Klitschko Outlasts Awkward Peter

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Wladimir Klitschko rallied from three knockdowns to register a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Samuel Peter in a non-title heavyweight fight here.

Klitschko proved he can take a punch and resurrected his career which had faded following a pair of heartbreaking recent losses.

"It means a lot to come back," said Klitschko, who established himself as a top contender once again. "I love what I do. My losses are behind me now."

Judges Lynn Carter, George Hill and Steve Weisfeld all scored the bout 114-111.

"I can fight 12 rounds no problem," Klitschko said.

Klitschko (45-3, 40 KOs) was on the fast track to a title after winning his first 42 fights before being knocked out in three of his previous six bouts.

Making things worse for the younger brother of former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitaly Klitschko was that those knockouts came at the hands of journeymen Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster and Eliseo Castillo.

In this one, Klitschko used better boxing skills to outpoint Peter (24-1), who spent too much of the fight looking to land one big punch that would give him his 22nd career knockout.

"He beat me today but maybe next time I will get him," Peter said.

The hard-punching Nigerian dropped the Ukrainian twice in the fifth round and once again late in the 10th.

However, Klitschko responded every time by outboxing Peter with a strong left jab and effective holding to tire his opponent.

Peter felt Klitschko was holding him too much throughout the fight.

"He should fight like a real man," Peter said.

On the undercard, Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico kept his record unblemished with a seventh-round knockout over previously unbeaten Ricardo Torres in a light welterweight bout.

Rallying from an early knockdown, junior welterweight Miguel Cotto stopped Ricardo Torres on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko-Samuel Peter heavyweight bout Saturday night.

Cotto, unbeaten 25 fights, knocked Torres down four times, the last time for good in the seventh round with a hard right to the side of the head and a left hook as Torres started to slump off the ropes and onto the canvas.

Cotto, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, won Torres' WBO 140-pound title with the win, but it wasn't pretty. After knocking Torres (28-1) down with a left hook in the first round, he went down on what looked like a shove in the second, but referee David Fields ruled it a knockdown.

It was the first time he'd ever been knocked down as an amateur or a professional, Cotto said.

Fields warned Cotto twice about low blows in the third, then knocked Torres down again in the fourth with a hard right to the face. Torres went down again in the sixth after another right to the had but got up after a five count.

The end came at 1:52 of the seventh round, as Torres, of Barranquilla, Colombia, stood in the corner trying to fend off Cotto's blows.

Sonny Banerjee
Editor-in-chief

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.