By Sammy Rozenberg

The celebrities turned out in high numbers to watch Samuel "Nigerian Nightmare" Peter  (28-1, 22 KOs) dominate James "Lights Out" Toney (69-6-3, 43 KOs) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The win brings Peter a mandatory shot at the WBC title.

The rematch was far from a mirror image of the first meeting. Samuel Peter looked like a new man as he took the fight to Toney in the first round and was very aggressive by throwing high volumes of punches. In the second, Peter knocked Toney down with three hard jabs. It was the first time Toney tasted the canvas in over a decade.

Toney would land an occasional hard right in a few rounds, but was unable to keep a consistent pace. Peter threw a lot of hard jabs that pushed Toney back in every round. He also followed up with power shots off the jab, utilizing uppercuts when necessary and blocking many of Toney's counters. Toney's left eye began to swell badly by the fifth round, and his mouth was bleeding bad by the ninth round.

Peter had Toney in trouble in several of the rounds, but Toney used his defensive skills to get himself out of trouble. The final scores were 118-110, 119-109 and 118-110, all for Peter.

The next stop on the map is WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev. Originally, Peter was booked to face Maskaev after winning the split-decision victory over Toney last September.

Two of the three judges had it 116-111 for Peter. In a complete turnaround of the scorecards,  the third judge scored it 115-112 for Toney. Due to the discrepancy in the scoring by the official judges, the WBC held a meeting on September 26 and voted for an immediate rematch.

Because Toney and Peter were ordered to face each other for a second time, Oleg Maskaev was given permission to make a voluntary defense of the WBC title against ranked contender Peter Okhello. Maskaev won an easy twelve round decision over Okhello at the Olympiysky Sports Arena in Moscow, Russia, on December 10.

When Peter will get the chance to fight for the WBC crown depends on Maskaev's recovery from right elbow surgery that is scheduled for January 9 in New York.

The injury was sustained in his championship winning effort over Hasim Rahman last August.  Maskaev tried to rehab the injury without the necessity of surgery, but noticed problems with using his right arm when he faced Peter Okhello. Maskaev's promoter Dennis Rappaport said that following the surgery, Maskaev will require at least 4-5 weeks of rehabilitation.

Maskaev tried to push for a unification bout with IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko, but that plan went in the garbage after Klitschko announced that he would defend his title against mandatory challenger Ray Austin in March. Even if Austin was out of the picture, the WBC would probably not sanction the fight and order Maskaev to fight Peter.

Maskaev has been undefeated since 2003, but is also in the final stage of his career. He will be 38-years-old by the time the fight with Peter comes around, and could certainly be ready for the taking. At his late age there is no way to tell what version of Oleg Maskaev will show up.

While Maskaev has looked great in the last few years, an old veteran can turn old overnight. The biggest factor is that Maskaev has been knocked out five times, and Peter is possibly the hardest puncher in the heavyweight division.

The undercard;

Travis Simms (25-0, 19 KOs) won the WBA junior middleweight title by dominating Jose Antonio Rivera (38-5-1, 24 KOs) on route to a ninth round stoppage. After a fast start in the first round, Simms began to let his hands go in the second round with power punches, possibly breaking Rivera's nose in the process. He got Rivera in trouble during the second, prompting the referee Frank Santore Jr. to call a knockdown after it appeared that the ropes were holding Rivera up.

Rivera was able to make it out of the second round, and appeared in very bad shape with his nose bleeding profusely. Just when it seemed like Rivera was letting his hands go in the ninth round, he got caught with a hard combination from Simms and dropped for the second time of the fight. Once again, he was able to beat the count, but as the Simms jumped on him with hard punches, the ref stopped the action to prevent Rivera from taking any more punishment.

Former 154-pound champ Roman Karmazin (35-2-1, 22 KOs) stopped James Obede Toney (21-3-1, 19 KOs) in the fourth round.

Cruiserweight Guillermo  Jones (34-3-2, 27 KOs) knocked out Jeremy Bates (21-13-1, 18 KOs) in the first round.

Heavyweight prospect Bermane Stiverne (9-0, 9 KOs) stopped Otis Mills (5-3-1, 3 KOs) in the first round.

Javier Mora (21-3-1, 17 KOs) picked up a six-round decision over Earl Ladson (12-13-1, 7 KOs). The scores were 58-56, 59-55 and 59-55, all for Mora.