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Even Don King Thought James Might Have Been Robbed...lol(Article On The Fight)
"Peter, Toney speak out after fight!
September 3, 2006
By Chad Barcus, photos: Rocco Morelli
Downtown Los Angeles and The Staples Center were witness to a spectacular night of boxing on Friday night. 9,852 fight fans attended the event, which was co-promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, Don King Promotions, and Duva Boxing. Showtime was on hand to broadcast the main event and co-main event.
The main event of the evening was a heavyweight clash between former three time world champion, James "Lights Out" Toney (69-5-3 43 KOs), and the rising talent of Samuel "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter (27-1 22 KOs). The fight was promoted under the title of "No Risk, No Reward," and when the air cleared, James Toney learned that it is always risky to leave the fight in the hands of the judges and he also learned that he would not be collecting his reward. Many ringside observers felt that James Toney deserved to win the fight. Although Peter did hurt Toney on a couple of occasions, it appeared to many boxing fans that Peter missed wildly with many shots, that he hit James with numerous rabbit punches, and that Toney landed the cleaner, more effective punches.
After the fight, both camps made their arguments for who won the fight.
James Toney and his camp were very annoyed by the rabbit punching of Samuel Peter throughout the fight. During the post fight press conference, James said, "Let me tell you something. I'm a fighter. I don't complain. I didn't complain about the 360 shots I got hit in the back with by Rahman (41-6-2 33 KOs). Did I? But you see him complain when he got knocked out by that bum last month...He hit me in the back of the head, shooting me real good. I'm being real about it. I still had my wits...I came back at him. I'm an example of a real fighter. I don't complain about nothing. It's fighting...I have fun in there. Everybody says that he's a big heavyweight, a big puncher and all that. I welcome the challenge. I like that. Look at me. He got, what, 22 knockouts? But I'm 38 years old. I'm the one who's supposed to be on his back, bleeding, busted up. Look, where he at? I ain't got a mark on me. 38 years old. What, about 80th pro fight? Still look good!"
Toney's trainer, Freddie Roach, was equally as unhappy about the rabbit punching of Peter. As Freddie commented, "I made it public in a press conference about his (Samuel Peter) best punch is an overhand right to the back of the head. I made it a point to tell the referee before the fight in the dressing room. When I started arguing with him in the ring, he told me I better shut up or else he's gonna throw me out of the corner. How could you miss that?...I feel that James won the fight anyway and James is champion in my eyes."
There were a couple of times in the fight when James admitted that he was "a little dazed" by Peter. However, he "shook it off" and even seemed to enjoy it, telling Freddie Roach in between rounds, "Boy this is fun!" Toney added, "That's what I like to do. I love to box, man. I like to fight. That's what I do."
James Toney felt that he busted up Peter's face, took away his will to win, and out-pointed the Nigerian. It appeared that Samuel Peter's nose was broken early in the fight from Toney's persistent jab. James commented, "I took his heart in the second round. I saw him breathing and the eye of the tiger went out of his eye in the second round... I made this guy literally do nothing." Then, James Toney had the best line of the night when he jabbed, "He's not the 'nightmare.' He's the 'sightmare!'" Peter's face showed visible damage.
James wasn't the only person at the post fight press conference who felt that he won the fight. Don King hinted at the fact that James should have won the fight, but the referees didn't see the fight correctly, due to James' style. He also believed that of all the punches that Samuel Peter threw, "90% missed." Toney's promoter, Dan Goossen had this to say: "I sat ringside. I kind of always hedge to the opposite side, when I'm watching a fight, so that I'm never, I guess, prejudiced for my own fighter, and when that twelfth round started, I felt that it was a fight that virtually, I thought our fighter was ahead, but it could have been very, very close."
WBO heavyweight champion, Serguei Lyakhovich (23-1 14 KO's) added that he believed that Toney won the fight. He was surprised by the decision and said that, "It was just, he (James Toney) landed too many clean shots. Peter hurt him, though, a couple of times, but he did not knock him down. He (Referee Raul Caiz, Sr.) took a point from Samuel Peter. He (Toney) beat him on the punch."
Samuel Peter and his camp had a different view of the fight. They believed that Samuel landed the harder punches and outworked his opponent. Peter admitted that Toney is the best fighter that he has faced and he had high praise for Toney. Peter said, with a strained nasal passage, due to the possible broken nose, "I had him hurt a couple of times, but he's so slick and a very great boxer...he didn't give me the fight I was expecting...I never fought somebody like that. I was going to knock him out, but he's so smart, so slick. I thought he was going to throw more combinations. I think he was too fast in the beginning." Peter gave God the credit for his victory and Dino Duva said that it is time to give Peter his credit when he remarked, "Now, join us on the Sam Peter bandwagon. He's now on his way to becoming the unified heavyweight champion of the world. First, he's going to get rid of Oleg Maskaev (33-5 26 KO's) for the WBC title and then we want every one of those so called Russian fighters, one by one."
