1. Samuel Peter held the WBC heavyweight title in 2008, when he stopped Oleg Maskaev in six rounds.
102 Facts About Samuel Peter
2.
Samuel Peter was ranked by The Ring among ten best heavyweights at the conclusion of a year from 2005 to 2008, reaching his highest ranking of world No 2 in 2007.
3.
Samuel Peter was put up against an experienced amateur and knocked him out.
4.
Samuel Peter won the Nigerian Amateur Heavyweight Championship and the Africa Zone 3 Heavyweight Championship.
5.
Samuel Peter faced stiff competition as an amateur.
6.
Samuel Peter lost in the quarterfinals to Italian Paolo Vidoz by decision.
7.
However, his performance was noted for being very impressive from such a young pugilist and hence more excitement was generated for him than the eventual gold medalist, Audley Harrison, to whom Samuel Peter had lost a very close decision just a few months before the Olympics.
8.
Samuel Peter could have competed in track and field on the world stage.
9.
Samuel Peter made his professional debut on February 6,2001, against Bulgarian fighter Georgi Hristov in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
10.
Samuel Peter had seven fights in 2001, winning all of them but one in the first-round.
11.
Samuel Peter made a step up in competition the following year, as his first fight of the year was against Marion Wilson.
12.
Samuel Peter had his next fight 19 days later against Julius Joiner.
13.
Samuel Peter had three more fights in 2002, winning each by second-round stoppage and having the former two televised by ESPN2.
14.
Samuel Peter won every round on all scorecards before stopping Crowe in the fourth round.
15.
Samuel Peter returned to the ring three months later, facing Lyle McDowell on June 21,2003, in a fight televised by HBO as part of the card that saw Lennox Lewis facing Vitali Klitschko in the main event.
16.
Samuel Peter finished the year with two second-round stoppages, boosting his record to 16 wins in 16 fights, with 15 of them inside the distance.
17.
Samuel Peter then took a big step up in competition when he faced former WBO world heavyweight title challenger Charles Shufford on May 17,2004.
18.
Samuel Peter won the bout by unanimous decision, going ten rounds for the first time in his career.
19.
Samuel Peter connected on 239 shots out of 690, while Pudar landed 162 punches out of 591.
20.
Samuel Peter outlanded his opponent in each round but third and ninth and connected on more power shots in all of the ten rounds.
21.
Meanwhile, Samuel Peter was stalking his opponent across the ring, fighting his way inside and putting heavy pressure on Williams' body whenever Williams was at mid-range.
22.
Samuel Peter was declared the winner by second-round knockout, winning the vacant WBC-NABF heavyweight title.
23.
Samuel Peter was ranked No 13 contender by the WBO by January 2005.
24.
Samuel Peter did it again in the second but was deducted two points for intentionally hitting Diaz while he was down.
25.
Samuel Peter dropped Diaz for the fifth time in the following round, which prompted Diaz's corner to throw in the towel.
26.
Samuel Peter was ranked No 4 by the WBC and No 5 by both the IBF and WBO.
27.
The opening round saw Sykes attempting to stay away from Samuel Peter by circling around, working behind the jab and mostly throwing one-two combinations, while Samuel Peter was working his way inside, going back-and-forth between combinations to the head and body and trying to press Sykes against the ropes.
28.
Samuel Peter immediately followed with a barrage of punches, not allowing Sykes to stay away and recover from the punch, ultimately knocking him down with one minute left.
29.
Wladimir insisted on fighting Peter, claiming that beating a feared, hard-hitting fighter like Samuel Peter would help him to regain his stock and become mandatory challenger for two heavyweight belts.
30.
The first four rounds were tentative, with Samuel Peter not being to close the distance.
31.
Samuel Peter hurt Klitschko again in the fifth with another left hook, sending Klitschko to the canvas with the rabbit punch.
32.
Samuel Peter immediately went for the attack after Klitschko got up, dropping him again with the rabbit punch.
33.
