By Mark Vester
At the O2 Arena in Berlin, Germany, Vitali Klitschko (36-2, 35 KOs) returned after four-years to stop Sam Peter (30-2, 23 KOs) in eight-rounds, winning the WBC heavyweight title.
Kitschko came out in the first-round looking sharp, landing left jab and hard right hands that shook Peter back a few times. It was clear that Peter was having trouble with Vitali's height and reach advantage from the outset. During the second-round action, Peter was staring to get closer, but couldn't reach Vitali with many of his power shots. Peter appeared to be so flat that his corner was asking him if he was alright before the start of the third. Peter was getting to Klitschko's body in the third, but still let Vitali get off with his punches before throwing one or two in return.
By the fourth, Peter's face began to get puffy from Klitschko's right hands. The open-scoring was announced after four-rounds, with all three judges scoring the first four-rounds for Klitschko. During the next few-rounds, Peter was showing the same flaw that was visible during his 2005 loss to younger brother Wladimir Klitschko - he was unable to get past a good, long jab. He also let Klitschko dicate the entire pace. Klitschko appeared to be breathing hard in the eight, but was still in full control over Peter, who was physically beaten-up by that point.
Prior to the ninth, physically beaten up, and now mentally broken, Peter sat on his stool and called it quits. He quit after the WBC open scores were announced and he was too far behind and needed a knockout to win.
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