Wladimir Klitschko Reasserts his Dominance over Sam Peter with Tenth-Round KO

Wladimir Klitschko Reasserts his Dominance over Sam Peter with Tenth-Round KO

By Gabriel Montoya, MaxBoxing (Sept 12, 2010) Special to Doghouse Boxing

At the Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Germany before a huge sellout crowd, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, 55-3 (49), who shares that distinction with his brother Vitali, once again fueled the debate of who the true champion is by beating down and pounding out a tenth-round TKO win over Sam Peter, 34-4 (27) in a rematch of a fight Klitschko won but was knocked down three times in five, years before.

That first bout pitted an undefeated Peter, in upright crude fashion, bull-rushing the technically skilled Wladimir, who was seemingly in career freefall. Despite knockdowns in rounds five and ten, Klitschko pulled it out and grew up, in a sense, to become the champion we saw tonight.

From the word go, the fight was a battle for space and the 6’6½” Klitschko claimed his with a giant jab in Peter’s face time and again while smothering Peter in a clinch every time he got close.

Peter, who many claimed would not be ready for this fight, showed great upper body movement and worked inside but had no way to stay there and work effectively. Instead, Peter allowed himself to be caught up in the clinch game inside while kept at long range where Klitschko lit him up with jab–right hands that wobbled Peter’s foundations as early as the second round.

By the sixth, the fight’s path was set. Peter’s eyes were puffy. The snap was gone from his shots and Wladimir was mixing in the hook off the jab and landing right hands that Peter’s jaw fully absorbed.

Heading into the last round, Klitschko trainer Emanuel Steward, who had guided Wladimir along all fight, adding a punch here or a move there, told Klitschko, “This is an ugly fight. Stay back when he comes in and let your hands go.”

Referee Robert Byrd said, “When you clinch, your hands are free,” in an exasperated fashion that basically asked Klitschko to step it up.

And so he did.

In the tenth, Klitschko mixed in the right uppercut off his jab-right hand and Peter, who seemed in desperation mode though still trying to win, wobbled. The onslaught from Klitschko that followed was too much to bear and Peter fell hard on his back prompting referee Byrd to stop the fight at 1:22 of the round.

“I thought I boxed really well tonight,” said Klitschko. “He tried to put pressure on me so early with that left hand but I thought I ended up dominating him. In the end, it was a good win for me and I certainly enjoyed it. I have a lot of respect for Sam Peter. He is very, very tough. I gave him a lot of credit.

When asked how come he took longer to finish Sam Peter than the eight rounds Vitali took to stop the “Nigerian Nightmare,” Klitschko said, “My brother is the better fighter so that’s why he finished him quicker than me.”

It was a brutal end to a long brutal fight that was not an endorsement for exciting fighting but a commercial for the health of the sport on an international level, intelligent boxing, and the end result of a knockout as the perfect cherry on top of a masterful performance. No, it was not the most exciting fight in the world but how can Klitschko get that when Alexander Povetkin, the mandatory challenger to the title, doesn’t want the shot and David Haye, a man who talks much better than he fights, won’t go near him or his brother? Perhaps Tomasz Adamek can provide a challenge.

You can email Gabriel at maxgmontoya@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gabriel_montoya and catch him on each Monday’s episode of “The Next Round” with Steve Kim or tune into him live on Thursdays at 5-8 PM PST when he co-hosts the BlogTalk radio show Leave-it-in- the-Ring.com. Gabriel is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

* Special Thanks To MaxBoxing.