Bad blood brewing for Peter-Sykes showdown

By Chris Cozzone

“On July 2, I will prove to you that I am one of the best heavyweights of all time . . . .”

You can’t make a bolder statement than that.

But those are some of the bombs Samuel “the Nigerian Nightmare” Peter are dropping—but he plans to back up his brags by beating up “The Bull” from Brooklyn, Taurus Sykes, on July 2 when the two heavyweight contenders put a handful of titles on the line in Reno on a Showtime-televised card.

Peter will chance his USBA and NABF belts and Sykes, his NABA title—but the real trophy at stake is to be recognized as the Next Big Thing in boxing’s less-than-superstar heavyweight division.

While both fighters have recently entered the top ten picture, it’s Peter who’s being hailed as the man to watch. But whether Peter will be this decade’s janitor who’ll clean out the rank heavyweight ranks, or if that’s just wishful thinking on the part of a fight community starved for heavyweight greatness, it’s too early to tell.

Unfazed in his role of underdog, Sykes says it’s all hype:

“Sam Peter is an ordinary fighter,” he said in a verbal sparring session with Peter Wednesday afternoon.

“He does not think when he boxes, he just swings . . . All he is, is a puncher, and all he will do is try and come in and swing big and throw big punches.

“I will outsmart him and outthink him. I am going to be a slick, crafty boxer. I know that he has never really fought anyone like that. Everybody he has fought is running from him, looking to get a check and leave. I am going to be there in the fight. I am coming to win . . . After I beat you, you are going to be exposed.”

And Peter’s reply?

“I am going to beat you before I knock you out. I am going to punish you before I knock you out.”

With a record of 23-0, 20 going the short route, Peter’s knockoutability is not a question; whether he can continue dropping bodies fighting true contenders is another matter.

As for Sykes, he has the lowest knockout ratio of any top ten heavyweight: only six KOs in a record of 23-1-1. In his last outing, he outhustled Friday Ahunanya for twelve rounds while Peter took out Gilbert Martinez in three.

Peter says Sykes will end up much the same as Martinez:

“I am a knockout specialist,” he says. “That’s what they call me. I am just going to punish him and then knock him out in Round Four.”

On the other hand, Sykes promises as least six rounds, “ . . . because he is going to understand who is in there with” as he eventually “busts him down” before he can “walk away with a smile.”

Sykes’ key is the jab, and preventing Peter from throwing “those big bolo punches.”

“I will be moving and I am going to be slick and I am going to counter him.”

Despite his low KO-ratio, Sykes also says he has the power to stop the ‘Nigerian Nightmare.’

“He never will be able to do anything,” counters Peter, ”because the four corners will be behind him.”

Both fighters understand the significance of this fight. Peter says he is simply, the “next heavyweight champion of the world and there is no doubt about it.”

Sykes, however, has a different mindset about the looming showdown.

“It is not even about the division,” he says. “This is about me and me feeding my family, first and foremost. Whatever happens after that, is what happens . . . I am not trying to be a legend or none of that.”

Bad blood is definitely brewing.

Peter assures us of a knockout over a fighter he calls a “walking corpse” and a “dreamer.”

Sykes threatens the Nigerian that he will soon be heading back to Africa for the work squad; and that his promoter and manager will flip on him after being exposed on July 2.

“This fight is going to be so easy,” says Sykes. “I’m going to show the world it is so easy.”

“No doubt about it, the victory is mine,” Peter responds.

Talk may be cheap, but if the fight in the ring is half as good as their verbal precursor, fight fans should prepare for a barnburner.

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