American Heavyweight Hopeful Chambers Latest To Face Wladimir Klitschko

Dusseldorf, Germany (AHN) – A dominant world champion will step into the ring again Saturday night in a football stadium, in front of 50,000 spectators. No, this story isn’t a week old. It just takes place on another continent. Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey christened Dallas Cowboys Stadium last week with a one-sided Pacquiao decision. This week, Wladimir Klitschko will defend his WBO and IBF heavyweight titles in Dusseldorf, Germany. American prospect Fast Eddie Chambers took the trip across the Atlantic to face Klitschko in a sold out 51,000 seat German football (better known here as soccer) stadium. While the Pacquiao-Clottey fight captured the attention of American sports fans, Klitschko-Chambers is a super fight that didn’t register on the country’s sports radar.

In fact, the bout won’t even be broadcast on U.S. television. Klitschko won the heavyweight crown in early 2006. Seven of his nine title bouts, including his championship-winning fight, have taken place in Germany. One American heavyweight after another has gone to Germany to try to bring the title home. All of them have come back bruised and empty-handed. Chris Byrd lasted just seven rounds, in a fight that was even more lopsided than TKO-7 would indicate.

Ray Austin lasted a round and a half. Lamon Brewster made it to the sixth, Tony Thompson to the eleventh, and Hasim Rahman to the seventh. Why will Chambers be any more successful? For starters, the 35-1 Chambers is just 27 years old. That’s seven years younger than the youngest of Klitschko’s American challengers in Germany. Other than Calvin Brock, whom he stopped in Madison Square Garden, this is the first true prospect Klitschko has faced. Rahman, Byrd, and Brewster had all held and lost the heavyweight title previously and were looking for a last shot at glory.

Austin and Thompson were journeymen with impressive records against lower-level competition. Chambers also has experience in making the journey to Germany to fight a much bigger man. His most recent bout a victory over 6’7” 253 pound Alexander Dimitrenko in Hamburg Germany. “I was in the Poconos for more than six weeks,“ said Chambers earlier this week. “Even before that, I’ve been training, preparing, watching video. This is very important to me, and I’ve worked very hard for it, even before I was boxing.” Chambers is young, hungry, and prepared. The last two years seem to have been an extended graduate course on facing Klitschko. Over that time, he’s fought two big Europeans, both in Germany. He’s also taken on former Klitscho opponents Brock and Samuel Peter. What Klitschko has going for him is seeming invincibility. In addition to the string of American challengers, he’s also scored victories over undefeated European heavyweights Sultan Ibragimov and Ruslan Chagaev. He’s cleaned out the division, he’s knocked out seven of his last eight opponents. He has 35 pounds and five inches on his challenger. Perhaps most important, he’s used to the hoopla surrounding his fight. While Chambers marvels at the huge crowd, it will not only be business as usual for the champion but 10,000 fewer people than watching him stop Chagaev last summer. “Wladimir has been a champion at every level he’s competed at,” conceded Chambers. “It’s going to be very hard to take his titles, but I’ve worked very hard to prepare. I’ve been on a journey of my own that was very tough, and I plan to shock the world and shock him as well.”

---