Wladimir Klitschko vs Eddie Chambers: Fight Report

Posted by David M. Lee on 03.21.2010

Love him or hate him, Dr. Wlad looks set to be around for a long, long time....




Klitschko KO's Chambers in 12

Ok, everyone of you who bashed Ross Greenburg last week stand up. Now I want all of you to write a letter of apology to Mr. Greenburg, followed by a thank you letter. He did you all a favor by deciding not to screen Wladimir Klitschko's latest title defence on HBO. Trust me. Once you've seen one Wladimir Klitschko dull jab-athon you've seen them all and Dr. Wlad's latest effort against "Fast" Eddie Chambers was, yep you've guessed it, a dull jab-athon.

Not that the German crowd of 51,000 at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf seemed to mind. The Klitschko brothers are something of a phenomenon in Europe. They routinely draw huge TV ratings and large live attendances. I mean, Vitali Klitschko's next title defense against Poland's Albert Sosnowski looks to be no more than a stay busy fight for older brother, yet it is being staged at a soccer stadium and is expected to be another huge event.

It's a similar situation to Manny Pacquiao's recent fight with Joshua Clottey, which was held at the Cowboys Stadium. That fight also drew a crowd of 51,000 and you get the sense that Pacquiao could have fought one of the stadium's ushers and he still would have attracted a similar figure. See, for fans of Manny and the Klitschko brothers, it's not about who they fight but when they fight. Every time Pacquiao fights in America it is seen as an event rather than a boxing match and I guess it's the same for the K Bros. in Europe.

Anyways, onto the "fight." Wladimir pretty much controlled the entire contest with his jab, never allowing Chambers the chance to get close enough to tag him. In fact, the only impression Chambers made on Klitschko was when he body-slammed the giant Ukrainian in the second round. Referee Geno Rodriquez gave Chambers a stern warning, but surely a point deduction would have been more sufficient. Chambers soon learned though that you don't wake a sleeping giant and moments later the American was rocked by a heavy right from Klitschko and that pretty much put Chambers in survival mode for the next several rounds. Apart from the odd lunge forward in rounds eight and nine (where Chambers apparently broke his glove, which needed to be replaced before the start of round ten) Chambers' gameplan seemed to be to just cover up and take as little damage as possible.

While it would be unfair to describe Chambers' performance as "Clottey-esque" (at least Chambers, unlike Clottey, was physically outmatched) it was disappointing to see how the American seemed to accept defeat very early on. Don't get me wrong, he showed gameness to stay in there until the 12th and as one of my forum buddies correctly pointed out to me last night, at least he didn't quit on his stool like Ruslan Chagaev. To me though, there was something disconcerting about watching "America's Best Heavyweight" being satisfied to just last the distance.

Would prime warriors like Tyson, Bowe and Holyfield look at going twelve rounds as a moral victory? Of course not. Obviously Chambers isn't nearly as talented as the aforementioned trio, but Jesus even Shannon Briggs gave it everything he had when he challenged for Lennox Lewis' WBC crown all those years ago (interestingly, Briggs was the reigning linear champion at the time). And I don't put Wladimir, as talented as he is, on the same level as mid to late 90's Lewis. His style is effective, but pretty basic and he seems to lack the physical toughness and inner steel of his older brother.

Chambers didn't appear to want to commit himself though and of course Wladimir never does, so it made for a pretty dire spectacle. Even Wladimir's trainer Emanuel Steward was getting annoyed at the monotony of the contest. In probably the most interesting incident of the night, outside of the spectacular knockout, Steward read Wladimir the riot act in the corner before the start of the final round. "You don't need another bullshit decision," screamed Steward. "This is another Ibragimov (referring to Klitschko's extra dull points victory over Sultan Ibragimov). You need to open up more.... there's no way this man should still be in here" Wladimir responded by saying "Relax Manny, I'm trying."