Due to the controversial decision and fan support, the Toney camp would like a rematch. At the moment, however, it doesn't look like both camps see eye to eye on the subject. After the fight, both fighters acted like they wanted to fight again, but the promoters could not agree.
Samuel Peter said, "I would fight Toney again anytime, anywhere. He's a great champion. He will improve my skill, fighting him again," and James echoed Peter's sentiments saying, "I'm a fighter. Let's do it again. More money." Promoters Dan Goossen and Dino Duva weren't so agreeable. Dan opened up by saying, "I don't know if we can protest this...I think this is a fight that we should look to resolve among ourselves here, and look for a rematch," to which Duva replied, "After Sam wins the title, we'll be happy to talk about it." This infuriated Goossen and he quickly stated, "Then, we're going for the damn protest!"
"Yeah, good luck," quipped Duva, "James was so slick that nobody else realized he won? Is that what you're saying?" So it looks like this fight is heading toward a protest. The wisest words regarding the controversial decision were issued by none other than Don King when he vocalized, "I think you both have good arguments. You know, you can fight again. That would automatically settle it. It's a great fight. Do it again."
In the co-main event of the evening, Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (19-1-1 12 KO's) defeated Eric Aiken (16-5 12 KO's) to win the IBF featherweight title. Eric was unable to answer the bell for the ninth round, due in part to a probable broken right hand suffered by Aiken. Robert had some extra motivation for this fight. He wasn't happy about a comment that Aiken had made in the past. Guerrero claimed, "He (Aiken) said that he was going to knock me out and he said it as if I wasn't a fighter at all." Through eight punishing rounds, Guerrero showed Aiken what kind of fighter he is. "The Ghost" revealed that fighting for the championship wasn't like any other fight that he has experienced in his career. "Leading up to the fight," he said, "There was a feeling I never felt before. It felt weird, fighting for the world title. It was exciting. A charge of energy went through me."
Guerrero was able to handle the pressure because he had an effective game plan and he stuck to it. He claimed, "The plan was to walk him down and break him down with body shots and mix it all up and work behind my jab and keep him moving back," and that is exactly what he did. Aiken is probably having nightmares right now about left uppercuts to the body. Guerrero said that he will leave it up to his team to figure out who he will fight next. It must be difficult to think of anything, let alone, who you will fight next, after winning a major professional boxing title for the first time. Robert Guerrero stated in a haze of satisfaction, "I'm overwhelmed....I've worked for this all my life, and now I'm world champ... It hasn't sunk in yet."
-*********
September 3, 2006
By Chad Barcus, photos: Rocco Morelli
Downtown Los Angeles and The Staples Center were witness to a spectacular night of boxing on Friday night. 9,852 fight fans attended the event, which was co-promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, Don King Promotions, and Duva Boxing. Showtime was on hand to broadcast the main event and co-main event.
The main event of the evening was a heavyweight clash between former three time world champion, James "Lights Out" Toney (69-5-3 43 KOs), and the rising talent of Samuel "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter (27-1 22 KOs). The fight was promoted under the title of "No Risk, No Reward," and when the air cleared, James Toney learned that it is always risky to leave the fight in the hands of the judges and he also learned that he would not be collecting his reward. Many ringside observers felt that James Toney deserved to win the fight. Although Peter did hurt Toney on a couple of occasions, it appeared to many boxing fans that Peter missed wildly with many shots, that he hit James with numerous rabbit punches, and that Toney landed the cleaner, more effective punches.
After the fight, both camps made their arguments for who won the fight.
James Toney and his camp were very annoyed by the rabbit punching of Samuel Peter throughout the fight. During the post fight press conference, James said, "Let me tell you something. I'm a fighter. I don't complain. I didn't complain about the 360 shots I got hit in the back with by Rahman (41-6-2 33 KOs). Did I? But you see him complain when he got knocked out by that bum last month...He hit me in the back of the head, shooting me real good. I'm being real about it. I still had my wits...I came back at him. I'm an example of a real fighter. I don't complain about nothing. It's fighting...I have fun in there. Everybody says that he's a big heavyweight, a big puncher and all that. I welcome the challenge. I like that. Look at me. He got, what, 22 knockouts? But I'm 38 years old. I'm the one who's supposed to be on his back, bleeding, busted up. Look, where he at? I ain't got a mark on me. 38 years old. What, about 80th pro fight? Still look good!"
Toney's trainer, Freddie Roach, was equally as unhappy about the rabbit punching of Peter. As Freddie commented, "I made it public in a press conference about his (Samuel Peter) best punch is an overhand right to the back of the head. I made it a point to tell the referee before the fight in the dressing room. When I started arguing with him in the ring, he told me I better shut up or else he's gonna throw me out of the corner. How could you miss that?...I feel that James won the fight anyway and James is champion in my eyes."
