Vitali Klitschko/Sam Peter set for October 11; Sam/Vidoz results changed

It's official: Samuel Peter will fight Vitali Klitschko on October 11th in Berlin barring pre-fight injury. Peter is ranked #3 by SportsRatings and #2 by Ring, FightNews, and BoxRec. Klitschko, who hasn't fought in over 3 1/2 years, is currently ranked #10 by SportsRatings and is unranked by almost all other organizations after having retired officially in November of 2005. He is still the 'champion emeritus' of the WBC, and has made several attempts to 'unretire' that have ended in training injuries.

In terms of ratings, Klitschko has a lot more to gain than Peter. A win would jump him back into the top 5 and give him the WBC belt. A win by Peter wouldn't change his #3 ranking, as Klitschko's point value is falling every month from inactivity, and by the time the fight comes off he'll barely be in the top 20. However, beating Vitali would likely lead to a unification rematch with brother Wladimir. It would also gain him a lot of respect in the boxing world, and in many people's eyes make him the true lineal heavyweight champion.

Verdict changed in Sam/Vidoz fiasco

In other 'Sam' news, the result of the Sinan Samil Sam/Paolo Vidoz bout, originally a majority draw, was changed to a majority decision win for Sam. One judge's scorecard was changed from a 114-114 draw to 115-114 for Sam after a European Boxing Union investigation determined that the judge had meant to score the final round 10-10 instead of 10-9 for Vidoz. The investigation came after vehement protestation from controversial promoter Ahmet Ohner on the night of the contest.

The change, of course, doesn't make the results any better; most people thought Vidoz, not Sam, narrowly won the fight. And a draw was perhaps the most satisfying result in this case, where neither fighter looked good enough to deserve a win (and with it, a possible step back into higher profile fights). A draw would have kept these two where they probably belong, in the lower half of the SportsRatings Top 100; instead, Sam will jump into the top 35, while Vidoz is surely out of the top 100. Who ever said boxing was fair?