Byrd and McCline being long time great friends might have something to do with it.:good I am sure this was also before he was battered by Wlad in their second fight.
Peter has a good chin, it's B+. It's just that when he turned into a punching bag against Vitali, he couldn't take it anymore. Margarito has an iron chin, but he was basically a human punching bag against Mosley, he eventually went down.
Peter could not take Vitali's punches, he quit on his stool rather than be knocked out. Vitali did not put all his power in his punches, Peter was so easy to hit at will. Look at Peter's face.
You may want to watch the end of the 5th round when maskaev landed a straight right hand dead on peters chin,, peter did not even react to it
I think it's because McCline hit Peter with a great shot that neither Wlad or Vitali hit him with. The 1st kd, at the end of the 2nd round was a sneaky uppercut that knocked Peter down, but was mostly from Peter being off balance because McCline bodied him. The 2nd kd was a monster shot that if either Wlad or Vitali would have landed I don't know if McCline would have gotten up.
mccline, though he has not the monster ko record, definitely has power. he just is a bad finisher and gets tired later in fights, that's why he hasn't many good ko wins on his record. but he gets to hurt most of the guys somewhere in the fight, in terms of one punch power i think he hits harder than vitali and maskaev.
From what I've seen and heard about Peter, he seems to take a straight punch VERY well, but if you can get him with a good hook or uppercut, he's more vulnerable. He took all the straight punches from Wlad without any trouble, but in the 12th Wlad landed a hook that buckled Peter. McCline got Peter with an uppercut if I remember correctly (don't have time to watch it right now) and was able to turn the trick. Peter has such a thick neck that the straight rights just don't hurt him the same way. That may be bad for him in the long run though, because may take a lot of them over his career and feel the effects after he's retired.
Jameel McCline is simply a very hard hitter, and 6'6' 270lbs to boot. It's just that his lack of aggression and stamina has held his KO ratio back a lot, but he dropped durable men like Briggs (look what he took from Lewis, never down since except for by McCline), Byrd, Brock, and now Peter three times. I was very surprised to see McCline do that after Wlad hit him so often and wobbled him only once, but as someone else said, at heavyweight boxing, anything can happen. Busted eardrum bull****. He just got caught with a great punch, credit for him to recover and come back to win the fight.
Peter's problem is he has no skill. None. He has no plan B in a fight either. Eddie Chambers is going to put a 120-108 type performance on Peter in a few weeks. If Peter loses this fight his career as a serious player in the Heavyweight Division is over. He will be on a level with Dominick Guinn etc.
He may not have gone down from Wlads shots.. but Wlad did have him doing the chicken dance Maskaev and Vitali wobbled him also.... just because Peter didnt go down doesnt mean they didnt rock that chin