 10th round last Saturday night at the Commerzbank-Arena, in Frankfurt, Germany. With the 30-year-old Peter’s right eye nearly closed from the punishment he had absorbed in the fight, Wladimir unloaded with a blizzard of punches to put Peter down in the 10th round. Referee Roberto Byrd then stepped in and halted the bout at 1:22 of the 10th round.

The fight was never very close, as Peter was unable to land many of his power punches in the fight. He looked slow, indecisive and unable to bridge the gap between him and the 6’6” Klitschko. Most of the fight took place on the outside with Wladimir pounding the over-matched Peter with jabs, right hands and left hooks to the head. Peter was limited to mostly throwing wild shots, most of which missed badly.

The fight looked nothing like the original bout that took place five years ago in 2005. In that fight, Peter was faster and let his hands go much more often. He was able to knock Wladimir down three times in the bout – twice in the 5th and once in the 10th. Two of the knockdowns looked to be questionable, however, because they were shots in which Wladimir was hit in the back of the head.

In the rematch last Saturday, Peter fought his best in the first couple of rounds where he was able to land an occasional shot. He landed a right hand in the clinch in the opening round, but he mostly was eating a lot of jabs from Wladimir. Peter attempted a couple wild hooks in both the 1st and the 2nd rounds, but both shots missed by a mile. Near the end of the 2nd, Wladimir appeared to stagger Peter with a hard right hand to the head.

Peter quickly recovered and fought back but missed with a huge left hook. Wladimir finished the round strong with a series of left hooks to the head. The referee warned Wladimir for pushing near the end of the round. By the 3rd round, Peter was starting to look fatigued and out of his depth. He wasn’t comfortable at all and was getting nailed with a lot of jabs. His right eye began to show signs of swelling in this round. There was a lot of clinching in the 3rd and 4th rounds, and it took away from the fight.

In the 6th, Peter landed a right hand to start the round. However, Wladimir quickly took charge of the action and began to tee off on Peter with right hands one after another in the last minute of action. The shots connected cleanly each time, but Peter took them without showing any signs of being hurt. Peter landed a nice right hand as the round ended.

In rounds 7 and 8, the action was mostly one-sided as Pete was now looking beaten with his right eye rapidly closing. He did next to nothing in the round and took an enormous amount of punishment from Wladimir. In the meantime, Wladimir began to get more comfortable, as he bounced around shooting jabs, left hooks and right hands to the head of Peter. Near the end of the 8th, Peter was able to land a couple of shots while in the clinch with Wladimir. In between rounds, Wladimir’s trainer Emanuel Steward urged Wladimir to stop clinching.

Wladimir landed at will in the 9th round, as Peter was now nothing more than a punching dummy. He wasn’t throwing anything back and just plodding around taking shots to the head. In the 10th, Wladimir suddenly came alive and opened up with a flurry of shots, hurting Peter with a left hook and uppercut to the head. Peter attempted to fight back but was mowed down by the head shots from Wladimir. Peter ended up falling on his back where he lay for short while looking up at the lights while referee Robert Byrd stopped the fight.