Hughie Fury Defeats Injured Sam Peter By TKO In Foul-Filled Fight

By Keith Idec

Samuel Peter probably should’ve been disqualified Friday for continuously fouling Hughie Fury.

Eventually, however, the former WBC heavyweight champion claimed he couldn’t continue due to a shoulder injury during the seventh round of their scheduled 12-round fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Peter appeared to tell referee Ingo Barrabas that Fury injured him by holding his left arm in a clinch, but Barrabas didn’t penalize Fury.

Barrabas gave Peter time to recover, but the 38-year-old Peter kept pointing to his left arm and indicated he couldn’t use it. When he wasn’t fouling Fury, the shorter, slower, heavier Peter mostly missed wild shots and had difficulty dealing with Fury’s jab and movement.

The 24-year-old Fury (23-2, 13 KOs), a cousin of lineal heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, recorded an unsatisfying victory in a foul-filled fight on the Amir Khan-Billy Dib undercard at King Abdullah Sports Complex. The Nigerian-born, Las Vegas-based Peter (38-8, 31 KOs) is 2-3 in his past five fights.

The round before their fight ended, Peter hit Fury with another low right hand that forced Barrabas to give Fury time to recover with 1:14 to go in the sixth round.

Fury mocked Peter late in the fifth round for swinging wildly and missing with a right hand. Earlier in the fifth, Barrabas warned Peter yet again for hitting Fury with a low blow and then back-to-back rabbit punches while Barrabas was trying to separate them.

Barrabas deducted a point from Peter with 1:37 to go in the fourth round for landing a clubbing left hand to the side of Fury’s head while he was breaking them up. In the final minute and 10 seconds of the fourth, Fury landed two crisp, left-right combinations.

Peter hit Fury with a low blow that caused a brief break with 21 seconds to go in the third round. He was warned about 25 seconds earlier for hitting Fury behind his head.

Fury continued dictating distance during the second round by using his jab and moving out of Peter’s punching range. Fury landed a chopping right hand to the side of Peter’s head just after the halfway mark of the second round, too.

Fury was cautious in the first round, as he tried to keep his distance from the powerful Peter. He tied up Peter a couple times as Peter plowed forward and attempted to rough up Fury.