Next Up For Vitali Klitschko – Juan Carlos Gomez

gomez54344.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: After Vitali Klitschko’s huge 8th round stoppage over WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter on Saturday night, Vitali didn’t elaborate on his future plans inside the ring other than mentioning Nikolay Valuev, the WBA heavyweight champion, as a potential fight. However, Vitali’s mandatory challenger is Juan Carlos Gomez, who recently defeated Vladimir Virchis to get the number #1 spot to fight the winner of Peter vs. Vitali. As of now, Klitschko will either have to take the fight against Gomez, 35, or consider vacating the title. Gomez, a former WBC cruiserweight champion between 1998 to 2002, successfully defended his title 10 times before giving it up to move to the heavyweight division in 2002.

Since that time, Gomez’s career had stalled for the most part, after he was knocked out in the first round by Yanqui Diaz in 2004. Gomez rebounded from the defeat, beating Oliver McCall and Denis Bakhtov, among many other good fighters. However, it wasn’t until his win over Virchis that Gomez was finally in position to get a title shot. It’s unfortunate, though, that it’s probably going to be coming against a fighter as large and as skilled as the 6’7″ Klitschko. Gomez, whose style of fighting is a lot like Chris Byrd, would have done well against a slugger like Samuel Peter, as he would have used his long reach and boxing ability to keep Peter from landing his big shots.

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Haye: “Give Me Wladimir First, Then I’ll Take On The Older Brother [Vitali]”

vitali7822.jpgBy Aaron Klein: – photo by Y.Nesterenko / klitschko.com – While a lot of boxing fans and writers were enthusiastic with Vitali Klitschko’s impressive comeback win on Saturday night over Samuel Peter, one observer was less than impressed with his performance and that being heavyweight contender David Haye. According to an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Haye said, “Neither of them [Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko] has the speed I can show them and they are both vulnerable…Give me Wladimir first, then I’ll take on the older brother.”

No longer is Haye content to only want a fight with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, he now wants to face Vitali, who picked up the WBC title on Saturday night with his win over Peter. Haye, however, seems to be getting way too ahead of himself as usual, because he still has yet to fight a meaningful bout against a quality heavyweight, and has chosen one that is seemingly at the end of the line in 37 year-old Monte Barrett, who Haye is facing on November 15th. If Barrett has anything left of his once impressive boxing skills and power, he may very well stop the fragile chinned Haye.

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Klitschko Destroys Peter

vitali534564.jpgBy Jim Dower: Three-time heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (36-2, 35 KOs) was too much for WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-2, 23 KOs), defeating him after Peter opted to quit on his stool in between the 8th and 9th rounds on Saturday night at the O2 World Arena, Kreuzberg, in Berlin, Germany. Klitschko, 37, controlled the fight with his powerful jab and right hand, hitting Peter repeatedly during the fight and badly puffing up his face. Unable to land his shots against the towering Ukrainian, Peter looked beaten and discouraged at the end of the 8th round.

Vitali, who had used his right hand to counter Peter in the earlier rounds, began pounding him at will in the 8th round with one hard right hand after another. If Peter was hoping that Vitali was going to slow down and wear out, it didn’t seem likely with the way he was unloading on Peter in the 8th.

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Peter/Klitschko: Samuel Hoping To Chop Down Vitali

vitali99876.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: With the WBC title match between champion Samuel Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) and champion emeritus Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs) only moments away, I thought it would be a good chance to chime in with my own take on this big fight, which will perhaps be the biggest heavyweight match-up of 2008 by far. Peter, 28, is coming into this bout with one of his best victories of his career, a 6th round destruction of Oleg Maskaev in March. Peter showed awesome power in dispatching the Russian fighter, hurting him badly with powerful right hand shots.

However, in tonight’s bout at the O2 World Arena, in Berlin, Germany, Peter will have to chop down a much bigger tree in the way of 6’8″ Vitali Klitschko. If Peter thought he had it bad in his 12-round decision loss to the more athletic Klitschko brother, Wladimir, in 2005, he’s possibly got even more trouble in having to deal with a more savage and brutal Klitschko. When you strip away all of the subtle niceties of Wladimir, you get a raw slugger in the way of Vitali, who tends to hammer his opponents into the canvas with his big right and left hook. Peter will be facing for the first time a fighter with as much power as him, if not more, and a chin of equal worth. This may be a problem for Peter unless Vitali somehow implodes in the latter half of the fight through exhaustion.

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Klitschko/Peter: Will Vitali Quit On His Stool If Things Get Tough Against Samuel?

vitali4323445.jpgBy Aaron Klein: It’s been eight years since Chris Byrd made Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs) quit on his stool after the 9th round and although a lot of time has gone by, I don’t think that Vitali has ever settled doubts in the minds of many boxing fans whether he’s got a yellow streak up his back or not. For those who may not have seen Vitali’s infamous fight against Byrd, it took place on April 1st, 2000, a fight that Vitali was doing well in for the first six rounds or so. He appeared to be easily controlling the fight, using his jab and right hand combinations to keep Byrd limited to mostly defending on the outside.

Byrd, however, started coming on in the 7th round, walking down Vitali and hitting him with good left hand shots to the head and body. At the time of the fight, Vitali had a ridiculously inflated record of 27-0, with 27 knockouts, virtually all of which came at the expense of lower echelon fighters. Vitali had never faced anyone that could fight back like Byrd, and when suddenly Vitali found himself taking head shots in the 7th round, he looked uncomfortable, stressed and confused. He looked like a classic case of a fighter whose game plan had gone down the drain, and didn’t have a backup plan to fall back on.

