Williams was caught clean by a left hook and slept through the one-second drop to the canvas and the full 10-second count. In Las Vegas the referees are particularly starry-eyed, and count over unconscious men and let fights go on far too long.In 2005, Peter has blasted three other heavyweights, all of whom had decent records for men booked to lose. It is the boring things that can go wrong and with Samuel that has never been a problem.Just a few years ago another young Nigerian heavyweight arrived in Las Vegas and looked certain to dominate the division. His name was Ike Ibeabuchi and he was undefeated in 20 fights when the police used tear gas to rescue a dancer from his hotel room in 1999. But in boxing terms, Peter’s apprenticeship has been textbook.”It has been a team effort because that is the only way for a fighter to develop,” Gotzev said. “A boxer’s life doesn’t start and end in the gym and ring, when he is training or fighting. “He is like the heavyweights used to be before all this started.”The “all this” is the fractured and often comical state of the modern heavyweight division.

In the gyms of Las Vegas he has built a following among the sport’s most cynical and greedy, which in the modern sport is very rare because fight men in Vegas seldom applaud or praise unless they are on the payroll.”Samuel is an old-fashioned style fighter,” said Pop Anderson, the 69-year-old coach who is straight out of a Rocky script. He has been compared during the last year to Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano and George Foreman.He was born in Nigeria and represented the African nation as an amateur before deciding to move to Las Vegas and agree terms with the Bulgarian fight insider Ivailo Gotzev.At 6ft 1in or 6ft 2in, depending on who is doing the measuring, Peter is shorter than a lot of heavyweights but he is 17st 7lb, and most of the weight appears to be across his chest. However, 21 of his victims have failed to hear the final bell and 15 left the ring before the end of the second round. Nobody in the boxing business is sure when Samuel Peter first started to show on the sport’s radar, but if he can beat Vladimir Klitschko tonight his passage from nowhere will be complete. Some experts – and liars – claim it was the night in July 2000 when Peter, who was just 19 and was in his 17th amateur fight, lost 3-2 to Audley Harrison. Nine weeks later Harrison won the Olympic gold medal.Others insist that it was after his first three professional fights, which took place in Kazakhstan, Arizona and Chile and lasted a total of five rounds. The opponents for all three brief and painful encounters were dismal fodder, and during Peter’s first year or so as a professional he beat some terrible stiffs.
Peter turned 25 just three weeks ago and in 24 professional fights he is undefeated and, in many ways, untested.

He will never be forgotten.”Chavez has vowed to donate a portion of each purse he makes while IBF lightweight champion to a fund set up for Johnson’s four children.Johnson won the title in June, beating Stefano Zoff in Italy.. “He was a true warrior with a tremendous heart, and every day I will think of him. Chavez opened the round by landing a steady stream of blows – all to the head – that kept a dazed Johnson pinned to the ropes. He collapsed later in his dressing-room.”All of my prayers are with Leavander Johnson and his family,” said Chavez, who visited him in hospital.

The Fillies Mile is the outstanding guide to future distaff Classics and Alexandrova (3.05), a 10-length winner last time, can enhance her Oaks prospects. In the seven- furlong handicap Kenmore (3.40, nap) can atone for a disappointing effort last time. Richard Edmondson Nap: Ladalko (Market Rasen 3.15) NB: Indian Pipe Dream (Haydock 2.30). The American Leavander Johnson has died after being injured while defending the IBF world lightweight title for the first time in Las Vegas last Saturday. Johnson, 35, a professional boxer for 16 years, had been in critical condition since being put in a medically induced coma after undergoing surgery for bleeding on the brain.
Johnson, from Atlantic City, was hit hard throughout the fight against Mexico’s Jesus Chavez at the MGM Grand before the bout was stopped 38 seconds into the 11th round.