Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter: Heavyweight Division Gets a Little Bit Clearer

Tonight's Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter fight on HBO features a pair of heavyweights that most American sports fans have never heard of. But that doesn't make it an uninteresting fight.

Maskaev and Peter are, most people would agree, two of the five best heavyweights in the world. Ring Magazine ranks Peter No. 2 and Maskaev No. 4. So the matchup is a good one.

But more significantly, the matchup is an important step toward unifying the heavyweight boxing title. The Maskaev-Peter winner will be the WBC champion. Wladimir Klitschko owns the WBO and IBF title belts, and there's a fairly good chance he can fight WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev next. If that happens, we'll have the Maskaev-Peter winner and the Klitschko-Chagaev winner as the two clear heavyweight champs. That will get us as close as we've been to having a clear champion since Lennox Lewis retired.

There is a wild card, as Klitschko's brother, Vitali, is expected to get the next chance at the Maskaev-Peter winner. If he does, we could have the two Klitschko brothers as the two heavyweight champions, which would mean no unified title because they won't fight each other.

But even if that happens, we're looking at the possibility of two or three more very good heavyweight fights taking place in 2008. If you're one of the millions of Americans who has gradually lost interest in heavyweight boxing since the days when Mike Tyson ruled the division, now would be a good time to get interested again.