Vitali Klitschko: superb display after four-year absence
Published October 12, 2008 by Martin Bean
Vitali Klitschko was back with a bang last night, making Samuel Peter retire on his stool at the end of eight punishing rounds.
The precision and power displayed by Vitali was superb; it looked like he hadn’t been away from the ring a day, let alone nearly four years! Finally, we have another quality heavyweight in the ranks and with the exciting David Haye making his way up to the top of the division, there are now some good contests to be made.
Back to Klitschko-Peter and the fight followed a similar pattern through the fight. Klitschko came out, left hand held perilously low and sat just in range for his long arms to land, meaning that Peter couldn’t quite get home with his own shots.
Klitschko kept his weight on the back foot, peppered away with the jab before thudding home with hard left hooks and right hands. Peter looked to lunge in with some shots in an effort to land punches but could only manage sporadic success.
37 year old Klitschko just kept that little bit out of Peter’s punching range and continued the methodical battering, all centered around a superb left lead. To his credit, Peter was brave—he continued to march forward and throw punches but just couldn’t manage to disrupt the flowing rhythm of Klitschko.
The eighth round was particularly punishing for Peter and his corner made the right decision by stopping the fight as he sat on his stool ready to start round nine.
So it really was a remarkable comeback by Vitali—his brother Wladimir remember could only outpoint Peter, so Vitali has improved on his younger brothers result despite his own elongated absence.
There may now be one or two calls for Lennox Lewis to come back and deal with the unfinished business against Vitali but that will not happen—certainly not if Lewis is as consummate a professional as I believe him to be.
But David Haye—that could be a wonderful fight. Klitschko may have been happy to hold his hands loose and low against Peter but if David landed a Hayemaker it could well be a different story.
We finally have a glimmer of hope for the future of the Heavyweight division—the Klitschko brothers and David Haye can keep up entertained for the next year or two until an outstanding prospect (wherever in the world he is hiding!) comes and tears through the ranks.
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