By Ryan Songalia

Former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter is not ready to call it a career. His disheartening October defeat to Vitali Klitschko in Germany, where the 2000 Olympian retired on his stool following eight, one-sided rounds, is not the note he wants to exit on.

Peter tells BoxingScene.com that he hopes to make a return early next year.

"Maybe I'll be back around in February," Peter, 30-2 (23 KO), said via telephone conversation. "That'd be a nice time to make a comeback."

Peter's opponent of choice is the undefeated Mexican-American sensation Cristobal Arreola, who progressed to 26-0 (23 KO) with a third round stoppage of Travis Walker last Saturday night.

"I think it'd be a good fight for Showtime or HBO. His defense isn't that good but other than that, what is most important is that he won. That's when you prove you are the best."

Peter regained much of the momentum he had squandered after his 2005 loss to Wladimir Klitschko and a lackluster performance against Jameel McCline last year when he stopped titlist Oleg Maskaev in six rounds this March. Still, older brother Vitali was able to overcome nearly four years of inactivity and upend Peter.

"It's not that he was better than I expected him to be. I got a flu, I was sick three weeks before the fight. I just wasn't able to do what I had to do. It's better to lose a battle in order to win the war."

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