October 11th’s Gonna Be A Great Night – But Which Fight Will YOU Watch – Klitschko-Peter Or Tarver-Dawson?

vitali klitschkoby James Slater — Saturday, October the 11th is a date all boxing fans will surely by now have circled on their calendar. Not only will the long awaited Vitali Klitschko-Samuel Peter rumble finally happen, but an equally intriguing pairing of top class light-heavyweights also takes place, as Antonio Tarver meets Chad Dawson.

Some lucky fans (or rich fans, as the case may be) will no doubt get to see both cards – as the heavyweight bout will take place in Germany, and therefore will get underway a good few hours before the U.S fight card, the two bouts will not clash. But for those fight fans who will only get the chance to tune in to one of the two fights, the decision on which encounter to view will likely be a tough call. Which match-up figures to give us the better fight?

Both bouts are not fights to miss. But it will be the heavyweight showdown that probably gets the lion’s share of the viewing public. Will Vitali Klitschko be anywhere near the fighter he was when last we saw him in the ring? Will the big-hitting “Nigerian Nightmare” jump right on “Dr Iron Fist” and score a brutal KO. Will the man who has the letters K and O at the end of his name be the fighter to get a quick win? These questions and others will make it mighty hard for fans to risk missing the WBC heavyweight battle.

It just might be, however, that the Tarver-Dawson title fight a couple of divisions south will be the fight of the night. Bad words have already been exchanged between the two southpaw 175-pounders (the same, to a slightly lesser degree, is true of the two big men) and if the fight matches the hype that has already started, the action will sure be something. Dawson is younger, possibly hits harder (though this is debateable) and is pretty much at his absolute prime. Whereas Tarver, although he is pushing 40-years-of-age, is coming off a better performance than the one “Bad Chad” put on in his last fight. In seemingly turning the clock back towards his glory days with his dominant win over the tough Clinton Woods, “The Magic Man” looked a lot better than Dawson did in his struggle with Glen Johnson that same evening.

As such, what we have on October 11th is as close to a pick ’em affair at light-heavyweight as could be imagined. The same could also be said of the Klitschko-Peter fight, though. Who really knows who will win that one?

Another battle will be fought that night, also. With Showtime broadcasting Tarver-Dawson and HBO showing Klitschko-Peter, which cable giant will win the ratings war? October looks like being some month for the sport of boxing this year.