Former World Boxing Council (WBC) heavy weight champion, Samuel ‘the Nigerian nightmare’ Peter, is confident his upcoming fight against three times world heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, will not last the distance.
Peter, who lost his WBC crown to the older of the Klitschko brothers, Vitali, in Berlin, Germany, back in October 2008, had in September 2005 fought against Wladimir in an elimination bout for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) world titles.
The Nigerian, however, lost the bout on points, despite knocking Wladimir down on three separate occasions over the course of the 12 round contest.
That inherently makes the September 11 rematch in Germany one of the more interesting fights that can be made in the heavyweight division, especially since Wladimir has not been involved in a tough fight ever since their 2005 bout.
Five years in the making
It’s almost five years since Peter’s painful loss to Wladimir in Atlantic City and the Nigerian now has a chance to get back at the Ukrainian for inflicting what, back then, was his first career loss. He has promised his fans that “it’s going to be a short night” this time around.
“You are going to see a very good exciting fight this time around,” said Peter. “No bullshit, I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I know my fans are going to be really happy with me this time around because it’s going to be a short night.”
Following his loss to Vitali, Peter went on to suffer defeat at the hands of Eddie Chambers in March 2009, but returned with a bang afterwards by recording four straight wins, with the longest of them lasting just four rounds, against journeyman, Gabe Brown, in September 2009.
The underdog
Irrespective of that, Peter will be coming into the bout against Wladimir as the underdog. He, however, insisted he is not bothered by that.
“I like when people keep on thinking like that because some people, they are thinking with their legs,” he said.
“They are not thinking with their heads or brains. They don’t see what I see. They don’t know what I know. Let them keep on thinking. I love that,” added Peter, who then went ahead to boast that he would be prepared to give Wladimir the opportunity of fighting him all over again right after their upcoming rematch.
“Definitely,” exclaimed Peter. “Even that same night, they better be ready because it’s not going to be long. I would still beat him again that same night,” said Peter, who represented Nigeria at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Wladimir, a gold medallist at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, hasn’t lost since his April 2004 loss to Lamon Brewster, and knocked out Chambers in his last title defence in March this year.
He, however, admitted in a recent interview that he will be prepared for the hardhitting Nigerian by the time they meet in Frankfurt next month.
“The first fight against Samuel was one of the hardest combats in my career. He is a hard puncher who developed further. I know what to expect at the 11th of September, but I will be prepared,” Wladimir said.
World number one tennis player Roger Federer has stated that he has more drive than his main rival, Rafael Nadal. Also mentioning that despite talk of a calendar Grand Slam sweep his main focus for the season was to retain the world number one ranking.
16th of February 2010 [PDN]: Since his Australian Open win last month, talk has intensified over the possibility of Federer completing a clean sweep of the Grand Slams this year, especially since his main rival, Nadal, struggles to overcome persistent knee injuries. “I’ll try, that’s for sure,” Federer explained when questioned about the possibility of him completing a sweep of the Grand Slams. “But it’s not even number one on my to-do list. I’ll just try to defend my number one position.”
