By Amy Green

Klitschko/Peter - Time heals all wounds as was evident by Vitali Klitschko's (36-2, 35 KO) performance against Sam Peter (30-2, 23KO). Klitschko showed no signs of a three-year absence from the ring, and was barely winded in his post fight remarks with Steve Farhood. Sam Peter was ungainly and ineffectual against the fit, calm, collected and deadly precise Klitschko, and never succeeded in establishing anything vaguely resembling combinations, offense, or much defense. Instead he ate a steady diet of stiff jabs, hard rights and painful combinations served up by Dr. Iron Fist.

 

Klitschko kept Peter at bay with the jab, hammered him with right hands and rendered the "Nightmare" totally useless at approaching him on the inside, even though his hands were low and almost inviting a fight for most of the bout. Klitschko methodically and effortlessly took the fight out of Samuel Peter, leaving him battered, bruised and quitting in his corner at the end of the eight rounds, calling a halt to the embarrassment he was being dealt at the hands of Vitali Klitschko.

 

Klitschko¢s TKO victory over Peter earns him the WBC title, and little brother Wlad holds the rest of the heavyweight hardware- the IBF, IBA, and WBO. Together the Klitschko¢s now reign over the heavyweight division with still no unified champion, but giving the state of the heavyweight ranks until now, two heads may be better than one. 

 

Dawson/Tarver - Youth and skill absolutely overcame old age and cunning at the Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas as "Bad" Chad Dawson (27-0, 17KO) worked twelve rounds of magic to seize Antonio Tarver¢s (27-5 19 KO) IBO/IBF light heavyweight titles.

 

Tarver was aggressive and made some good use of his trademark left hand but Dawson was relentless with power, speed and multiple punch combinations throughout the twelve rounds. Tarver began to come to life with his uppercut and left in the third round, but his best rounds were the sixth and eleventh when Dawson appeared to be taking off only to blaze back in the following rounds.

 

Between rounds Dawson trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad preached focus to his fighter and as the rounds progressed, Jimmy Williams in Tarver's corner was calling for a knockout to win. Dawson remained focused, weathered any offense Tarver was able to inflict and answer back usually in a staggering fashion, which scored him a knockdown in the twelfth round. Judges awarded Dawson the unanimous decision, 118-109 and 117-110 twice. The judges weren't the only ones impressed with Dawson's performance- still retired Floyd Mayweather praised him to Showtime¢s Karin Bryant, saying he is now the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

 

Dawson stated coming into the fight it was his duty to shut Tarver's mouth and that may have been the only thing he wasn't able to achieve against the former light heavy king. During his post fight remarks to Jim Gray, Tarver actually said he'd "fight him again tomorrow". With such a convincing victory, bigger and better fight doors will open for Chad Dawson, so the prospect of revisiting Tarver may not be appealing for any reason.

 

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