There were a couple of times in the fight when James admitted that he was "a little dazed" by Peter. However, he "shook it off" and even seemed to enjoy it, telling Freddie Roach in between rounds, "Boy this is fun!" Toney added, "That's what I like to do. I love to box, man. I like to fight. That's what I do."
James Toney felt that he busted up Peter's face, took away his will to win, and out-pointed the Nigerian. It appeared that Samuel Peter's nose was broken early in the fight from Toney's persistent jab. James commented, "I took his heart in the second round. I saw him breathing and the eye of the tiger went out of his eye in the second round... I made this guy literally do nothing." Then, James Toney had the best line of the night when he jabbed, "He's not the 'nightmare.' He's the 'sightmare!'" Peter's face showed visible damage.
James wasn't the only person at the post fight press conference who felt that he won the fight. Don King hinted at the fact that James should have won the fight, but the referees didn't see the fight correctly, due to James' style. He also believed that of all the punches that Samuel Peter threw, "90% missed." Toney's promoter, Dan Goossen had this to say: "I sat ringside. I kind of always hedge to the opposite side, when I'm watching a fight, so that I'm never, I guess, prejudiced for my own fighter, and when that twelfth round started, I felt that it was a fight that virtually, I thought our fighter was ahead, but it could have been very, very close."
WBO heavyweight champion, Serguei Lyakhovich (23-1 14 KO's) added that he believed that Toney won the fight. He was surprised by the decision and said that, "It was just, he (James Toney) landed too many clean shots. Peter hurt him, though, a couple of times, but he did not knock him down. He (Referee Raul Caiz, Sr.) took a point from Samuel Peter. He (Toney) beat him on the punch."
Samuel Peter and his camp had a different view of the fight. They believed that Samuel landed the harder punches and outworked his opponent. Peter admitted that Toney is the best fighter that he has faced and he had high praise for Toney. Peter said, with a strained nasal passage, due to the possible broken nose, "I had him hurt a couple of times, but he's so slick and a very great boxer...he didn't give me the fight I was expecting...I never fought somebody like that. I was going to knock him out, but he's so smart, so slick. I thought he was going to throw more combinations. I think he was too fast in the beginning." Peter gave God the credit for his victory and Dino Duva said that it is time to give Peter his credit when he remarked, "Now, join us on the Sam Peter bandwagon. He's now on his way to becoming the unified heavyweight champion of the world. First, he's going to get rid of Oleg Maskaev (33-5 26 KO's) for the WBC title and then we want every one of those so called Russian fighters, one by one."
Due to the controversial decision and fan support, the Toney camp would like a rematch. At the moment, however, it doesn't look like both camps see eye to eye on the subject. After the fight, both fighters acted like they wanted to fight again, but the promoters could not agree.
Samuel Peter said, "I would fight Toney again anytime, anywhere. He's a great champion. He will improve my skill, fighting him again," and James echoed Peter's sentiments saying, "I'm a fighter. Let's do it again. More money." Promoters Dan Goossen and Dino Duva weren't so agreeable. Dan opened up by saying, "I don't know if we can protest this...I think this is a fight that we should look to resolve among ourselves here, and look for a rematch," to which Duva replied, "After Sam wins the title, we'll be happy to talk about it." This infuriated Goossen and he quickly stated, "Then, we're going for the damn protest!"
"Yeah, good luck," quipped Duva, "James was so slick that nobody else realized he won? Is that what you're saying?" So it looks like this fight is heading toward a protest. The wisest words regarding the controversial decision were issued by none other than Don King when he vocalized, "I think you both have good arguments. You know, you can fight again. That would automatically settle it. It's a great fight. Do it again."
In the co-main event of the evening, Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (19-1-1 12 KO's) defeated Eric Aiken (16-5 12 KO's) to win the IBF featherweight title. Eric was unable to answer the bell for the ninth round, due in part to a probable broken right hand suffered by Aiken. Robert had some extra motivation for this fight. He wasn't happy about a comment that Aiken had made in the past. Guerrero claimed, "He (Aiken) said that he was going to knock me out and he said it as if I wasn't a fighter at all." Through eight punishing rounds, Guerrero showed Aiken what kind of fighter he is. "The Ghost" revealed that fighting for the championship wasn't like any other fight that he has experienced in his career. "Leading up to the fight," he said, "There was a feeling I never felt before. It felt weird, fighting for the world title. It was exciting. A charge of energy went through me."
Guerrero was able to handle the pressure because he had an effective game plan and he stuck to it. He claimed, "The plan was to walk him down and break him down with body shots and mix it all up and work behind my jab and keep him moving back," and that is exactly what he did. Aiken is probably having nightmares right now about left uppercuts to the body. Guerrero said that he will leave it up to his team to figure out who he will fight next. It must be difficult to think of anything, let alone, who you will fight next, after winning a major professional boxing title for the first time. Robert Guerrero stated in a haze of satisfaction, "I'm overwhelmed....I've worked for this all my life, and now I'm world champ... It hasn't sunk in yet."
-*********
to your mom..
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