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Look For Peter To Destroy Klitschko In Four Rounds

peter33456.jpgBy Jason Kim: Former WBC heavyweight champion (35-2, 34 KOs) may be barking up the wrong tree when he takes on the dangerous WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) on Saturday night at the O2 World Arena, in Berlin, Germany. “Vitali Klitschko is trying to take my title belt from me. He tried to take it out of my hands at the press conference, but I snatched it from him. It is mine! He is a phony who is messing with my career and my life, said the 28 year-old Peter, making his thoughts known loud and clear about Vitali, who has been given the status of WBC emeritus champion.

This effectively placed Klitschko at the head of the line for a gift title shot against Peter without having to work his way into a fight with him. This isn’t exactly fair to the other fighters in the division, who have worked hard to get where they are. Nevertheless, things will probably be put right anyway considering that Klitschko is only doing himself a disservice by facing Peter without fighting his way into the position like normal fighters. Even former heavyweight champion George Foreman realized the importance of tune-up matches and working slowly back to the top, which is what he did after making his own comeback in the 90s after being away from the sport for a decade.

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Klitschko-Peter: Can Vitali Box For 12-rounds?

vital43300.jpgPhoto courtesy of Klitschko Management – By William Mackay: Whatever the fighter that Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs) may have been four years ago, that fighter is probably long gone. Vitali, 37, sporting a lot of gray hair, although still looking almost the same physically, will probably be a shadow of himself on Saturday night against WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter. At one time, Vitali Klitschko was one of the premier sluggers in the heavyweight division, a fighter that could take out most opponents he faced with his hard chopping right hand and powerful hooks. It would be nice if he could still fight in the manner against Peter, because the boxing public would have a great fight in store for them.

However, Vitali will be a different fighter because of his time away from the ring (his last fight was in December 2004 against Danny Williams), and will have to either come up with some different fight plans or risk getting taken out by Peter. There’s little chance that Vitali will be able to beat Samuel if he stands and trades with him for 12-rounds, because Peter hits too hard and will have a good chance of connecting with something big and taking Vitali out, or possibly cutting him around the eyes like Vitali was against Lewis.

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Samuel Peter Storms Out Of Press Conference – Boxing News

By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) reacting to what appeared to him to be an insult, rushed angrily out of Monday’s press conference in Berlin. Apparently, Peter was angry that the press conference was conducted in German, which he doesn’t speak and his opponent on Saturday, Vitali Klitschko, does. According to AP, Peter responded to the few questions that were asked of him in English with his own language of Nigerian, giving them a taste of what it feels like not to be able to understand what is being said. Vitali previously made his home in Hamburg, Germany for many years, and because of that is comfortable with the language.

It’s unfortunate that Peter, the WBC champion, is forced to go all the way to Germany to have to fight given the fact that he’s the champion. However, he may end up getting the last laugh if he is able to stop the ring rusty 37 year-old Klitschko. Peter, 28, arguably one of the two best heavyweights on the planet at this time, would have preferred facing Vitali’s younger brother, Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF/WBO heavyweight champion and the fighter perceived by many people to be considered as the best heavyweight in the world.

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Klitschko vs. Peter: The Young Power Puncher Will Beat The Old Power Puncher

peter5623722.jpgBy Tim Nielson: I still can’t believe that Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs) is foolish enough to take on World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) without at least one tune-up bout beforehand. Unlike some of the poor and badly outclassed opponents that Vitali faced before retiring four years ago, Peter is fearless and has even better knockout power than the 37 year-old Vitali. In a way, this is like a bout between fighters of different eras, like a vintage 90s fighter trying to shake the dust off of his armament to test his power against a modern knockout artist in the way of Peter.

I have no doubts that Vitali, a prime version, would probably more than good enough to beat Peter by a decision. The problem is, Klitschko hasn’t seen action for four years and with that much time away from boxing he’s bound to have lost something as far as stamina, hand speed and power goes. Maybe if he were still in his 20s it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but he’s nearing forty now, and showing quite a bit of gray hair along the sides. I doubt even a fighter in their 20s would be nearly as good if they slept through four years of their career and suddenly tried picking the sport back up at 28 or 29.

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Lennox Lewis Picking Peter To Defeat Klitschko

lewis223.jpgBy Eric Thomas: Former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (41-2, 32 KOs) is picking WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) to not only defeat WBC champion emeritus Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs), but also take him out in the process in their October 11th heavyweight championship bout on November 11th at the O2 World Arena, in Berlin, Germany, according to the Vanguard Online Edition. Lewis, 43, should know what he’s talking about, since he himself defeated Vitali Klitschko by a 6th round TKO in June 2003, ripping his face to shreds with right hands and bigger uppercuts and forcing the referee to step in and halt the bout to save the older Klitschko brother from permanent injury to his face and eye region. Reportedly, Lewis has been assisting Peter, 28, with training tips on how to defeat the 37 year-old Vitali, who hasn’t stepped foot into a boxing ring for the past four years retiring at the end of 2004 after sustaining injuries to his knee.

Peter isn’t too enamored with either Vitali or his brother, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, the latter brother defeating Peter by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision three years ago in August 2005. In the process of losing, however, Peter fought impressively, knocking the younger Klitschko down on three separate occasions in the bout and having him close to a stoppage. In a recent conference call with Vitali, Peter had this to say about both Klitschko brothers:

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