Boxing Betting – Vitali Klitschko a victim of “Peter Principle”
BetUS Sportsbook boxing bettors get to see one of the Klitschko brothers on Saturday night in Germany, but it’s not the Klitschko brother we have been seeing in recent years. This time, it’s Vitali Klitschko, who’s been out of action for a while, who climbs into the ring for the WBC heavyweight title against Samuel Peter of Nigeria in a scheduled 12-round bout on HBO.
BetUS boxing betting odds:
WBC Heavyweight Title
October 4 — Bayern, Germany
VITALI KLITSCHKO -175
SAMUEL PETER +145
OVER 9.5 ROUNDS -145
UNDER 9.5 ROUNDS +115
For betting purposes, let’s size up the contestants:
KLITSCHKO (35-2, 34 KO’s), the -175 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds, is the brother of Wladimir Klitschko, the current IBF-WBO heavyweight champ, and has a PhD in Sport Science from his native Ukraine. We was brought along carefully early on, and in his first title fight, held in the UK, he knocked out Herbie Hide in two rounds to win the WBO heavyweight title. In April of 2000, he was beating Chris Byrd after eight rounds when he suddenly quit in his corner, claiming a shoulder injury, and lost his title. Got chance to fight for the undisputed title against Lennox Lewis in June of ’03, and gave Lewis several anxious moments before being stopped due to a very bad cut in the sixth round. Klitschko had an opportunity to win the WBC crown after Lewis retired, and did so with an eighth-round stoppage of Corrie Sanders, in the process avenging a loss his brother had suffered to Sanders. Last fought back in December of 2004, stopping Danny Williams in eight. A proposed fight with Hasim Rahman was postponed a number of times, due to various injuries on the part of Vitali, who finally retired rather than go through with it. But the fix was in anyway. The WBC gave him a “champion emeritus” designation instead, which has allowed him to get this fight after almost four years out of the ring.
PETER (30-1, 23 KO’s), the +145 underdog at BetUS, was an Olympian representing Nigeria in 2000. He turned pro in February of 2006, and took out six of his first seven opponents in the first round. He didn’t really have to engage in a serious fight until he knocked Jeremy Williams out – for minutes – in December of 2004. Seven months later he took out Taurus Sykes in two rounds to set up a fight with Wladimir Klitschko. And despite knocking Wladimir down three times, he still lost a 12-round decision . Peter rehabilitated himself with two 12-round decision wins over James Toney, then won the interim WBC heavyweight crown with a decision over Jameel McCline in October of 2007, a fight where he had to get up off the deck. Last time out, on March 8, he stopped Oleg Maskaev in six rounds.
When a fighter has been out of action for as long as Klitschko has, it is very hard to gauge what he’s going to come back with. I don’t think he is going to necessarily going to be shot, and I doubt his power is going to have disappeared. But I think his timing will be off. That may not mean as much to a puncher, who only has to land one punch to turn things around. But it actually might, since Vitali is not especially fast. He may find himself coming late to the dance once too often.
Maybe just as important, Klitschko’s reaction times on the defensive end are bound to be slower as well. He has never been a master of defense to begin with, but unlike some other times in his career when he was facing smaller, less threatening fighters, here he is going up against someone who can really crack. Peter will hurt him if he catches him on the chin. If Vitali is the guy who gets off to the quick start, I would be surprised.
This is not to say that Sam Peter is without flaws. He’s tasted the canvas before, for sure. Questions will always exist about how much stamina he’ll have. And no one will confuse him with Muhammad Ali when it comes to grace inside the ring. But Peter has shown some progress as a boxer, and was good enough to out-duel the artful veteran James Toney, and didn’t do it on the basis of pure strength and power either. So he has something else at his disposal with which to do battle.
That may be the difference in this fight. I see Peter having a little more to win with, and that is why I would move toward him at +145 in the BetUS boxing betting odds.
