Klitschko faces angry Peter
by Tony Cuddihy, 07 October 2008
Samuel Peter and Vitali Klitschko were involved in a heated press conference ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight title fight in Berlin, with Peter snatching Klitschko’s WBC belt from his opponent’s grasp.
Klitschko v Peter is live on Setanta and Setanta By Broadband from 10pm on Saturday.
Peter was aggrieved that the event took place mostly in German, as Klitschko speaks the language fluently. The Ukrainian, for his part, could only look on bemused after Peter tore the belt away.
Nigerian Peter chose to answer the English questions directed at him in his native tongue, before storming off the stage, on Monday.
"What happens here is a show, the real fight is in the ring," said 37-year-old Klitschko, ten years Peter's senior.
Klitschko retired in 2004, and was stripped of his WBC title a year later when he had to pull out of a title fight with knee ligament damage.
As things stand, Klitschko and Peter share the belt, the former having later been named 'Champion Emeritus'.
Peter, however, earned his title in the ring, beating Oleg Maskaev from Russia in March of this year. His only defeat came when he was outpointed by Klitschko's brother Wladimir in 2005, despite having felled his opponent three times in the bout.