Wladimir Takes His Time, Then Takes Out Peter In The Tenth

If I was really lazy, I could use the same fight report from the Chambers, the Chagaev, Rahman and Thompson bouts. It was another typical Wladimir Klitschko performance, in which he had no trouble at all doing whatever he wanted to Samuel Peter in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday. As usual, Klitschko waited until his man was well done before stepping on the gas, and looking to close the show, which he did in the tenth round after trainer Manny Steward gave him the what for.

Peter showed that he had regressed, or maybe stayed the same, from when he last took on Wlad, in 2005. That night, he sent the Ukrainian to the mat three times, but still lost a decision. On this night, he tossed a few punches with evil intent, but in general, he looked stiff, and ponderous, and without hope for even a Hail Mary stunner from the third round on.

The WBO-IBF champion Klitschko now (now 55-3; age 34; born in the Ukraine; ) was 247 pounds, while Peter (now 34-4; born in Nigeria; age 30 ) was 241 pounds.

Wlad kept on his gameplan early on. He moved, hugged, hooked, held, while Peter plodded on, and ate the occasional right, and more often, jabs. Wlad switched directions, and often just left his left hanging, to act as an impediment to Peter getting close enough to do damage.

The crowd hurled hoots at the fighters, mostly the Nigerian, for refusing to up the tempo in the fourth. He let loose a left hook, but Klitschko saw it coming from the rafters, and slipped it easily. Through the middle rounds, it looked like it would be another easy-breezy win for the younger of the Brothers K. Would Wlad look to close the show earlier on Peter than his big bro Vitali did in 2008 (TKO8)?

Peters trainer Abel Sanchez asked him to be busier after the fourth, as his fighter looked at him and nodded, with his features looking more and more misshapen. Peter was warned in the fifth by Robert Byrd for going low, the second such caution. Peters lack of gifts for interior work did him no favors; Wlad could clinch and not worry about getting rakes to the body, or taking a quick cuff of a left hook.

After the fifth, Manny Steward asked Wlad to be even bolder, knowing that Peter presented not much of a threat, and that Wlad could hasten the climax if he so choose.

In the sixth, Peter banged to the belt as the ref was out of position. His right eye, especially, told the tale, of the Wlad jab. A right uppercut buzzed Peter to his bunions to end the round. In the seventh, the crowd roused themselves, perhaps tiring of the tempo, of Peters seeming total inability to launch a gamechanger. Peter looked like it was round 15, not seven, and one wondered how much longer his corner would let it go. Lets start putting punches together. He cant see them coming, Steward said after the seventh. Sanchez told Peter he would stop the fight if if he didnt perk up. You look like you dont want to fight, he said.

Peter did look a bit more lively, but hed need a sip of a Panama Lewis cocktail to get amped enough for it to make a difference. Peter went low in the eighth, and when warned, protested that Wlad was holding his head down, which indeed he was, at times. Is that it for you? Sanchez asked after, and Peter said, No.

Show me. I aint gonna let you take punishment, Sam, the trainer said.

In the ninth, it was more of the same. Peter looked like a catchers mitt. Im only going to give you one more in there, Sammy, Sanchez said after. Steward seemed mildly frustrated, telling Wlad not to clinch, but to pile up some combos.

That he did. After about fifteen blasts, with Peter stumbling like a skidrow rummie, Byrd stepped in as Peter hit the mat, on his back.

We would not be surprised if we dont see Sam Peter in the ring again. He made a pile of cash tonight, and he must be sick of getting his rump roasted by Klitschkos.

Stay tuned for a Phil Woolever ringside special…