by James Slater – According to the usually accurate BoxRec.com, former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter will face young heavyweight Nagy Aguilera in an IBF elimination bout in Dallas the night before the big Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey welterweight title clash. According to the invaluable web site, the heavyweight match-up will take place on the same card as the Rodel Mayol-Manuel Vargas WBC light-flyweight title fight.
An intriguing fight, especially as 23-year-old Aguilera is fresh off an impressive-looking career-best KO win over former WBC champ Oleg Masakev (the man Peter beat to grab the WBC belt of course; Peter taking out “The Big O” in six-rounds back in March of 2008), Peter Vs. Aguilera is a fight that could go either way..
Peter, now 33-3(26) and 3-0(3) since his disappointing back-to-back losses to Vitali Klistchko and “Fast” Eddie Chambers, has seemingly rededicated himself to arduous training recently. Dropping his weight from the unseemly 265-pounds he tipped in at for the March 2009 loss to Chambers, to a much more acceptable 240 in his most recent fight (a 4th-round stoppage of the cute Gabe Brown in December), “The Nigerian Nightmare” insists he is serious in his quest to become a champion all over again.
In the 15-2(10) Aguilera, of the Dominican Republic but now calling New York his home, Peter will be facing a determined fighter who has never been stopped. More importantly, the powerful Nigerian will be facing a fighter whose confidence is currently soaring – due to the blast out of Maskaev. On paper, the former WBC ruler is the favourite to win, but Aguilera has fast hands, is so much younger and fresher and he is riding the crest of a wave right now. Is this enough to see the young hope to another important victory?
It’s not clear why the prospective fight is being billed as an IBF elimination bout. Unbeaten Russian Alexander Povetkin is, according to the December 2009 IBF rankings, the number-one contender for a crack at Wladimir Klitschko’s IBF belt – whereas Peter is ranked down at number-four. Still, the pencilled in March 12th fight in Dallas is an important one either way – whether its winner gets an eventual shot at “Dr. Steel Hammer” or not.
Can Peter, with his vaunted power, take the six years younger man out? Or will Aguilera, a good amateur before he turned pro, surprise us again, as he did against Maskaev? With a big crowd expected in Dallas on the Friday night before the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet fights again, there should be plenty of fight hungry fans in attendance for the heavyweight rumble who are eager to find out.
Either Aguilera is going to become a real player on the heavyweight scene, or Peter is going to move one step closer towards realising his plan of becoming a two-time heavyweight champion. Going out on a limb, I like the younger and faster man to pull off a close points win.