A lot of hype was put into last weekend’s heavyweight bout between James Toney and Samuel Peter. For a non-title fight, the buzz was outstanding. James Toney, who has never been knocked out in his career, took on Samuel Peter, the hardest-hitting heavyweight Toney has faced. Unlike many heavyweight contests, this fight lived up to the hype. Now we just need to get that decision turned around.
James Toney vs. Samuel Peter
The scoring in boxing is very subjective. That being said, if you thought Samuel Peter won that fight then you are wrong. James Toney was busier, quicker, and displayed much better defense. Toney picked Peter off with ease throughout the fight, punishing the defenseless Peter. To his credit, Peter hung in the fight and landed some heavy punches, but not nearly enough to warrant the split decision victory he was given.
Most of Peter’s hard shots were landed in the early rounds, rounds that James Toney should have been scored as winning. Toney effectively countered Peter early and showed enough defensive agility to win the rounds. Toney’s conditioning was a big question coming into this fight, but Peter looked like the more out-of-shape fighter. Peter is not known for his stamina and came into the fight weighing 257 lbs, one of the heaviest weights of his young career. Toney came in at a flabby 237 against Hasim Rahman and weighed in at 233 lbs against Peter. Toney is never going to look like he is chiseled from stone, more like molded from jello.
Sam Peter must have felt like he was behind because he picked up his intensity as the fight went on. It was interesting to see how the younger Peter would handle the experienced Toney. It wasn’t a question of if Toney would frustrate Peter, but how. The frustration for Peter came out in the ninth round. Toney had Peter clinched on the ropes and the referee called for a break. Peter, instead of breaking, gave Toney some double-fisted clubbing earmuffs. A point was taken from Samuel Peter, making the decision even more startling. The final scores were 116-111 Peter, 115-112 Toney, and 116-111 Peter.
This fight was a title eliminator for the WBC belt held by Oleg Maskaev. Toney wants to get back in the ring with Peter and Maskaev has been linked to a unification bout with Wladimir Klitschko. Klitschko has a lot of options right now so Maskaev may immediately take the fight with Sam Peter. That would be a pure brawl that hopefully will stay off of PPV. The early numbers for the Rahman/Maskaev II pay-per-view are around 60,000 buys. That is pathetic. Naked News TV generates more buys than that.
