by James Slater – As surprising as it may be when you consider how long he’s been around, former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter is only 29 years of age. “The Nigerian Nightmare” has been a pro now for almost nine years, and during that time he has spent approximately three years at or near the top of the heavyweight division. Wanting to get himself back up there, Peter is looking to fight on a regular basis, and he’s back in action on the December 19th, Kelly Pavlik-Miguel Angel Espinosa card that will go ahead in the middleweight champ’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio..
Peter, who has fought and won twice since his disappointingly overweight effort against “Fast” Eddie Chambers, weighed-in at a much more pleasing to look at 239-pounds for his last fight, back in September ( a 2nd-round TKO win over Ronald Bellamy) and it is to be hoped his conditioning will continue to improve as his comeback gathers momentum. Set to box 37-year-old Gabe Brown in Youngstown, Peter should have no problems whatsoever getting the victory – it’s how he looks doing it that will count.
Brown, 18-12-4(12), is a huge guy at approx 360-pounds, and as such he will make Peter, a man who has weighed as much as 265 for a fight, look small in comparison. One look at the record of the man who calls himself “Big G,” lets you know he is nothing more than a journeyman, but Brown is usually durable if nothing else. Stopped just five times in his 12 defeats, the man from Pensacola should be able to last a few rounds with the former WBC belt holder who is now 32-3(25).
Brown has also been win with some pretty good fighters; such as Clifford Etienne, Lance Whitaker, Dominick Guinn and Bruce Seldon. The problem is, he lost to all of them; with all but Guinn stopping him. Again, Brown is nothing more than a keep-busy opponent for the man who let himself down and quit against Vitali Klitschko just over a year ago.
But at least Peter, who will always have a puncher’s chance with any fighter he meets, is keeping busy. And who knows, a title shot of some kind could be just around the corner. Peter has been mentioned as a possible opponent for the unbeaten Alexander Povetkin, in a fight that would decide the interim version of one of Wladimir Klitschko’s belts. Now that “Dr. Steel Hammer’s” all set to get back active and fight Eddie Chambers in March, this may no longer be the case. But the point is, the well connected Peter could still get another shot at becoming champion.
As long as he keeps on winning, that is. Rest assured, Peter will have no problems doing that on December 19th. A nice, highlight reel KO over Brown sure would be nice.