Vanguard (Lagos)
January 8, 2007
Posted to the web January 8, 2007
Onochie Anibeze
The atmosphere was charged. It was electric and tension mounted on the faces of the teeming Americans in this Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino hall in Florida.
They were all rooting for their son, James Toney who was taking on Nigeria's Samuel Peter fondly called The Nigerian Nightmare.
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They all expected Toney to beat the Nigerian and end his career graciously in the WBC title fight against Oleg Maskaey. Toney, 38, was already in the twilight of his career and the Americans felt that the Nigerian, 26, still had age on his side and should, probably, wait for his time. But this was a boxing bout and not a soccer game where young players are generally advised to wait for their time especially when they compete for positions with experienced mates.
The bias was clear. It was there in the first fight that Peter won but the owners of the sport felt he did not pummel Toney enough and ordered a rematch.
And in this brazen bias, they charged, eyed the Nigerian with acrimonious envy but charged and cheered the American to turn the Nigerian into a mere dream of himself.
Stars from all sports were there, great personalities. Don King, in his usual style, had packaged a stupendous spectacle on the night. He did not only pay tribute to the king of soul music, James Brown, who passed on Boxing Day but also brought the James Brown Group to entertain on the night. The daughter of the great musician thrilled the crowd and upped the emotions when the group played US national anthem and I Feel Good, a popular James Brown song. It was, probably, meant to send good feelings to the large American crowd. But at the end, they were anguished bydefeat and it was the Nigerian Peter who was feeling good and could tell the James Brown story on the night more than the Americans.
The bias showed in the reports of some American reporters who saw the fight differently. But the judges from Belgium, England and USA were all unanimous in their decision. The Nigerian Nightmare had justified his earlier victory, he won the fight. He won money, fame and now on the road to the WBC title which will make him a real world figure if he wins. He has the potential to win for himself and for Nigeria.
Right from the beginning, Peter showed the patriot in him. He carried the Nigerian flag high and laundered the country's image even if the Nigerian sports officials and government cared less about his exploits and his great ambassadorial feat. When he appeared in the world press conference, he wore an Agbada made with Ankara to promote Nigerian culture. His men had Nigerian flags and he assured everybody that he was going to overwhelm Toney. Don King had the Nigerian flag and the US flag. It was both an image thing and a sports spectacle. The last time Nigeria was so promoted was probably at the Atlanta Olympics when Chioma Ajunwa won our first ever Olympic gold and many shed tears when the Nigerian anthem was played. Few days later, the Kanu Nwankwo led soccer team won the soccer gold to complete the story of our best outing at the Olympics.
From the first round, Peter showed he meant business. Bob Marley's "Dread Natty Dread, Go there Natty Go there, had just set the mood right in the hall and Peter showed how dreadful he could be. He unleashed some left jabs that looked hard but which didn't appear to hurt Toney. It showed Toney was strong enough to take big punches and that Peter had to do something special to win the bout. It showed that a knock-out might be an uphill task. And it turned out to be although Peter came out stronger in the second round, punishing Toney and cornering him to the ropes and latter unleashing a jab that sent Toney to the canvass. That was a warning signal of what was to follow.
But in the third round Toney got a good right that alighted the crowd that was temporarily silenced when Toney fell earlier in the second. They cheered and Toney continued with a good right but Peter immediately fought back and in the fourth and fifth rounds Peter was clearly the better aggressor. By the sixth round, Peter was already three points ahead and the large American crowd felt that they should ginger their son. And in the seventh round, they went "Toney, Toney, Toney, Toney."
The loud cheering appeared to be the high point of this round as both boxers didn't do much. And in the eight round Peter appeared to have widened the gap but Toney fought back with some good jabs that reduced Peter's points. The 9th round was too close to call and the 10th was good for Peter. In the 11th round a good combination from Peter saw Toney bleeding from the leaps. By this time Peter was ahead even after losing a point for throwing a double earmuff punch during a break in the ninth round.
By the 12th round the commentator on the cable television was saying that the fight had marked the end of Toney's career as he was sure the Nigerian had won the fight. And when the bell went, Peter celebrated with Ali Shuffle. He was certainly not in Ali's class but in his own class. And that was good enough to win him the battle and set the pace for a world title fight in the heavyweight category. No Nigerian had come this far in this category and this reporter is amazed that President Olusegun Obasanjo has not congratulated this great ambassador of our country. He may not be at fault as his advisers might have not advised so. They should be told that on the early hours of Sunday, Samuel Peter of Akwa Ibom state did the country proud globally and deserved to be so recognised and appreciated by his own people.
Sunday was a day Peter, like the Biblical rock on which Christ built His church, proved how rocky he was against the American boxer in Toney and would now look forward to greater things ahead. The likes of Ugochukwu Nwaokoro of Outreach Multimedia Africa, who worked with Don King Productions would, certainly, be proud of the day.
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