Samuel Peter returns to the ring Friday night in hopes of getting back in line for another shot at a heavyweight title belt.
Promoter Dan Goossen is calling this weekend's ESPN2 Friday Night Fights heavyweight showdown between Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter and “Fast” Eddie Chambers a “crossroads fight” that will leave the loser on the outside looking in.
While that may or not be the case, the fighter with the most to lose would appear to be Samuel Peter who is attempting to resurrect his career after losing the WBC heavyweight title to Vitali Klitschko back in October.
The loss to Vitali was a humiliating one as Peter essentially blew every round on the scorecards and surrendered the belt with barely a whimper while sitting on his stool. It was the second time Peter had gone up against one of the Klitschko brothers and had fallen short, having also lost to Wladimir in 2005.
The 28 year-old, also known as “Big Sam” has been known to put on weight between fights, but he claims he’s trim and ready to go for Friday’s clash at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. While he didn’t reveal exactly what he weighs, Peter says the recent training under the watchful eye of longtime coach “Pops” Anderson is all but done and that he’s in shape.
“I don’t know what I weigh,” said a relaxed Peter when the topic was broached late Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t worry about the scales, about what the numbers say. I just know that I’m not done yet and that I need to get where I need to go and win back my belt.”
In a somewhat surprising development, Peter, 30-2 (23KO) is the betting underdog against the slick Chambers, 33-1 (18KO) who hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Most pundits and oddsmakers are predicting that Chambers will outbox Peter and take the decision.
Chambers will likely be 30 to 40 pounds lighter than Peter and he will attempt to use his quicker hands and deft movement to outbox the lumbering, former champ who routinely tips the scales somewhere between 250 and 260 pounds.
But Peter ignores what the oddsmakers say and claims he will use his strength and punching power to take care of business on Friday night.
“This is boxing and what am I going to say about all of that?” said a somewhat amused Peter about the betting odds.
“The most important thing for me to think about is winning and I don’t pay attention to all the other things…what people say about me. I come to win and you will see and the people will see. It’s important for me and I’m going to show you. The most important thing for me is to get my belt back and I have to beat him to do that. I will beat him...I’m going to answer all your questions and all the people’s questions about me. I will show the people what I can do.”
March 2009
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