Trouble is, up until that point, he wasn't. He was more content to stay behind his long jab and pile up the points. However, to his credit, Wladimir did listen to Steward's advice and finally opened up more on Chambers, who by this point was completely spent, in the final round. Sensing that Chambers had nothing left, Klitschko unleashed a thunderous left hook to the American's temple and nearly knocked him out of the ring. Chambers was done and dusted. Official time of the knockout was 2:55. It was a fantastic, highlight reel KO from Wladimir, but in truth this was a dreary performance from the Ukrainian that won't have the American TV networks questioning their decision not to screen the bout.

Klitschko retains his WBO, IBF and Ring Heavyweight titles and now improves to 54-3 (48 KOs). Meanwhile Chambers drops to 35-2 (18 KOs) and while he was completely dominated in this fight, he'll probably remain a leading contender given the current state of the heavyweight division. His nimble footwork, solid defense and counter-punching abilities put him a notch above most of the slow moving slugs currently masquerading as heavyweight contenders. But this morning "Fast Eddie" has to ask himself one question. "Did I give it my all last night?" If Chambers is an honest man he'll know the correct answer.

As for Wladimir, he can defend his titles against the likes of Chambers until the cows come home, but there's only one fight out there for him that will truly capture the imagination of the general public and that of course is against WBA champion David Haye. Whether Haye stands any chance against Klitschko is irrelevant. The point is that Klitschko v Haye is a heavyweight fight that will get the boxing world talking - and these days that's about as rare as seeing Halley's Comet.

Banks KO's Walker In Six

While Eddie Chambers will understandably be disappointed at being dominated and KO'd by Wladimir Klitschko last night, at least he can take some solace in the fact that his status as "America's Best Heavyweight" looks safe for the foreseeable future, judging by Jonathon Banks' (24-1, 17 KOs) performance against Travis Walker (34-4-1, 28 KOs). Banks boxed ultra cautious against the powerful, but crude Walker for the first five rounds. In truth, the fight was abysmal and the normally patient German crowd loudly booed as both men did far too much holding and didn't do much when they weren't hugging each other.

The sixth round however featured one of the strangest knockouts I've ever seen. Banks seemed to throw himself off balance while swinging a wild right hook. As Banks fell to the floor, Walker collapsed face first seconds later. Replays showed the wild hook that Banks threw actually landed flush on Walker's chin and the delayed reaction of the punch caused Walker to crash to the canvas. Walker got up, but was clearly in no condition to continue. Impressive one punch finish from Banks, but I'm not convinced that Banks can make a serious impact in the heavyweight division.

Other results from a piss poor card in Germany saw undefeated Russian Alexander Ustinov (20-0, 16 KOs) stop Ed Mahone (remember him?) in the fourth round, when Mahone's corner decided to throw in the towel. This is the third time I've seen Ustinov and for the third time I'm not impressed. He's slow, sluggish and seems to lack any major power. He was punching Mahone at will throughout the four rounds but never looked like dropping him. It must be said as well that Mahone looked awful here. He had no defence, no offense and was gassed out after the second round. If Ustinov was anything worth talking about he would have surely halted proceedings by himself, rather than letting Mahone's corner do it for him. Mahone falls to 24-10-2 (23 KOs) and really needs to retire.

British heavyweight Michael Sprott (32-14, 17 KOs) stopped the hapless Werner Kreiskott (7-14-1, 5 KOs) in just 58 seconds of the opening round.

Detroit junior-middleweight Domonique Dolton (6-0, 3 KOs) forced German Omar Siala (11-11-2, 3 KOs) to quit on his feet in the third round following a vicious body attack.

Another mismatch saw heavyweight prospect Nenad Borovcanin (25-0, 18 KOs) score a second round TKO over Jonathon Pasi (3-15-2, 0 KOs). If Borovcanin is still fighting the likes of Pasi after 24 fights then obviously his own team haven't got a lot of confidence in him.