The fight between WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev and WBC interim heavyweight champion Samuel Peter has been rescheduled for February 2 at Madison Square Garden, as has been announced by Don King Productions. King's group won the promotional rights for the bout with a bid of just over $3 million. The purse split will be 55-45 in Maskaev's favor.
The winner is required to face Vitali Klitschko later in 2008. Good job by Vitali to duck his way right into an immediate title shot. I hope whichever one of Maskaev and Peter wins (and it's now very much in doubt after Peter's rather mediocre performance against Jameel McCline) knocks Vitali's block off and sends him packing for good.
Maskaev-Peter, though, does now seem like a bigger fight. Peter was a rather heavy favorite when their matchup was first announced for October 6, but now that we've seen him floored three times by McCline, the heavy-handed veteran Maskaev seems like a better bet than before. Given that Peter has only ever lost to Wladimir Klitschko, he should still be the favorite. But it's going to be substantially less so now.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was officially eliminated from "Dancing with the Stars," which gives him ample time to train for his December 8 showdown with Ricky Hatton. Mayweather actually performed quite well, but was sent off anyway. I'm all in favor of Floyd's appearance on the show. For one, it raises his mainstream profile, and thus, boxing's. And for another, it might give some casual fans another glimpse into the fact that I just don't think Floyd's as big of a prick as he's always played up. I think the same was true of Naseem Hamed (who would later change my thinking). It sells tickets.
Don King has added a cruiserweight title fight between title-holder Steve Cunningham and former light heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek to the undercard of the January 19 Jones-Trinidad PPV. I really like Adamek, but his performance against Chad Dawson in February is still just mind-boggling. Dawson is very good, but Adamek was only in the fight momentarily when he floored and again rocked Dawson late. Dawson's win over Adamek was one of the best performances of 2007, because it's not like Adamek is in any way a bad fighter. I wish Tomasz all the best and will be rooting for him against Cunningham.
I'm going to put together a preview sort of feature on the IBF's (rather silly) four-man eliminator tournament, likely tomorrow, so if you're one of those heavyweight fans, be sure to check back for that.