By Michael Amakor
On July 2nd at the Reno Events Center in Reno Nevada NABF and USBA Heavyweight Champion Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peters puts his titles on the line against Taurus “The Bull” Sykes in a unification bout on Showtime TV.
Not much is known about the Bull, the thirty three year old underdog, especially since he will tell you that some of the heavy hitters in the division have been ducking him, but he is the newly crowned NABA Heavyweight Champion which he seized by besting capable Friday Ahunanya over 12 rounds in March. A review of his dossier shows victories over vaguely recognizable journey men live Jovo Pudor, Sherman Williams and faded former IBF Cruiserweight Champion Imamu Mayfield.
In this fight he has his hands full against the 25 year old Samuel Peters who possesses natural punching power in both hands and was a quarter finalist at the 2000 Olympic Games. The nightmare from Nigeria currently sports an unbeaten record of 23 victories with 20 of these victories coming inside the distance, only three of his fights have gone the distance against vastly more experienced veterans like Marion Wilson, Jovo Podo, and Charles Shufford earlier on in his career He is being hailed and wished by the boxing establishment as the next young great Heavyweight. His knockouts have been so savage and sudden you are immediately reminded of a young Mike Tyson. Boxing historians will compare him to another great Nigerian Heavyweight “The President” Ike Ibabuchi whose express run towards the heavyweight title was suddenly derailed after he went to jail over a rape conviction wondering about what could have been and praying that Peters goes all the way and realizes his potential.
Against a common opponent, Jovo Pudor both fighters eeked out twelve round decisions, which may indicate that this fight is a competitive match up as both fighters seem to be at the same experience and skill level. Both guys sport a motley collection of C class fighters with a couple of B minuses on their resumes with Sam Peters getting the nod due to his recent and more spectacular knockouts wins over ranked foes.
We will all be curious to see whether Sykes confidence and overall boxing ability could bull it out against a Sam Peters who has the killer instinct and power to knock him down and out before a stamina war ensues down the stretch.
What ever happens, one thing is clear, the outcome of this fight will flush out a pretender to the throne and speak volumes about the victor’s pedigree to become a challenger for one of the more recognizable titles down the stretch.
May the best Man win
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
