by David P. Greisman
What was old looked new again. What was now new looked old.
There was Vitali Klitschko, whose heavyweight bandwagon had broken down long ago, steamrolling his opponent as if his four years on the sideline had been but a pit stop. And there was Samuel Peter, a locomotive who once appeared unstoppable, derailed before he could even get on track, motionless, out of steam.
After eight rounds, two truths were evident: Vitali had found vitality; Samuel had met the Peter Principle.
Klitschko had retired in 2005 as the heir apparent gone absent, the man thought ready to carry boxing’s marquee division after Lennox Lewis retired. He had seemed the preeminent candidate, having slugged it out with Lewis in June 2003 for six rounds. That he lost mattered not; he had fought valiantly despite gaping cuts around his eyes, and he had protested vehemently when told he could not continue.
But before the torch could be passed, Klitschko needed to show his fire. His next fight saw him knock out Kirk Johnson in less than two rounds. He called for a rematch with Lewis, but the champion called it a career.
In that vacancy, Klitschko met Corrie Sanders in 2004 for recognition from “The Ring” magazine as the best big man around. He battered Sanders over eight rounds, and then did the same to Danny Williams later that year.
That was his last time in the ring.
A bout with Hasim Rahman was signed but never delivered. Klitschko retired with a knee injury, stepping into the background while his younger brother, Wladimir, came back to the forefront.
Standing in Wladimir Klitschko’s way was a Nigerian brawler named Samuel Peter, an undefeated, unscientific fighter known for his knockout power. After facing the usual selection of tomato cans and measuring sticks, he jumped up in class and went in with the younger Klitschko for 12 rounds.
That he lost mattered not; he had put Klitschko on the canvas three times, coming up short on the scorecards but showing that he could grow into a formidable foe with competence matching his confidence.
Eventually, however, he would collide with the Peter Principle.
The premise is that someone can be promoted until he reaches a point where he is no longer competent. It fits with fighting, in which almost all boxers will someday stand across from someone stronger, faster, smarter, better.
Following the Klitschko defeat, Peter would meet opponents such as James Toney (smarter), Jameel McCline (faster), and Oleg Maskaev (heavy-handed), getting victories against all.
The winning streak brought Peter a world title and a spot toward the top of the division, promoting him to a point until he was no longer competent.
That point came Saturday against Vitali Klitschko (better).
Peter tipped the scales at 253.5 pounds, a weight he had only topped three times before in his career and some 10 pounds higher than what he had come in at against Wladimir Klitschko.
Against the 6-foot-7 Vitali Klitschko, Peter, who stands less than 6-foot-1, was a slow, stationary target who came in far less threatening than before. His reputation had preceded him – and stayed there.
Vitali was much more accustomed to exchanging punches than Wladimir; he was more confident, not as skittish as his younger brother. And as standoffish as Peter was in the build-up to the fight, the Nigerian Nightmare was sluggish once the first bell rang.
It didn’t hurt that Peter’s aura of invulnerability had long since dissipated.
Peter had stood in against the biggest of Wladimir Klitschko’s shots, wobbling but once, off of a left hook in that bout’s final round. But against McCline last year, Peter ended up off his feet and on his seat three times, visibly wobbled from a fighter never known for his power.
With advantages in height, speed and skill, Vitali Klitschko pot-shotted Peter from the opening round with combinations, his jabs, hooks and straight rights landing at will on a fighter all too willing to follow but rarely to lead.
Whereas Wladimir needed distance to unleash his power, Vitali leveraged short shots, taking every round on two of three scorecards and losing but one point on the third. And while Wladimir’s fight with Peter had included enough clinching to minimize, eventually, the threat of Peter’s rabbit punching on the inside, Vitali had Peter at a safe distance no matter where he stood.
By the end of the first round, Peter was out of breath. There was a long way to go.
Vitali Klitschko would keep his arms at his side, confident, his old form reappearing in a 37-year-old fighter. Peter could never make him regret doing so, inactive, impotent, a 28-year-old who was once the future of the heavyweight division suddenly made old news.
For this one night, Vitali had found his vitality, making it through a training camp without injury, showing the ability that, however prematurely, had once made him king in a land of giants. His future is dependent on what he can do.
On this one night, the Peter locomotive ran into its limits. Where he may go from here depends on whether he can confront that which he cannot.
The 10 Count
1. Chad Dawson got the marquee victory his blooming career needed Saturday, outpointing former light-heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver and strengthening his claim as the future of the 175-pound division.
Two years ago he was a prospect who had previously plied his trade at 160 and 168, a talented young fighter who had defeated veteran Eric Harding by decision and would soon go on to do the same against Tomasz Adamek.
The Adamek victory earned Dawson a title belt but little heft in a weight class home to superstars Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver.
Those three have a combined age of 121. “Ring” magazine champ Joe Calzaghe is 36. Dawson, at just 26 years old, is set to show those old guys that boxing is a young man’s sport.
Dawson was faster of hand and fleeter of feet Saturday, strafing Tarver with combinations and then moving out of harm’s way. And then there were moments like those in the sixth stanza when Dawson was clearly taking the round off, letting Tarver throw at will and then mocking his opponent for his inability to hurt him.
A right hook from Dawson in the final round was good for a flash knockdown, an exclamation point on a star-making bout. Tarver may be a few years removed from his great run through the light-heavyweight ranks, but his name on Dawson’s ledger – and the way Dawson earned it – means plenty.
