SAMUEL PETER HOPES TO UNLOCK POTENTIAL

“Potential means you ain’t done it yet,” former University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal said of one of his teams that was highly rated heading into the season but had yet to play a game. Or perhaps it was Duffy Daugherty, Bear Bryant or Vince Lombardi who first uttered the now-famous phrase; all of those legendary coaches at various times have been credited with authoring the snappy line which places into context the relatively small value of unfulfilled ability when measured against actual accomplishment.

For purposes of this discussion, however, the foremost proponent of the familiar axiom is Dino Duva, president of Duva Boxing and an authority on the failed potential of fighters who were supposed to be great but didn’t quite get there.

Duva and his Hall of Fame trainer father, Lou Duva, once heralded the supposedly vast potential of a colorfully named South African heavyweight, Courage Tshabalala, whose punch was reputed to be so devastating it could knock down brick walls. Tshabalala was the bruiser who would make us all forget Sonny Liston, Earnie Shavers, George Foreman, Mike Tyson and every other huge-hitting big man who ever fired boxing fans’ fertile imaginations.
Tshabalala could whack a little, as evidenced by his 22 knockouts in 26 professional victories, but his chin and possibly his ticker proved to be less inspired and indomitable than his given name. All four of his losses came on stoppages, the last of which was against a guy, Robert Wiggins, who had lost three of five bouts before he met Tshabalala and since has lost three straight.

Dino Duva now promotes another African slugger, Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter, who is being touted as the best hope for bringing excitement back to a drab heavyweight division currently dominated by Eastern Europeans.

In other words, Peter (26-1, 22 KOs), who takes on the flabby but technically unsurpassed James Toney (69-4-3, 43 KOs) in the Showtime-televised main event Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, is supposed to be the new and improved Courage Tshabalala.

In losing a unanimous decision to now-WBC champion Wladimir Klitschko last Sept. 24, Peter showed two separate and distinct sides. He did flash the formidable strength which had marked his rise in the ratings, flooring Klitschko three times. But his clumsy charges suggested a frustrated bull as matador Klitschko avoided his opponent’s flashing horns often enough to score all night with his sword thrust of a jab and the occasional right-hand counter.

What Duva saw that night in Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall strengthened his resolve to press harder for the change he and Peter’s manager, Ivailo Gotzev, had been mulling long before their clueless toro’s ears were figuratively boxed off. Peter’s longtime trainer and friend, Andy “Pops” Anderson wouldn’t be completely ousted, but his voice in the corner would be superseded by that of a more experienced trainer who finally would teach the bull how to feint, slip punches and add a touch of finesse to his power package. If Peter couldn’t put every opponent to sleep with that crushing overhand right, he would at least have a Plan B to fall back on when necessary.

“Quite honestly, (the need to make a training change) was kicking around in my head long before the Klitschko fight,” Duva said. “As Sam’s career progressed, and I saw the potential this kid had, I thought if we could get him a topnotch trainer/teacher/strategist, he could become a superstar.

“But the problem, before the Klitschko fight, was that Sam was just blowing everybody away. It’s hard to tell a fighter, `Yeah, you’re knocking everybody out, but you need a new trainer.’ It’s a psychological thing. It was a concept I could not get Sam to accept because of all the success he’d been having.

“Once we made the Klitschko fight, though, I was very concerned because Sam was stepping up to the big time. I was hopeful we could bring someone in, but it didn’t happen. I pushed as hard as I could to no avail. Unfortunately, it came back to haunt us.”
Duva’s first thought had been to enlist the services of Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward, who had evolved from a cultivator of homegrown talent at Detroit’s venerable Kronk Gym to a hired gun brought in to fine-tune such established fighters as Evander Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya and Lennox Lewis.

“Maybe a year before Sam’s fight with Wladimir Klitschko, I sounded out Emanuel,” Duva said. “I guess he was still with Lennox Lewis at the time. I said, `Manny, I got this kid, he’s an unbelievable prospect, but he needs to be moulded. Are you interested?’

