RSSPeter Okhello
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Samuel Peter is Pissed Off
Trust me, if I was in Samuel Peter’s position, I’d be a little ticked off too…
If this whole thing sounds just a bit familar, it’s probably because we have been through this already. Peter was supposed to get a title shot after beating James Toney the first time around. Then Oleg Maskaev took a voluntary defense before the deadline of 2007 and defeated Peter Okhello. So Peter went ahead and beat Toney once again.
Now it’s time for a title shot right? Not exactly…
We told you a while back that Vitali Klitschko was seriously thinking about attempting a comeback. Well now rumors are swirling that his official return to boxing is only weeks away. Of course it tends to not be a rumor anymore once the president of the WBC is actually speaking to Vitali about fighting in the coming months.
Jose Sulaiman is currently awaiting a phone call from Vitali and his camp about the opportunity of getting an immediate title shot against Maskaev. Vitali was originally promised an immediate title shot if he decided to come out of retirement from injury. It looks like he actually may get it.
That would mean that Vitali would be jumping right over Peter in the rankings and would receive a title shot before him. Rightfully so, Peter is pretty pissed off about this whole thing. Sulaiman however just wishes that everyone would calm down for the time being…
“I am waiting to hear something back from Vitali,” Sulaiman said. “Vitali contacts me directly from the Ukraine or wherever he is. He called me a week ago speaking about this comeback. It’s very clear that an immediate title shot is what Vitali wants. I took notice of that just as I have taken notice of (complaints from) Dino Duva, Don King and Iyavailo Gotzev made on behalf of top contender Samuel Peter.”
Sulaiman may say that he is going to hear arguments from both sides but it’s obvious what he wants to do as of right now. Peter knows that too:
“It’s a disgrace! I fought my way into this position without taking shortcuts. I paid my sanctioning fees not once, but twice. I wasn’t even supposed to fight the second time, but people were questioning their judges, so I fought again to prove myself. They’re trying to take away everything I worked for all those years. I’m number one and they’re going to have a very big problem if they allow this. They are putting their own hands in the fire and making a big mistake.”
Why did he (Klitschko) wait till I beat Toney the second time to say he was coming back? Why not announce before? Because he’s not a true champion. He got his title when Lennox Lewis retired. And now he wants to fight Maskaev, who is also not a true champion because he’s avoiding me. Let me go against Maskaev and I’ll knock him out and then I’ll knock out both Klitschko brothers on the same night!
They tried to bribe me to get me to shut up. I don’t care about money. I want the heavyweight championship. I came to the United States six years ago and I’ve worked very hard to be in this position. They are all going to pay for this!”
If boxers can be measured by the words they say, then Peter is an animal. If that Superfighter thing ever gets started up again, Peter should lay out an open challenge to both Klitschko brothers and see what they say…
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Sunday, December 10, 2006
Maskaev Decisions Okhello in Russia
Oleg Maskaev successfully defended his WBC Heavyweight title on Sunday, defeating Peter Okhello by unanimous decision in the first world title fight in the history of Russia…
Despite not being able to get the knockout that he was looking for, Maskaev still dominated Okhello through 12 long rounds, knocking him down multiple times as Maskaev was agressive for the entire bout.
“Not all worked smoothly today,” Maskaev said. “But then I slowly braced myself and make it to the victory.”
“I expected the fight to be long. Peter Othello was tough. I tested him several times, knocked him down but he withstood.”
Now it comes time for Maskaev to make a big decision about his next fight: Will he take Bernard Hopkins put on his offer or will he look to unify one of the titles against one of the three other heavyweight title holders?
It’s going to be interesting to see what Maskaev decides in the coming months….
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Maskaev Now Russian Citizen
WBC Heavyweight Champion Oleg Maskaev is now a citizen of Russia as granted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The announcement comes on the same day that Maskaev is scheduled to defend his title against Peter Okhello in Moscow.
Maskaev was originally born in Kazakhstan when it was part of the Soviet Union but has lived in the United States for over 10 years and is an official citizen.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Who’s This Fellow, Okhello?
