photo by Tom Casino/Showtime – SAMUEL PETER: “Everybody will see a great fight. My gloves will do the talking on Saturday night. I am home and this belt belongs to me. I am taking over the division, so McCline can just be there for me so that I can bring him down. If McCline is a beast, then welcome to my jungle. I have been blessed already in my life. My Lord has been good to me. Now, let’s do this in the ring come Saturday night..”
JAMEEL MCCLINE: “I feel like a kid in a candy store. This is like a dream come true. I’m a beast. It is not easy to beat me. I’m really thankful to be in this position (in a world heavyweight championship). When you’re a professional, you have to figure things out. If you’re a painter, you sit back, think and figure it out. I am a professional athlete. I had to figure things out. This fight was not supposed to happen for me because of my knee injury (against Nicolay Valuev). But God brought this to me. It’s in his hands.
“I think that (Oleg) Maskaev and Peter had this entire thing planned as far as pulling out of this fight. They did not expect me to go to Don King’s office and push for this fight.
“This is good fortune. Most good fortune does not happen to those who do not deserve it.
“I am coming home with this one. I don’t know anything else past that, but this one is mine.”
NON-TELEVISED UNDERCARD FIGHTERS
KEVIN MCBRIDE:
“I retired Mike Tyson and I’ll retire Andrew Golota on Saturday.”
ANDREW GOLOTA:
“I’m going to kick his (McBride’s) ass.” See you on Saturday night, Kevin.”
JOSE ANTONIO RIVERA
“This is the fight that will determine where I’m going in my career. This could turn out to be the fight of the year.”
DANIEL SANTOS:
“I came here to fight. I feel like I am in great shape for this match. I did 12 rounds of mitts yesterday and I feel great. This will be a great fight between me and Jose.”
Tickets priced at $400, $250, $150, $100 and $50 are on sale at the Garden box office and all Ticketmaster locations or by calling Ticketmaster at 212-307-7171, 201-507-8900, 631-888-9000, or 914-454-3388. Ticketmaster purchases are subject to convenience charges.
The final press conference was held today at Madison Square Garden in New York and featured hard-hitting, recently crowned WBC Interim Heavyweight Champion Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter (28-1, 22 KOs), who will defend his title against Jameel “Big Time” McCline (38-7-3, 23 KOs) Saturday, Oct. 6, live on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast)..
The live event, which is being promoted by Don King Productions in association with Madison Square Garden and Duva Boxing, also features many other domestically non-televised fights. Those in attendance included Daniel Santos (30-3-1, 21 KOs), who will face “El Gallo” Jose Antonio Rivera (38-5-1, 24 KOs) in a WBA super welterweight elimination bout to determine the No.1-ranked mandatory challenger. Additionally, Andrew Golota (39-6-1, 32 KOs) will take on “Mike Tyson conqueror” Kevin McBride (34-5-1, 29 KOs) for the IBF North American heavyweight championship.