Sam Peter : Could he have picked up a belt in the 80's?

And Toney beat him the first time

 

In my fantasy world, Don King wants Peter to be in a unification with Tyson, so Bonecrusher is forced to face him and loses his title via sloppy decision. Tyson then beats the dog**** out of Peter. Sue me.

 

Jose Ribalta was better than Peters

 

Not even in the same ballpark. But, never mind - It's just you, isn't it?.

Your bedside manner might still need some work, though.

 

Sam was a big puncher but never very skilled

 

I think Peter was heavy-handed when he was able to club away without consequence, but he rarely, if ever, looked effective, when attempting to shift his weight behind a straight punch. The lack of speed and snap in his punches didn't help, either.

A highlight reel moment, against a past prime Williams, earned him a reputation for being a huge puncher, but he never seemed to emulate that in the higher ranks. (Also - Akinwande had starched a prime Williams, years earlier, so how hard did Williams need to be hit to go down for the count?).

Peter's only stoppage win of an opponent, rated by The Ring, occurred against Maskaev, who had been out for a year, due to back injury; was 39 years old and looked in poor shape, tbh. Even then, Maskaev, whose Losses all came by way of TKO/KO, was stopped on his feet and was as much gassed out, as he was hurt. Chambers handled Peter's power fairly comfortably, as well

I just couldn't say I'm convinced by the idea that Peter was special in the punch-power department. I don't think, for example, that he is in the league of Ruddock, Bruno, Foreman, Morrison, Mercer, Sanders, Brewster etc.

 

Everyone who fought him said he punched hard.

 

Holmes didn't win every round. Berbick put forth a decent effort.

 

That's nice... ... ...

 

Peter might have won a title in the 80's. But I would tend to rate him below most of the champs. My guess is that he would have been slightly below championship level, but with his power, who knows?

 

I reckon Peter could have clubbed his way to a belt in the early 80's. But he was so limited in terms of actual boxing skills. He would literally have to find somebody who he could just overpower (perhaps John Tate in the early 80's).

 

Until Tyson started collecting them it wasn't terribly hard to win an ABC belt in the 80s.

These guys traded the belts around depending on who partied too much during training camp. Peter fits right in with the 80s titlists.

Hardly a subject requiring any deeper analysis than that.