Sam Peter KO6 Oleg Maskaev
Wins WBC Heavyweight Championship.
Decent win for Peter, who firmly and confidently chanted after the fight, "Who's next" to Max Kellerman. The WBC will probably push for a fight between the newly crowned Peter and WBC Champion Emeritus Vitali Klitschko. In my opinion, that is the wrong Klitschko. I don't see Vitali coming back any time soon. If he does, I want to see him make it through a training camp injury free. Give us Wladimir Klitschko vs Sam Peter, the rematch, for all the marbles at heavyweight. That's the only heavyweight fight that matters at this moment. Although Peter lost a unanimous decision to Wladimir over two years ago, in a fight in which Peter dropped Wladimir three times in the fifth round, Peter created a mandate for a rematch by twice defeating James Toney for the WBC mandatory spot and knocking out Maskaev for the title. With the win, Peter becomes the first Nigerian to win a heavyweight title belt.
Nate Campbell WSplit12 Juan Diaz
Wins IBF/WBA/WBO Lightweight Championship
What a career defining performance and upset title-winning victory by Nate Campbell. This man came to Mexico on a mission, which had been documented months leading up to the fight in interviews with a bunch of journalists. He appeared to be super confident going into the fight and did everything he said he would do. He threw more punches than Juan Diaz, worked Diaz body from the outset, and virtually took Diaz out of his element over the course of the last six rounds. After five give and take rounds, Campbell pretty much dominated the fight from the sixth round on. Campbell was deducted a point in round six for a headbutt. In the end, the point deduction was immaterial as the judges awarded Campbell a close split decision. Scores: 114-113 Diaz, 116-111, 115-112 Campbell. While I failed to score the fight round by round, it appeared to me as though Campbell won the fight handily. I probably agree most with the score of 116-111 for Campbell.
Both fights were televised on HBO World Championship boxing.
Next weekend, on HBO Boxing After Dark, linear and WBC Lightweight Champion Joel Casamayor is scheduled to defend his title against Michael Katsidis. Whoever wins that fight should be mandated to face Campbell. While Casamayor is the linear champion, Campbell is clearly the number one guy in the division based on his win over Diaz last weekend. Give us the winner of Casamayor and Katsidis against Campbell. That's the only fight that matters in the lightweight division.
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