2. What’s next for Dawson?
“Bring on the Kelly Pavliks, the Bernard Hopkins, the Joe Calzaghes and the Roy Joneses,” Dawson was quoted as saying on Fight News. “Bring on whoever. I will move on from what I accomplished tonight – my new goal is to be at the top of the pound-for-pound list.
“Do I want a rematch [with Tarver]? Honestly, no. But if it happens, it happens. I’m not running from a rematch, but I’d like to go on. … I’m not ducking no one.”
Congratulations are absolutely in order, Chad. But it must be said: You have some unfinished business with Glen Johnson.
3. Why doesn’t Showtime have CompuBox punch statistics? On a night when Vitali Klitschko teed off on a docile Samuel Peter and Chad Dawson outworked Antonio Tarver, those numbers would’ve brought some valuable support to the stories unfolding on our screens.
4. Maybe some more needless mid-fight product-placement interviews with Gavin Maloof would help pay for CompuBox. Thank goodness Tarver-Dawson didn’t take place at a Trump-owned casino. We never would’ve gotten back to the action.
5. For those of you in the United States who weren’t able to see Vitali Klitschko’s fantastic ring entrance, point your browser on over to YouTube. Without ruining it for you, it features cameos from five of the most famous heavyweights in recent memory, one of whom even managed to sneak in an “absolutely” for good measure.
6. In other action last week, Humberto Soto finally picked up the interim World Boxing Council 130-pound belt, scoring an 11th-round stoppage Saturday over Gamaliel Diaz and, in essence, righting one of the worst wrongs of recent years.
Soto had first fought for said trinket in June, destroying Francisco Lorenzo over four rounds. Soto had already scored one knockdown in what would be the final heat, and he was pummeling Lorenzo against the ropes. Referee Joe Cortez stepped between the two as if to stop the fight. But he didn’t, breaking them up instead.
Soto closed back in, and Lorenzo, who had been ducking and weaving low in an attempt to dodge the onslaught, took a knee with 21 seconds on the clock. Soto continued to throw until Cortez stepped in, missing with a right uppercut but landing a glancing left just behind the crown of Lorenzo’s cranium.
Cortez sounded as if he started his count, but he soon called a timeout because of the foul. Forty seconds later, a ringside physician had examined Lorenzo and was advising Cortez of his condition.
Some six minutes after Lorenzo’s knee went to the mat the result was revealed. Soto had been disqualified.
By logic, however dubious the result, Lorenzo should have been the beltholder. The WBC at first said it would not recognize the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s decision, but fortunately its vote to rule Soto-Lorenzo a no contest also included an order for a mandatory rematch.
Lorenzo apparently hadn’t yet healed enough to get back in the ring with Soto. We’ll see if that ever happens.
7. Boxers Behaving Badly update: Aussie big man Les Mason pleaded guilty last week to an assault from nearly a decade ago that left another man in the hospital, according to Queensland newspaper The Cairns Post.
Mason, whose younger brother Willie is a rugby star Down Under, is a 6-foot-7, 29-year-old heavyweight boxer who turned pro last year, according to BoxRec.com. He fought four times in 2007, winning thrice before losing a split decision that September to some dude named Michael Kirby.
Of more concern to the court was an unsanctioned, unexpected brawl between Mason and a man at a taxi stand way back in April 1999. The man accused Mason of pushing a woman. The two then got in a fight, and Mason punched the man in the head and the face, continuing to wail away once he hit the ground. The man suffered a fractured jaw and had to undergo surgery at a local hospital.
Mason was handed down a suspended sentence of six months in jail. He has a year-and-a-half to stay out of trouble.
8. Boxing Journalist Behaving Badly update: The trial of a former boxing photographer accused of being a serial killer began last week with dueling presentations, as prosecutors opened with photographs of many of the dead and wounded while the defense countered with various evidence purportedly proving Dale S. Hausner’s innocence, according to The Arizona Republic.
Hausner, 35, whose work occasionally ran on a well-known boxing Web site, was allegedly one of two men connected with a 15-month shooting spree in and around Phoenix that ended with eight people dead and left 20 more wounded. He was arrested in August 2006.
Hausner pleaded not guilty. He is charged, according to the newspaper, with “eight counts of first-degree murder, 25 counts of drive-by shooting, 17 counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of attempted first-degree murder, nine counts of cruelty to animals, three firearms violations, two conspiracy charges and one arson charge.” If convicted, he is facing the death penalty.
Hausner’s defense attorney has said the true culprits were Sam Dieteman – a former roommate who will testify as a witness for the prosecution and who has pleaded guilty to two of the murders – and Hausner’s older brother Jeff, who is in prison for one stabbing and set for court in another stabbing case “allegedly carried out with Dieteman and Dale Hausner,” the newspaper reported.
The trial is expected to run as long as nine months.
9. So, Nicolay Valuev could end up defending his heavyweight title against Evander Holyfield, huh? Who’d have thunk it: We’ve finally found someone whom Holyfield can’t head butt.
10. Excellent work, as always, for HBO’s latest “Countdown” show, this one setting the stage for Saturday’s light-heavyweight pay-per-view between Bernard Hopkins and Kelly Pavlik. Not a bad piece of hype for what could be the ugliest thing to cost $50 since that time Eddie Murphy picked up a “hitchhiker” alongside Santa Monica Boulevard.
David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at fightingwords1@gmail.com