“Manny said, `I know your kid well, but I’m working with Lennox and he doesn’t like me training other heavyweights.’ So he passed.”

It is somewhat ironic that Steward became the adviser/trainer to Wladimir Klitschko and formulated the fight plan that was so effective against Peter. But that’s another story.
Whatever the vagaries of fate, Peter’s career seemingly had reached flashpoint against the tall Ukrainian. Duva and Gotzev no longer could stand idly by and continue to turn a blind eye to what always had been obvious. Like a talented football player who might benefit from the wisdom of, say, a Joe Paterno or a Bobby Bowden, Peter had to make the quantum jump from the Pop Warner league, or in this case from the Pops Anderson league.

Duva and Gotzev put together a short list of recognizable trainers who might reshape and refine Peter into a more polished product. One of those interviewed by Duva was Kevin Rooney, the Cus D’Amato disciple who had helped take Tyson to the heavyweight championship, but Rooney’s inner demons made him a risky proposition.

The process, as it turned out, was slow. How much so? Well, the search was ongoing when Peter, in his first bout after Klitschko, was ho-hum in posting a 10-round decision over Philadelphia journeyman Robert Hawkins.

“Sam looked lethargic,” Duva said. “It seemed like he we was just going through the motions. Ivailo and I decided we had to do something immediately. We couldn’t let things drag out any longer or Sam would start regressing.”

Gotzev persuaded Peter to allow another trainer to come in and the plum assignment fell to veteran Jesse Reid, who was both interested and available.

“Jesse had been coming to Johnny Tocco’s gym (in Las Vegas) and he had gotten to know Sam,” Duva said. “We figured it made sense to give Jesse a shot. He and Sam were getting along good, too. I really thought it was going to be a long-term arrangement.”

But after their one and only fight together, Peter’s one-round toppling of 7-foot-1 Julius Long on April 28 in Uncasville, Conn., Reid bailed.

“Jesse had been training another heavyweight, Tye Fields, for a long time,” Duva noted. “As I understand it, Fields’ management was pressing Jesse to go to camp in Texas. He had to make a decision; he couldn’t work with both Fields and Sam. He chose to stay with Fields.”
So Peter again was without a trainer who met Duva’s demanding specifications, not an optimum situation with so crafty a fighter as Toney looming just ahead.

“I told Ivailo that Sam absolutely could not go up against Toney in a situation like the one he’d been in before he fought Klitschko,” Duva said. “Toney could make Sam look like an amateur. He’s a great boxer. He makes a lot of guys look like amateurs.”

Gotzev brought in a conditioning coach, Robert Ferguson, best known for his association with former IBF junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas, and he lined up a sparring partner, Vaughn Bean, a onetime title contender who was deemed the closest thing to Toney.

Bean arrived with his trainer, Victor Emanuel Masson, in tow and he and Bean started working with Peter as part of what Duva now jokingly refers to as a “package deal.”
“He’s pretty knowledgable,” Duva said of Masson. “I think he’s having a positive effect on Sam. We’re real confident. I’d be willing to bet that when Sam beats Toney, Manny Masson will end up being involved as one of Sam’s trainers.”

Please note that Duva says “when” Peter wins, not “if.” Sure, the kayo machine with the borrowed nickname – former Kansas City Chiefs running back Christian Okoye had it first – still is rough as sandpaper around the edges, but Duva insists he is not the one-dimensional brawler some have made him out to be. If Masson, or whomever, ever brings out all there is in Peter, watch out.

“Sam has attributes other than power,” Duva said. “We’ve seen it. We’ve seen it in the gym. We know this kid has other tools.

“Not everybody knows this, but Sam is a very fast sprinter. You would never think that because he’s so thick in his upper body. A lot of people just perceive him to be this slow, plodding guy, but put him on a track running the 40-yard dash and he’s faster than any fighter you’ll see. He just hasn’t been taught how to use his legs better.”

Now, if only Peter ever gets another crack at Klitschko …

“I sincerely believe that, had Sam made the changes we wanted to make when we wanted to make them, had would have finished Klitschko off,” Duva said. “Maybe next time.”