I recently learned that on December 10th in Moscow, WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev will “defend” his title against Peter Okhello. Born in Uganda, Okhello fights out of Japan. He has a record of 18-4 with 16 knockouts. He has been stopped once. In 1999 Kali Meehan halted him in three rounds. In 2005 he lost a twelve round decision to Sinan Samil Sam. Okhello is 34 years old.
I understand that Maskaev would like to defend his title against a “safe” opponent in front of the Moscow crowd. Still I can think of many more deserving challengers then Okhello. The heavyweight division is muddled enough. Fights like these just delay the bouts that should be made to restore order to the troubled and unexciting heavyweight division.
Continue reading "Who’s This Fellow, Okhello?"
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Could We Have an Undisputed Champion by Sunday Morning?
A win over Calvin Brock would certainly put Wladimir Klitschko on top of the heavyweight world…
Could he be considered the undisputed heavyweight champ, even though there are three other fighters in the division sporting that gold thing around their waist? In my opinion, he already is - a win over Brock Saturday night will just cement it even further.
Let’s take a look at the evidence…
Would everyone be in agreement with me if I said that the only other three that can challenge Klitschko for this title would be the three other champs: Briggs, Valuev, and Maskaev?
Shannon Briggs has been a question mark throughout his career. He always had the potential but never succeeded until now. A rematch with Liakovich is on the horizon. Sergei and his manager are sending a letter of protest to the WBO and actually have a pretty solid case. A rematch could become a reality in the near future…
Nikolai Valuev is a monster of a heavyweight and certainly has the ability to stop anyone in the division. However with the exception of John Ruiz, the level of competition he has faced isn’t that impressive.
It’s going to be interesting to see who Valuev selects as his next opponent…
Oleg Maskaev is probably the closest to Wladimir in terms of who could also be considered the top champion of the four. However Maskaev like the others has his faults. Although he has beaten Hasim Rahman twice in convincing fashion, he has losses to many journeyman heavies.
If Wladimir is victorious two days from now, we may even see a unification bout between the two at some point next year. That depends on Maskaev defeating Peter Okhello in December and whether or not he wants to take up Bernard Hopkins on his challenge.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe many do regard Wladimir as the undisputed heavyweight champ right now. One thing is for certain, a win on Saturday will silence any doubters…
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Thursday, October 12, 2006
Maskaev-Hopkins Becoming A Possible Reality?
For those of you who live under a rock or have spent the last couple of months in space, Bernard Hopkins has stated that he would be willing to come out of retirement if he could fight WBC Heavyweight Champion Oleg Maskaev.
We’ve already gone through the obstacle course that they would have to go through in order to make this fight official but let’s go through it again one more time, shall we?
Maskaev first has to defend his title and retain it against Peter Okhello on December 9th. If Maskaev is victorious he then must somehow convince the WBC to allow him to take on Hopkins against of the winner of the Samuel Peter-James Toney rematch in January.
Maskaev has already gotten around facing Samuel Peter once, can he do it again?
Hopkins has already said that he won’t take on Maskaev if it’s not for the title so Maskaev must retain it in December.
Dennis Rappaport, Maskaev’s promoter, said in a recent interview that Hopkins’ challenge is nothing more than a publicity stunt.
However Rappaport has also confirmed that Oscar De La Hoya has contacted him about setting up the fight…
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Monday, September 18, 2006
B-Hop Unretires; Moving up to Heavyweight
America’s new boxing hope: Bernard Hopkins?
“The state of the heavyweight division in America is dead,’’ Hopkins said. “Bernard Hopkins is the only boxer who can bring the title back.’‘
Hopkins is pretty set on coming out of retirement. But moving up to heavyweight? Bernard, that’s unheard of!
So what drove Hopkins to do this?
“I was watching that fight and it when it was over, it hit me,’’ Hopkins said. “Rahman was supposed to be the last line of defense for the America heavyweights. He couldn’t do it. But I was inspired to comeback and do it. It’s not something that is unheard of. Michael Spinks did it. Roy Jones did it. I can do it.”
“I know people are going to give me a hard time about coming back,’’ Hopkins said. “But I think this is a special reason to come back. This is about restoring something back to America. I believe I can be America’s heavyweight savior.