Samuel Peter was outboxed through sixth to ninth rounds, frequently trying to hit Klitschko with the rabbit punch whenever escaping from a clinch.
34.
Samuel Peter caught Klitschko with a left hook in the last round, but was unable to capitalize on it.
35.
Less than three months later after losing to Klitschko, on December 15,2005, Samuel Peter faced Robert Hawkins in a stay-busy fight where the WBA-NABA title was on the line.
36.
Samuel Peter knocked Hawkins down midway through the first round but was more cautious afterwards, patiently stalking Hawkins across the ring and fighting behind the jab.
37.
Ultimately the bout went the distance, with Samuel Peter being declared the winner.
38.
Samuel Peter was viewed as the heavy favorite against Long who, despite his size, was mostly an inside fighter and threw punches under unusual angles.
39.
Samuel Peter made a quick work of Long, dropping him 80 seconds into the first round and then again clobbering him by a three-punch combination, which resulted in Long collapsing face first on the canvas, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
40.
Samuel Peter has lots of skills, quick hands, great boxing moves.
41.
Samuel Peter managed to hurt Toney with two right hands in the tenth.
42.
Samuel Peter changed his approach in the later rounds, relying more on volume punching, while Toney continued fighting mostly as a counterpuncher.
43.
The decision was widely disputed by boxing fans and media, many of whom believed Toney should've been given the victory and that he outstruck Samuel Peter and landed cleaner punches, although Samuel Peter was credited with landing the harder shots and there was acknowledgement that many rounds were close and competitive.
44.
Samuel Peter started the fight at a high pace, increasing his work behind the jab compared to the first fight, while showing more movement and patience and not allowing Toney to frustrate him.
45.
Samuel Peter staggered Toney in the first round but Toney managed to survive.
46.
Samuel Peter became the first man to send Toney to the canvas since 1994.
47.
Samuel Peter continued fighting aggressively and, with few exceptions, remained in control of the fight throughout the entire twelve rounds.
48.
Meanwhile, Samuel Peter began to tire but was still doing the better work.
49.
Samuel Peter hurt Toney again with a big right hand in the eleventh.
50.
Meanwhile, Dino Duva claimed that Samuel Peter could become undisputed heavyweight champion by the end of 2007 if the champions "have the nerve" to fight him.
51.
Samuel Peter earned $1.5 million for the fight, while Toney earned $1.1 million.
52.
Samuel Peter was offered between $2.5 and $3 million to step aside, under agreement that the winner of Maskaev-Klitschko fight would face him next.
53.
However, after Maskaev pulled out of the fight against Samuel Peter, McCline was swiftly promoted in the WBC rankings to No 10 and then named as Maskaev's replacement.
54.
Samuel Peter expressed belief that McCline was a tougher fight for Peter than Maskaev due to his size and boxing skills, but despite everything, "the Samuel Peter heavyweight championship era begins Saturday".
55.
Samuel Peter criticized Vitali Klitschko's team for failing to pay the step-aside money they promised.
56.
Samuel Peter started the fight strong, establishing his jab and sometimes doubling and tripling the jab and combining that with movement that would not provide McCline with a target.
57.
Just before the end of the second round, which Samuel Peter was seemingly on course to win, McCline landed a short uppercut that sent Samuel Peter to the canvas for the first time in his boxing career.
58.
In between the third and fourth rounds, Samuel Peter's corner urged their fighter not to engage in exchanges and box smarter.
59.
Samuel Peter won by TKO, with the referee stopping the fight with only a few seconds remaining in the sixth round.
60.
Samuel Peter used far less movement than he had in his previous two bouts against Maskaev, from the first round onwards both were trading heavy shots.
61.
In round three Samuel Peter staggered Maskaev and was then rocked in return.
62.
Samuel Peter used his jab to pursue Maskaev in the sixth and eventually broke through with a big right hand.
63.
Maskaev staggered backwards and Samuel Peter moved in for the finish.
64.
