If you can't feint, if you have no hand speed, if you can't counter then what good is brute power? Peter didn't have real boxing fundamentals to put his power to use.
Maskaev was the BIGGEST glass chin of the last 15 years to ever hold a portion of the HW crown. Maybe Wilder is worse but definitely Maskaev is up there.
agreed, Maskaev got knocked out by a jab, even Lance Whitaker shrugged and said "he didn't even really hit him hard". atsch
I think the key was when wlad wobbled him in round 12 or first fight. It was the big hook. Sam could take straights all day long. think neck helped him, but once wlad hit him with the hook, the secret was out. HIT SAM WITH HOOKS.... the thick neck wasnt helping him anymore with the hooks. IMO, sam was never the same after the wlad fight.... I think it rocked his confidence. for power... 8+... the boy could punch..CLUB PUNCH. If he was able to wind up, WATCH OUT
Stick Wilder in against the comp Maskaev's sadistic handlers put him with from the get-go and Wilder would've been on the wrong end so many brutal early KO loses his management would've needed to invest in their own bulldozer to clean up the mountains of shattered glass everytime his chin got shattered. In Maskaev's pro debut he fought the 21-0(15) Aleksandr Miroshnichenko. Miroshnichenko won a bronze at the Olympics, only losing out on a controversial decision to Rid**** Bowe in the semi-finals (he actually forced Bowe to take two counts in the first round), a silver medal in the world amateur championships, and he was a 2x European bronze medalist and a 3x Russian national champion too. In Maskaev's 7th pro outing he fought Oliver McCall who in his previous fight six months earlier had lost his WBC tittle to Bruno, in his fight prior to that beat Larry Holmes, and in his fight prior to that just 17 months before he fought Maskaev, had just won his WBC strap, knocking out unbeaten 25-0 Lennox Lewis in just 2 rounds. Then in Maskaev's 12th outing they stuck him in against a 26-0(24) David Tua. Then directly after getting knocked out by Tua they put him in against a 41-6 (39 KOs) Alex Stewart for his comeback. And two fights later they put him in with the big punching 23-2 (20 KOs) Courage Tshabalala. The last two opponents weren't in Tua and McCall's calibre but it's still really risky to stick a pro novice in with opponents with such high KO percentages who could really bang, especially considering he'd already been stopped twice (he was stopped in the amateurs by the Cuban great Roberto Balado as well). And 5 fights after facing Tshabalala poor Maskaev was thrown in with the massive punching Hasim Rahman too.
Peter had very heavy hands. Precision and delivery are another story, but the thudding power was legit.
Good post. His team really hung him out to dry with that kind of early matchmaking. They scheduled his fights like they hated him.
Thanks. Yeah, they were the people who were supposedly meant to be looking out for his best interests. atsch
:think That's up for debate, actually. Serge pointed out a noteworthy fact though: Oleg was matched very tough from the outset.
something to remember Maskaev was undefeated against Rachman unlike Lewis Maskaev was a very chinny champ but there have been more...