Peter pounds Maskaev for WBC heavyweight title

Posted: Sun Mar 9 12:16 AM

Cancun, Mexico (Sports Network) - Samuel "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter captured the WBC heavyweight title by battering Russian Oleg Maskaev and scoring a sixth-round technical knockout.

Peter (30-1, 23 KOs), in his first title bout, leveled Maskaev (34-6) with several punches to the face late in the sixth round before the referee called a halt to the bout with four seconds remaining in the round.

The 27-year-old Peter, who became the first Nigerian heavyweight titlist, first hurt Maskaev with a right to the face and then drove him back to the ropes and eventually to the corner with more uncontested shots before the fight was halted.

Peter, who was coming off a unanimous decision over Jameel McCline in October, also pounded Maskaev in round three before getting the brunt of a left hook. However, Peter remained aggressive and finally moved to the top of the WBC heavyweight division.

After the fight Peter was asked if he'll have a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, who handed him a defeat by unanimous decision in 12 rounds back in September 2005. Peter replied "he's going down."

It's been a great climb to the top for Peter since that loss, as he scored a pair of wins over James Toney.

The 39-year-old Maskaev was making the second defense of his title he captured with a 12th-round TKO of Hasim Rahman in August 2006.

On the undercard, Nate Campbell claimed the IBF, WBA and WBO lightweight titles with a thrilling 12-round split decision over Juan Diaz. Campbell (32-5-1) handed Diaz (33-1) the first loss of his career and left him with a vicious cut over his left eye.

Ric Bays scored it 114-113 for Diaz, but Bill Clancy had it 116-111 for Campbell and Joe Garcia had the score 115-112, also for Campbell.

An early accidental head-butt created the cut, and then in round six, Campbell had a point deducted for what was ruled an another accidental butt. However, replays showed that there was no head butt in the sixth. Instead, Campbell nailed Diaz with a left hook that caught him in the left eye, causing blood to spill out.