Samuel Peter continued to pummel Maskaev on the ropes while Oleg tried to motion to the referee about rabbit punches.
65.
Samuel Peter was ahead on all three judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
66.
Klitschko indicated he might fight Samuel Peter, but suggested that Samuel Peter should fight his brother Vitali first.
67.
Samuel Peter had been expected to set the pace and pursue Vitali, instead he spent time outside trying to box his way in.
68.
Samuel Peter landed two hard right hands in the second round, but they had almost no effect on Vitali at all.
69.
Samuel Peter's corner implored him to let his hands go and push Vitali back.
70.
Samuel Peter tried to rally in the sixth round, but only made himself an even more open target for Klitschko's counter punches.
71.
Samuel Peter seemed unresponsive to his corner's advice after a few rounds.
72.
Samuel Peter informed he did not wish to continue, prompting the referee to stop the fight and declare Klitschko the winner.
73.
Samuel Peter fought Marcus McGee on July 25,2009, in Mexico, knocking him unconscious in the third round with a right hand.
74.
Samuel Peter weighed in at a 243 lbs for this fight.
75.
Samuel Peter's next fight was on September 15,2009, against the little known Ronald Bellamy.
76.
Samuel Peter then fought journeyman Gabe Brown and won by fourth round stoppage.
77.
Samuel Peter came in at 237 pounds, the lightest since his seventh pro fight.
78.
Samuel Peter dominated an entertaining first round before sending Aguilera down in the second with a right hand counter, Nagy beat the count but was stopped soon after as he was hanging against the ropes, taking heavy shots.
79.
Samuel Peter then targeted either a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko or a final IBF eliminator with unbeaten Alexander Povetkin.
80.
On September 11,2010, Samuel Peter fought Wladimir Klitschko again at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Germany, for the IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles.
81.
Samuel Peter weighed in at 241 pounds, two pounds lighter than the first fight.
82.
Samuel Peter started the fight very aggressively in a bob and weave style he had never before fought in.
83.
Samuel Peter caught Klitschko with a good left hook in the opening round, though Klitschko remained unshaken.
84.
Samuel Peter did get through with a big right hand in round six though.
85.
Samuel Peter was taking heavy punishment and after eight rounds was totally exhausted.
86.
Samuel Peter swung wildly in the tenth and Klitschko opened up with a punishing combination which floored him.
87.
In spite of this Samuel Peter's manager said they would look to secure other big fights in the division against anyone other than the Klitschko brothers.
88.
Samuel Peter then went into negotiations for a fight with Tye Fields which failed to materialise.
89.
Samuel Peter weighed in for the contest at 260 pounds, 18.5 lbs heavier than in the Klitschko fight.
90.
Samuel Peter was without a reputed trainer or even a cutman for the fight.
91.
Samuel Peter had reasonable success in the first half of the bout, winning several of the first six rounds; however, after that point Samuel Peter began to tire.
92.
Samuel Peter made an unexpected return to the ring on September 27,2014, to face journeyman Ron Aubrey.
93.
Samuel Peter came into the ring at an all-time career heavy of 271 pounds, and was struggling to walk before the bout began.
94.
Samuel Peter ended the fight when a vicious right hook knocked Aubrey unconscious in the first round.
95.
Samuel Peter was scheduled to compete in the Super 8 boxing tournament, but pulled out due to injury.
96.
Samuel Peter was then scheduled to face former title challenger Alex Leapai but he pulled out as the fight neared.
97.
Samuel Peter was close to agreeing to fight Luis Ortiz before eventually being replaced.
98.
Samuel Peter went back to the corner leaning towards the right side and the injury forced him to retire.
99.
Samuel Peter returned to Mexico on February 22,2019, having not fought in two years.
100.
Samuel Peter lost an eight-round split decision to Heredia, which took place at the Adrian Phillips Theater.
101.
Samuel Peter is a devout Christian who neither drinks nor smokes.
102.
Samuel Peter is the nephew of Nigerian professional wrestler Great Power Uti.