Forgotten classic-Wlad vs Sam Peter 1

most of the knockdowns weren't really clean shots if I remember

 

This was actually pretty good for a modern HW fight, yeah.

Don't think it was quite the HW FOTY, though. Wasn't it around the same time as Liakhovich vs. Brewster?

 

Wlad showed heart there, he also changed from an exciting flawed fighter to the more boring but effective current version.

 

who said it was forgotten?

 

Neither is this fight forgotten nor a classic.

 

One of Wlad's better fights I agree.

 

Wlad vs fat bum who almost KO'd Wlad (again) but instead his fat ass got tired and lost himself.

 

I love this fight... It was an instant classic!

 

I was just watching this fight last week! :good

Beyond the knockdowns, though, it wasn't that great of a fight. By today's standards, its ****ing fantastic, but objectively speaking there's a lot of holding in the fight, and most of the rounds were fairly mediocre.

I like to think of this fight as being an example of the proto-Klit/Steward style that would characterize his reign as HW champion. Lots of jabbing, holding, jabbing, holding, etc., with a straight right or left hook mixed in for good measure. Sam Peter made it difficult by pressuring Klitty, which accounted for the three knockdowns. Peter was undefeated at the time and was brimming with confidence, so even after losing several rounds was never discouraged.

On Klitschko's end, winning such a tough fight using Steward's style was a huge self-esteem booster, and in his next fight with Byrd finally looked like the dominant HW champion everyone thought he could be when he first came on the scene. Klitschko has pretty much mastered Steward's pragmatic style of boxing, which means he's pretty much unbeatable by most of the unremarkable heavyweights active today.

Interesting fight overall, but certainly not forgotten.

 

Agreed. It is a pretty well remembered decent fight. Klit fans love to overstate things.

 

Decent HW scrap, but classic? Hmmmmmm, no.