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What If “The Nigerian Nightmare” Was One Of Cus D’Amato’s Catskill Creations?
2007 is rolling and just by looking at January’s schedule alone, this has the potential to be a blockbuster of a year. I have a feeling the staff here at SaddoBoxing is going to be a busy one! So, what does that mean for ole Daxx Kahn? Well, for one, many a late night in front of the computer typing away while I should be sleeping; two, my caffeine and nicotine levels will shoot through the roof and three, the more late nights I spend in front of the computer, the less I have to endure my wife’s lumberjack snoring that, to this day, she fully denies.
So, before we get bogged down with the action from the ring, I will throw out one of those classic “What if?” scenarios that I love so much while I have a chance to get it out of my system.
Now, such topics are usually reserved for boxer versus boxer situations, but lately I have been thinking about something just a little bit different. I have also been giving some thought to the upcoming James Toney vs. Sam Peter rematch, with hard hitting slugger Peter being the focus of my topic.
While he is crowd pleasing and always gives us plenty of bang for the buck, Peter, although impressive, is still raw. He still needs that fine tuning if he is to get to the next level and stay there. Don’t get me wrong, Sam’s team have a done a fine job with him thus far; how can you argue with a 27-1 (22) record?
He shook Wladimir Klitschko to the core and has a decision win over James Toney, one of boxing’s greatest defensive fighters of all time. Those are two very nice feathers in the cap for a young, up and coming fighter. But I was thinking: what if Sam had a bit of a style change? Something to maximize his power, help him increase his stamina and become a volume puncher, overwhelming his opponents? I am not sure that you can even improve his power, but hey, you never know.
I ran down a list of different trainers, who I thought might rebuild Peter into this type of fighter. None of the obvious choices like Freddie Roach, Emmanuel Steward, Buddy McGirt and Lou Duva seemed to click with the idea. Then, like a neon sign on Broadway, it hit me; Cus D’Amato. The trainer of boxing’s two youngest heavyweight champions and master of the peek a boo style. Cus always seemed to be able to get the maximum power and speed out of his fighters. Teaching them exactly how to attack their opponents or knowing when they should lay back until it was time to strike.
Let’s compare some of D’Amato’s two greatest charges with that of Peter in a physical aspect. Peter is tall, like Patterson, actually he is taller than Floyd was by one inch. Yet, Sam is stocky like Tyson. Both Patterson and Tyson were flat footed fighters, like Peter.
All three posses KO power. Patterson, the weakest of the three, needed to wear his opponents down a bit before delivering the knockout blow. Tyson, although very strong, was never a one punch KO artist, rather he would overwhelm you with a volume of hard shots, never giving his opponents a chance to defend. With heavy combos, Tyson would force them to open up so he could land the final blow at the end of the flurry.
Tyson was straightforward like Peter, while Floyd liked to lay back until he jumped at you with his good night right and Peter often waits for the moment to deliver the one big shot. The difference between the three is that Tyson and Patterson could fight at a steady pace for the distance but Peter slows as rounds go on, although to his credit, that is not often.
Now, lets imagine for a minute, a combination of Tyson and Patterson packed into Peter“s body. If Cus could teach Peter to crouch back slightly, like Patterson, making himself a bit smaller so his opponent would have to come to him, giving a chance to reserve his energy for the later rounds. At the same time, Peter would be fully protected by the peek a boo defense that his massive arms would afford, taking away the need to be nimble on his feet.
Peter would then be able to come forward, full charge like Tyson, bobbing his head side to side while jabbing himself into punching range. Once in the connect zone, he would unleash the five and six patent body head combinations that Tyson had mastered. These combinations had been designed by D’Amato to break down a fighter methodically, leaving him ripe for the picking, and had turned so many of Tyson’s foes from opponents on the way to the ring into victims on the way out.
Each of D’Amato’s two pride and joy fighters also had a patented punch with which they ended the night, time and again. For Tyson, it was the uppercut that was the finisher in many a bout. It also ended the series of blows he delivered with an exclamation point as we would watch the head snap back just before his opponents slouched to the canvas.
Patterson had a leaping right that would come from the outfield and land with not only the full force of his power, but his weight as well. Floyd’s money punch was a more calculated stroke than Tyson’s combos as Patterson’s was delivered at just the right time for full effect. Could you imagine Peter delivering a punch with the complete force that Patterson delivered his leaping right with, just after he let loose a five punch combo with the intensity of a prime Tyson?
Peter is often off target with his big shots because he is at times overzealous. D’Amato’s constant heavy bag drills were designed with repetition so the fighter could perfect the shots and improve on the accuracy. An accurate Peter would be a more dangerous Peter.
Cus had his fighters run in the Catskill mountain air to help build their lungs and then would have them jump rope for endless rounds to help with both coordination and stamina. Cus would help trim Peter down, yet keep his power by doing full cardio workouts in old school fashion, making him, in the end, hard and compact for better movement that would help add speed to his repertoire.
Yet for all their abilities and accomplishments in the ring, both Patterson and Tyson had one flaw even D’Amato could not fix. They were flaws that could not be worked on in the gym. They were deeper than just physical. They were in the heart. Patterson always lacked confidence. It would eat him up at times when he thought about losing. It was later learned that Patterson worried about losing so much and the personal shame it would bring him, he often brought disguises to the arena, so he could sneak out unnoticed, saving face and pride if he did lose. Such a confidence problem can be a handicap that goes with you into every fight.
Tyson had the inability to deal with adversity and needed to have fear instilled into his opponents before the fight. That advantage was not one of mere mind games with Tyson, but one of necessity. Once the bell rang, if Tyson’s opponent came out on the attack chasing him for the knockout, Tyson went into mental chaos. Unless he was the aggressor, he would crumble. Such flaws were proven in the Douglas and Holyfield losses.
Sam Peter lacks neither confidence nor does he need to intimidate his opponent, to the point that he is usually humble during press conferences and interviews. He always respects his opponents and lets his fist do the talking for him. The only thing Sam needs to get his point across is two fists and a boxing ring.
Like all fictitious scenarios, this one could never materialize. Even if D’Amato was alive, chances are slim the two would ever have worked together. But that, of course, is half the fun of coming up with such scenarios. There are no right or wrong answers and the possibilities are endless. I can say this, but if they ever did work together, the combination would have stormed the boxing scene. They would have left a trail of shattered dreams and hopes of opponents behind them.
Just imagine turning on the TV halfway through Michael Buffer’s introductions and hearing the names being said together in one sentence…..”He comes in at 251 pounds, accompanied into the ring by the great Cus D’Amato, originally from Nigeria, now fighting out of Catskill, NY..he is “The Nigerian Nightmare!”…..
