  samuel okon peter (born september 6, 1980 in akwa ibom, nigeria), nicknamed "the nigerian nightmare," is a professional heavyweight boxer and the former wbc heavyweight champion (he lost that title in his first defence, against vitali klitschko.) peter rose to prominence as a professional fighter following a string of spectacular knockout wins in his early career, at a time when the division was fragmented. he has won a portion of the heavyweight crown and scored notable wins over james toney and oleg maskaev. samuel peter is also the only man to have been defeated by both klitschko brothers (losing a total of three bouts against them). samuel is currently trained by his former assistant coach ibn cason. ==early years and amateur career== originally, peter's preferred sport was soccer. in 1992, some boxers came to peter's school to train. the curious young 11-year-old stopped by and asked if he could train along with them. he was put up against an experienced amateur and knocked him out. this marked the beginning of a successful amateur career for peter. samuel peter won the nigerian amateur heavyweight championship and the africa zone 3 heavyweight championship. he faced stiff competition as an amateur (including a knockout victory over 2000 silver medalist mukhtarkhan dildabekov of kazakhstan). however, he prevailed and was given the opportunity to represent nigeria at the 2000 sydney, australia summer olympics. peter lost in the quarterfinals to italian paolo vidoz by decision. however, his performance was noted for being very impressive from such a young pugilist and hence more excitement was generated for him than the eventual gold medalist, audley harrison, to whom peter had lost a very close decision just a few months before the olympics. ===professional career=== immediately after the olympics, ivaylo gotzev signed on as samuel peter's manager, and andy "pops" anderson became peter's coach. they were then able to land a promotional deal with dino duva of duva boxing. as of march 2008, peter's professional ring record stands at 30-2 (with 23 knockouts). though peter posted a string of 1st-round knockouts at the beginnin
1980_births Boxers_at_the_2000_Summer_Olympics Heavyweight_boxers Living_people Nigerian_boxers Nigerian_expatriates_in_the_United_States Olympic_boxers_of_Nigeria World_Boxing_Council_champions