As of right now, Hopkins is planning to meet Oleg Maskaev in June 2007. Will Maskaev even have the title by then? He has a fight with Peter Okhello in December and still has to face Samuel Peter in a mandatory defense.
I think this is a good move by Hopkins - He’s been itching to fight again ever since he retired in June and I believe he still has the skills necessary to come out of this with a win over a top heavyweight.
However fighting at heavyweight is a big difference than middleweight and even light-heavyweight. Hopkins says that the weight is not a problem, but is he prepared to take a punch from 240 lbs of Maskaev? Another downside is that losing may spoil the huge victory he had over Antonio Tarver.
With a bunch of confirmed and possible fights in the heavyweight division over the next few months, it’s going to be a lot of fun to see how this all plays out…
Heavyweight • Light Heavyweight • Middleweight • Antonio Tarver • Bernard Hopkins • Oleg Maskaev • Peter Okhello • Samuel Peter
PermalinkSaturday, September 09, 2006
Klitschko-Brock in NYC
IBF Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his title against Calvin Brock at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 11th.
There were many possible bout combinations being thrown around leading up to this decision. Shannon Briggs was actually scheduled to pair up with Klitschko a while back and the two were just waiting for the contract to be finalized but everything apparently fell through. Klitschko’s manager, Shelly Finkel even offered a unification bout to Oleg Maskaev, who surprisingly decided to turn it down as Maskaev will fight Peter Okhello instead.
Current WBO title holder Sergei Lyakhovich was also hoping to have a unification bout with Wladimir as well…
Lyakhovich, also chasing a bout with Klitschko himself, said: “I knocked this guy [Brock] out in sparring five years ago. I want to unify the world titles. I don’t know what Klitschko wants.”
This leaves both Briggs and Lyakhovich without opponents for this fall/winter. With Briggs recently signing with Don King, I don’t think setting up a match between these two would be that hard…
Promoters • Don King • Heavyweight • Calvin Brock • Klitschko Brothers • Oleg Maskaev • Peter Okhello • Sergei Liakhovich • Shannon Briggs
PermalinkFriday, September 08, 2006
Maskaev’s Next Opponent: Not Samuel Peter
I told you guys there was a way around it…
Newly crowned WBC Heavyweight Champion Oleg Maskaev will defend his title in mid-December in Moscow, Russia according to his promoter Dennis Rappaport. His opponent will not be mandatory challenger Samuel Peter, but Peter Okhello.
Maskaev’s opponent probably will be 34-year-old Peter Okhello (18-4, 16 KOs), 6-foot-4 fighter from Uganda who is based in Japan. Okhello has never beaten a notable opponent; two of his losses have come to Maskaev victim Sinan Samil Sam (via decision in 2005) and Rahman victim Kali Meehan (via third-round knockout in 1999). In both of those losses, Okhello knocked his opponent down.
“It’s pretty much a done deal,” Rappaport said. “He’s in the [WBC] rankings, he’s available and it’s a voluntary defense.”
Plan A for the Maskaev camp was to set up a unification bout against Wladimir Klitschko but injuries suffered in Maskaev’s fight against Hasim Rahman prevented that from happening.
Maskaev had a hairline fracture in his elbow, two sore thumbs and a bad back.
“It was about a month too soon for Oleg to be ready to fight Klitschko,” Rappaport said. “It’s a fight we wanted and a fight we worked on, but the timing just wasn’t right. It looks like what we are going to do is for the first time have a heavyweight championship fight in Moscow. Oleg can get in a voluntary fight and then we can come back here for the big fights.”
So what about Samuel Peter? Is he getting hung out to dry?
Rappaport stated that the WBC has allowed Maskaev to take the voluntary defense against Okhello before the end of 2006. The fight would be prevented from happening in 2007 as the WBC would force Maskaev to face Peter or be stripped of his title. Basically, Maskaev-Peter will be happening at some point in 2007.
I’m wondering if Peter will fight again this year or wait for Maskaev in the spring. He looked pretty beat up after the Toney fight and the official medical suspensions haven’t been released yet so I guess we will wait and see…
Organizations • WBC • Heavyweight • James Toney • Klitschko Brothers • Oleg Maskaev • Peter Okhello • Samuel Peter
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