American heavyweight hopeful, “Fast” Eddie Chambers (36-2, 18KOs), of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, takes on Pole, Tomasz Adamek (45-2, 28KOs) in Adamek’s adopted hometown this coming Saturday night.
Broadcasting live on NBC’s Sports Network “Fight Night” boxing series from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, both men are set to impress as this bout will undoubtedly lead to a rematch with one of the twin juggernaut colossi who currently have a monopoly on the heavyweight division (the Klitchko brothers have a combined professional boxing ledger of 101 wins to just 5 defeats with 90 of those big wins coming by way of knockout).
“I’m a thinking man’s fighter” Stated a focused Chambers upon reflecting on his recent heavyweight exploits. “I use my thinking to resolve problems (in the ring)…But I was really never in trouble until I fought Wladimir” (Fast Eddie faced Wladimir Klitchko on March 20’th, 2010 in the massive ESPRIT arena in Dusseldorf, Germany in front of over 51,000 boxing fans).
Chambers recalled the enormous event… “I didn’t take the back door (speaking of certain fighters who perhaps didn’t earn the coveted Klitchko title shot as legitimately as he), I kicked down the front door in order to get there.” With literally less than 30 people showing support to the American in the entire arena, Fast Eddie managed to slip most of the devastating shots that the Ukrainian 5-to-1 favorite was putting together; but eventually, an overwhelmed and out-gunned Chambers lost his focus towards the end of the fight.
“The first round felt good,” an honest Fast Eddie recalls. “I could have kept it that way, if I kept doing in-and-outs, feints, lateral movement…different things like that that I have going for me, but really – once the big right hand landed in the second round, you kind of go off of your plan and start thinking ‘gotta get back, gotta get back’. Especially in a big fight situation like that when you’re trying to do everything perfect and you don’t want to look bad, you want to become champion. You get caught up thinking about all that.”
As the crowd came alive at the half-way mark of the 12’th and final round, the determined and very heavy-handed Klitchko seemed to pick up the pace considerably, throwing nearly every weapon in his play book and finally settling on a leaping left hook to graze Chambers’ pre-frontal cortex to close the show. Chambers was separated from consciousness immediately and was out well before his body landed almost halfway outside of the ring. The fight was waved off by the referee with only five seconds left in the contest.
After the knockout loss in Germany, Chambers went through a small period of introspection. “I was depressed. All I could think about was the fight, what I could have done differently. Ultimately at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do but go home and try to forget about it and start fresh.”
Although he only fought twice in 2009 (earning a pair of majority decision victories at the expense of former WBC heavyweight world champion Samuel “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter and fringe titlist Alexander “Sascha” Dimitrenko) and just once in 2010 and 2011, respectively (his losing effort to heavyweight king-pin Dr. Steel Fist and in a 12 round unanimous decision victory against journeyman Derric Rossy), Fast Eddie claims that his conditioning is getting better and better.
“I’m not saying I didn’t have professional guys in my corner before, but now I have another guy (his new trainer, Rob Murry) whose sole idea is ‘box box box’; he’s not concerned with management or anything else, he’s been doing it for years and understands the game.” Chambers’ brother also aids in his training camps, adding a familial level of advice and strategy.
This upcoming fight should provide some further insight to the confusing pecking order at heavyweight. Aside from the two behemoth brothers, there are few other heavyweights campaigning at the moment that are threatening to usurp the crown(s) of the Ukrainian duo. David Haye and Dereck Chisora are set to meet soon and perhaps the winner of their highly anticipated clash may eventually square off against the victor of Chambers/Adamek in an eliminator- However, as is typical in boxing, the man (in this case men) who put cheeks in seats as it were, generally calls the shots, so sometimes the most transparent way forward isn’t always so clear.
Regardless of who will be the next meaningful opponent for either of the K-Bros., Fast Eddie Chambers remains as perhaps America’s best heavyweight hope. An affable Chambers touched on what it takes to fight at the highest level and what people expect of him now; “Every time you fight they’re looking at you with a microscope.” Added Chambers (who has had well-publicized struggles with his own weight) “[So] You gotta be the last one out of the gym.”
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