Peter vs. Klitschko: Power Meets Power!

24.09.05 – By Ali Mohammed: The moment of the truth is about here for Wladimir Klitschko and Samuel Peter. The place is Atlantic City, the date is September 24th, the men are Wladimir Klitschko, from Ukraine and Samuel Peter from Nigeria. The winner gets a double title shots, and loser gets shame. This is a brief of what is going to happen in September 24.

Two big guys will collide in the ring for money, fame, glory and title shots. The two are hungry, strong, young and powerful. Each one of the two has some unique characteristics; each characteristic can give the edge in that blockbuster bout. So, the one who will utilize his uniqueness well in the ring, will come out victorious. For me, this fight comes down to two things: Peter’s chin and Wladimir’s stamina. First of all, we really don’t know how good Peter’s chin is, since he’s fought exclusively B level fighters during his career, most of which had little power to challenge Peter with.

We do know that Peter fights in a sloppy manner, and tends to bull rush his opponents rather than depending on skill, like Wladimir. However, with power like Peter, you don’t need to look good; All that counts is whether or not he can connect with his right hand. Peter also tends to head hunt way too much, and sometimes completely ignores any body punching whatsoever. In that respect, he’s a lot like Wladimir, who prefers to bomb from the outside. I honestly can’t blame him for that, though, since he has such a huge size and reach advantage over most of his opponents, so why bother trying to bang on the inside?

For Wladimir, he has to try and pace himself, because he tends to run out of gas early in his fights, especially when trying to for knockouts. He’s got to relax in there, somehow, and forget about trying to take Peter out with one big punch. Usually when Wlad is trying for a knockout, he leaves himself wide open for counter punches. Early in his career, Wladimir could get away with it, considering he, too, was fighting exclusively B-level competition. However, when Wladimir tried to step it up against the A-level fighters, his flaws were badly exposed. I honestly don’t buy into the stuff about Wladimir having a bad chin. A leaky defense, yes, but not a bad chin, The punches that Corrie Sanders stopped Wladimir with, would have knocked out a Bull Moose, to be honest.

Without a doubt, Wladimir Klitschko has an outstanding jab, power to knock out any fighter, the size, and has the superior trainer, in my opinion, in Emanuel Steward. However, to go along with all his great offensive gifts, Wladimir has some big problems with his stamina. This problem is what made it possible for mere mortal fighters, such as Corrie Sanders, Ross Puritty and Lamon Brewster, to be able to stop Wladimir. If you look at Wladimir boxing ability and overall skills, there’s no way he should have lost to any of these three fighters, since his hand speed, movement and power are for more advanced than any of them combined. Nevertheless, even Superman has weaknesses, and with Wladimir, his stamina, is a major liability that brings him down to earth. Since he’s not getting any younger, and its not likely to improve much, Wladimir has to learn how to pace himself and fight in controlled bursts, otherwise, he’s in danger of losing.

The most frequent questions asked about him recently were: Can he go for 12 rounds? Can he take a punch? Wladimir is expected to enter the ring with nothing but the win in his mind. He will start jabbing Peter from distance with an occasional big right hand whenever there is an opening. He will try to hurt Peter early to discourage him and make him puzzled. Unless Peter comes to the fight swinging, this is the expected scenario of the beginning of the fight, Wlad jabbing from distance and Peter following Wladimir and waiting the right moment to land the big punch. However, Wladimir’s plan can be diminished once Peter succeeds to knock him down, because after the knock down, a loss of confidence will invade Wladimir’s heart and surviving and holding for dear life will be the only thing in Wlad’s head at that particular moment.

For Peter, he will enter the ring more cautious, and as he does most of the time, he will try to make the first round as a testing session with the powerful punches coming in the later rounds. Peter’s source of confidence, at that moment, will be the fact that once he lands flush, it will be all over. To be sure, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Peter to outpoint Wladimir, due to the difference in reach and speed. Still, he will try to land a big single jab at a time, combined with some body shots to keep Wladimir off balance. Moreover, the fact that Wladimir never survived a knock down (except the one with DaVaryll Williamson, in which Wladimir was saved by the cut) may give Peter even more confidence, knowing that once he knock Wlad down all, he then just has to apply a slight amount of pressure to finish him. Yet, if Wladimir can survive into the later rounds, then Pete is likely to start to lose steam on his punches and can be vulnerable to Wladimir’s big right.

Who do people want to win? Well, the odds up to this moment are 7-5 for Peter, so people prefer Peter for various reasons. I think boxing fans are dying to have another Mike Tyson, a fighter that is naturally made of iron and can win and entertain at the same time, which is why I think they want Samuel Peter to win. For some odd reason, the fans don’t want another Lennox Lewis, and this exactly what Emanuel Steward is working on now, in my opinion. He’s seems to be trying to make Wladimir an improved version of Lewis.

However, if you think about it, you’ll find that Wladimir’s knockout percentage is 90.9%, while Peter’s knockout percentage is 87.5%. Also, Wladimir’s knockout wins have came over the better fighters and with more fights. Yet people don’t seem to think about it this way, as people follow their hearts in picking Peter. While at the same time, Wladimir’s inability to handles big punchers, such as Brewster, Puritty, and Sanders, make people question Wladimir’s ability.

The beauty of this fight exists in the fact that this match can end in any second with a vicious and brutal KO, to either fighter.

In all Wladimir’s previous losses, he was highly favored, which is the thing that made his fans say excuses, for example, he didn’t train well for the fight or he underestimated his opponent. However, Wladimir won’t have to worry about any of that now, because most people think he’s going to get his head parked into the seats by Peter. This is a new, and refreshing experience for Wladimir, who has never been an underdog until now.

Peter has developed rapidly in his last 4 fights, and has showed the world that he is much more than a wild swinging knockout artist. He’s absolutely aware of the importance of this event, so this is the day for Peter to shine and show the world how strong he really is. It’s obvious what Pete’s strategy will be. He will try to get in and out of the ring as fast as he can, and hope he doesn’t have to taste too much of Wladimir’s power, in the process. Peter will try to beat Wladimir with an all out attack early on, since Wladimir has already shown to be susceptible to constant pressure. In the meantime, Wladimir will try to jab from the outside, and use the ring to keep Peter at a distance. I doubt Wladimir will try to throw a single right hand, unless he is forced to, while in the survival mode of the fight. If Wladimir can get Peter off balance, after landing one of his sneaky hooks, look for Wladimir to come over the top with a big right hand and finish Peter, who will likely never see the punch coming.

For comments, questions, contact me on alionthenet2004@yahoo.com