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Is This Ring Justice? Judges' Scores For Sam Peter Completely Absurd 

By Robert Jones - Staff Writer FightNightNews.com
James "Lights Out" Toney (69-5-3 43 KO's) lost for the first time tonight in just under a decade. 
Samuel "The Nigerian Nightmare" Peter (27-1 22 KO's) won a split decision on the judge's scorecards in a very close fight. 

The main concern here is the wide margin two out of the three judges scored the fight for Peter. Gale Van Hoy scored the bout 115-112, the same as me. Judges Dick Flaherty and Alejandro Rochin scored the fight an inexplicable 116-111 in the favor of Peter.

Toney came out for round one controlling the center of the ring and showcasing a snapping left jab. Peter did try to end the fight early by throwing big clubbing right hands, but only one at a time. Toney's jab alone was the difference maker in the round.


Peter, the bigger man by 24 pounds, was moving Toney in the second round, not really hurting him, but by the sheer force of the punches. Toney added a right hand in this round on top of the jab. At the end of the round Peter threw four looping punches that all missed the ducking Toney. 

Toney went to the ropes for the first time beginning in the third round. Toney, who has made a living countering off the ropes, was probably not expecting the right hand that Peter landed. It momentarily shocked Toney, who covered up without too much more damage. Toney did have a little success on the ropes, landing a counter right hand that reddened the eye of Peter, but this was Peter's round.

It was back to the jab for the vastly more experienced Toney after a shaky round three. In an interesting moment both fighters landed left hooks simultaneously, with Toney taking a step backwards. 

Toney landed another left hook towards the end of the round that would bring blood out of the nose of the Nigerian fighter.

Toney, who hasn't been knocked down since 1994, was hurt for the first time in years when Peter connected with a right hand in the first minute of the fifth round. 

Once again Toney was along the ropes, like he was in the third round when he got caught. Only this time he had to grab on to the top rope to avoid being hit.

Peter threw a couple more punches, trying to catch the fazed Toney, but Toney would move to the center of the ring and eventually shake off the effect of the punches. Toney would land a nice double jab near the end of the round, but the damage had been done in a big round for Peter.

The fighters flip flopped rounds six and seven. In the sixth Toney went back to controlling the center of the ring, standing on his toes throwing the jab, and landing the occasional stinging right hand. In the seventh Toney resorted to going back towards the ropes, and while in the corner, he was caught by two right hands to the jaw that caught his attention.

The action slowed for the most part in round eight, as both fighters took turns gasping for breath. In a relatively quiet round, Toney landing a right hand, left hook combination in the beginning of the round, and Peter landed a right hook towards the end of the round. A lot of rounds were like this, with Toney controlling the early part of the round, and Peter coming back towards the end. 

"A double semi-rabbit punch," is what commentator Steve Albert used to describe the illegal blows Peter landed on Toney. With Peter against the ropes, Peter landed double punches to the back of Toney's head and was immediately penalized a point by referee Raul Caiz Jr. Considering Toney did the better work the rest of the round too, this was probably a 10-8 round in favor of Toney.

Samuel Peter did something he hardly ever does in the 10th round. He threw a combination. He went downstairs and upstairs with hooks that wowed the crowd. Peter was all over Toney this round, as it appeared the 233-pound Toney was slowing down.

Once again both fighters landed punches at the same time, this time right hooks in the center of the ring to start the 11th. Peter, perhaps still feeling good from the 10th round, came after Toney with reckless abandon. This time however, Toney was able to avoid nearly everything Peter threw, and Toney even had time to smile a little towards the announcer's table. Toney punctuated the round with a right hand.
Peter actually came out the stronger fighter in the final round. He pressured Toney towards the ropes and landed right hands to Toney's head. When Toney went back to the center of the ring Peter caught him with a big jab. Toney invited Peter in the final thirty seconds of the round, ending with Toney missing a big left hand as the fight ended.

After the fight Peter called Toney a "strong guy, a very solid guy." He praised him as being one of the best pound for pound fighters in the history of the game. 
Toney would hug Peter then predictably, and with some merit, argued the call. "Hey, this is boxing, everybody here knows I didn't f****** lose." When Toney wasn't talking he looked dejected, perhaps wonders what's left of his career as it comes closer to an end.

As previously said, Samuel Peter will now challenge Oleg Maskaev for the WBC crown, probably sometime early next year. But, a lot of people, press row, the crowd, and yours truly, think it should be James Toney fighting for the title, and not Samuel Peter.

To Peter's credit he did look better. He was more polished, throwing a jab and the occasional combination, instead of looking for the dramatic one punch knockout. Samuel Peter will probably be the favorite over Maskaev and have a good chance of winning the championship.

"I did everything I wanted to do," described the new IBF featherweight champion Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (19-1-1 11 KO's) of his performance tonight. 
Guerrero controlled the action from the opening bell all the way up until Eric Aiken (16-5 12 KO's) decided not to answer the bell for the eight round. Guerrero was aggressive right out of the gate, landing brutal body shots, which would ultimately be the downfall of the now former champion Aiken.

Guerrero was warned a couple times for low blows during the fight, and by the looks of it got away with a few more. At the end of the day though, these low blows really weren't the deciding factors of the fight. Maybe he could have been warned, or perhaps even been taking a point away from him, but it was the body blows and multiple punch combinations to the head that caused the real damage.
Aiken's only real offense in the fight was throwing the occasional left hook, his trademark punch, but most of the time it missed the head of "The Ghost" by a foot or two. 

The end of the fight may have come a round too late, because by the end of the fight Aiken was on unsteady legs and his face, mainly his left eye, was swelling bad. Eric Aiken didn't seem to mind when his trainer Adrian Davis told him he was going to stop the fight.

Guerrero, the new IBF Champion at the young age of 23, wants only big fights from here. When asked by Jim Gray if he would be interested in fighting the bigger names in the featherweight and super featherweight division he said, "That's right where I want to be." One thing is for sure, after tonight's breakout performance, he will be right in the mix for a long time to come. 

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