{"id":1723,"date":"2010-03-19T00:02:11","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T05:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ringsidereport.com\/?p=1723"},"modified":"2010-03-19T00:02:11","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T05:02:11","slug":"wladimir-klitschko-vs-eddie-chambers-hbo-passes-on-the-heavyweight-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=1723","title":{"rendered":"Wladimir Klitschko Vs Eddie Chambers: HBO Passes on the Heavyweight Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Geno McGahee<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Saturday, the IBO\/IBF\/WBO Heavyweight Champion of the world, Wladimir \u201cDr. Steelhammer\u201d Klitschko, 53-3, 47 KO\u2019s, defends in Germany against American challenger, Eddie Chambers, 35-1, 18 KO\u2019s.\u00a0 Klitschko has been featured on HBO\u2019s World Championship Boxing on several occasions against much lesser opposition, but for some reason, they passed on Chambers.<\/p>\n

Eddie Chambers has only lost once.\u00a0 He faced Alexander Povetkin and was winning the fight when he lost interest and lost a decision.\u00a0 At 6 feet, 1 inch, he is a small heavyweight by today\u2019s standards and often came into bouts looking soft at 220 pounds, but things have changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his last bout, he battered down the much larger Alexander Dimitrenko en route to a majority decision, which should have been unanimous.\u00a0 For that fight, he weighed 208 pounds and came in with a mission and performed better than ever.\u00a0 That was Chambers at his best.<\/p>\n

When he is not in shape, he still wins. He defeated former WBC Champion, Sam Peter, former title challenger, Calvin Brock, Dominick Guinn, and fringe contender Derric Rossy.\u00a0 Chambers is a smart fighter that will use movement and speed to try to frustrate and eventually beat Klitschko.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tall order, literally, and he is the heavy underdog going into Saturday\u2019s showdown, but he is a much bigger of a threat than the long line of opponents that Wlad has feasted on in recent years.<\/p>\n

Wlad has been champion since 2006, when he stopped Chris Byrd for the IBF and IBO Titles.\u00a0 He has picked up the WBO Title in 2008 with a decision win over Sultan Ibragimov.\u00a0 His record since he initially lost the WBO Title to Lamon Brewster in 2004 is 10-0, 8 KO\u2019s, and he has beaten some very good opposition, including Brewster in a rematch.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue with Wlad is how he fights in the ring.\u00a0 When George Foreman was the heavyweight champion (the first time), he went in there and fought like a big man, squashing the opposition.\u00a0 Wlad is a tactical and safety first fighter, using his jab and clinching to keep the opponent in check.\u00a0 It\u2019s rarely pretty, but typically ends in a stoppage win.\u00a0 Lennox Lewis created the blueprint for the big man to rule the division without getting scratched and Wlad and Vitali follow it.<\/p>\n

The ugly style has led to victories over Tony Thompson, 2-Time Heavyweight Champion Hasim Rahman, Calvin Brock, Ray Austin, former WBA Champ Ruslan Chagaev, former WBO Champ Sultan Ibragimov, and former WBC Champ Samuel Peter.\u00a0 You cannot argue with success and Wlad has to be commended for being a fighting champion, averaging 2 to 3 fights a year.\u00a0 He did, however, only step into the ring on one occasion in 2009, the battering of Chagaev, and might be rusty coming into the Chambers defense.<\/p>\n

HBO has passed on this bout.\u00a0 There is an interest in Wladimir Klitschko, but it has not translated over to the United States and perhaps the return on other Wlad outings with similar unknown opposition may have soured the company to any future investments, but this is the heavyweight championship of the world!\u00a0 Mike Tyson could be fighting anybody.\u00a0 They could yank a fat sportswriter out of press row and throw him into the ring with Iron Mike and HBO would run with it because the fans demanded it here in the states, and around the world where Tyson was concerned.\u00a0 You can ask the average person who the heavyweight champion is and they will probably come up with Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, or another notable from the past.\u00a0 The Klitschko brothers, Nikolay Valuev, David Haye, John Ruiz, Sultan Ibragimov\u2026none of them were able to bring the American fans in and now with the network not covering the Chambers defense, you have to imagine that it is not going to get better.<\/p>\n

What boxing is waiting for, especially the American public, is the next big thing in the heavyweight division.\u00a0 Some have placed stock in WBA Kingpin, David \u201cHayemaker\u201d Haye, a devastating puncher at cruiserweight with a suspect chin\u2026especially suspect at heavyweight.\u00a0 He has a defense coming up against former 2-Time Champ, John Ruiz, and he has to impress.\u00a0 In his title win against \u201cRussian Giant\u201d Nikolay Valuev, Haye didn\u2019t do much outside of moving and Valuev, who arguably benefited from some gift decisions, was seen as the winner by a great deal of press, but Haye walked out with the title.\u00a0 Haye needs to do something dramatic\u2026stop John Ruiz.\u00a0 Ruiz was starched inside of a round by David Tua, but since then, he has shown his true grit and puzzling style.\u00a0 He will not be stopped easily.\u00a0 If Haye does it, maybe he will be the next big thing in the division, but it seems unlikely at this point.<\/p>\n

There is no obvious superstar coming out of the 200+ division.\u00a0 Chambers is merely a good fighter with a lot of heart and a great deal of ambition, and he will give everything he has to try to win the title come Saturday, which should be enough for the network to bite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saturday, the most likely scenario is a decision win or late stoppage win for Wladimir.\u00a0 He\u2019s so much bigger, standing over 6 feet, 6 inches, and doesn\u2019t allow the smaller men inside his range if he can help it.\u00a0 Chambers is not an inside fighter and will try to outthink the champion from the outside, which doesn\u2019t appear to be a formula for success.\u00a0 Nevertheless, this is a fight that the American public should have been allowed to see.\u00a0 This is the heavyweight championship and for it to be ignored by the network that claims ownership of the Klitschko brothers is ridiculous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all that much more absurd when you look at all of the Chris Arreola fights that they have accepted.\u00a0 I would argue that Klitschko-Chambers is a far more attractive match than Arreola-Brian Minto.<\/p>\n

I, like most boxing fans, will be eager to see the outcome of this fight and perhaps we will be treated to a surprise to rattle the division and breathe some life into it.<\/p>\n

Advertise Now On RSR<\/a><\/p>\n

Purchase Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch The Trailer For Family Secret<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Geno McGahee This Saturday, the IBO\/IBF\/WBO Heavyweight Champion of the world, Wladimir \u201cDr. Steelhammer\u201d Klitschko, 53-3, 47 KO\u2019s, defends in Germany against American challenger, Eddie Chambers, 35-1, 18 KO\u2019s.\u00a0 Klitschko has been featured on HBO\u2019s World Championship Boxing on several occasions against much lesser opposition, but for some reason, they passed on Chambers. Eddie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[222,762,768],"class_list":["post-1723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-eddie-chambers","tag-wlad-klitschko","tag-world-champion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}