PHILADELPHIA (JULY 6, 2009)–Number-one ranked Heavyweight, “Fast” Eddie Chambers graced the FRONT cover of Monday’s Philadelphia Daily News following his dominationg victory over Alexander Dimitrenko this past Saturday in Hamburg, Germany.
The cover story penned by Bernard Fernandez has a picture of the victorious Chambers raising his hand’s with the headline “Phillys Fighting Chance” as Chambers will be fighting for the Heavyweight championship of the world in the next 6-8 months.
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TO VIEW STORY: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/top_story/20090706_Philly_heavyweight_Chambers_slims_down__tops_Ukrainian_for_chance_at_title.html
Philly heavyweight Chambers slims down, tops Ukrainian for chance at title
By: BERNARD FERNANDEZ
Philadelphia Daily News
fernanb@phillynews.com
EDDIE CHAMBERS can’t guarantee he’ll never lose another boxing match. But the United States’ brightest heavyweight hope is at least certain of one thing.
No one will ever kick his “s” again. “No more ‘Fat Eddie.’ I’m ‘Fast Eddie’ again, and I’m going to stay that way,” a smiling Chambers said yesterday afternoon at Philadelphia International Airport upon his return from Germany, where he achieved the most significant victory of his now very significant career. “Who knows? Maybe I can get an underwear commercial out of this.”
Slimmed down to 208 1/4 pounds, his lowest weight since he came in at 207 for a 2003 bout with Allen Smith at the Blue Horizon, Chambers outquicked and outhustled Ukrainian giant Alexander “Sascha” Dimitrenko to win a 12-round majority decision on the Fourth of July in Hamburg, Germany.
In a scene right out of 1985’s “Rocky IV,” Chambers, who was booed by the pro-Dimitrenko crowd as he made his way to the ring at the Color Line Arena, so won over a majority of the spectators that the announcement of his unexpected triumph was greeted by loud, sustained applause.
Chambers said he signed so many autographs afterward that he got a mild case of writer’s cramp, and would have signed more had his manager-trainer, Rob Murray Sr., not insisted it was time to return to the hotel so he could get some rest.
“All that was missing were Sylvester Stallone and an American flag to drape around my shoulders. Sascha even looks a little like Dolph Lundgren [who played Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV”],” Chambers said of the surreal setting.
In this case, though, real life proved more satisfying than anything Chambers could have imagined after seeing a movie. By dominating the 6-7, 253 1/2-pound Dimitrenko and handing him his first professional loss, Chambers, a half-foot shorter and whopping 45 1/4 pounds lighter, became the mandatory WBO challenger to WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, also of Ukraine, the man widely regarded as the best heavyweight on the planet.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Chambers should get his shot at Klitschko (53-3, 47 KOs) within the next 6-to-8 months. Chambers (35-1, 18 KOs), a Pittsburgh native who relocated to Philly in the spring of 2002 for the express purpose of refining his boxing skills, officially was credited with two knockdowns. Referee Geno Rodriguez gave Dimitrenko (29-1, 19 KOs) a standing eight-count in the seventh round when Dimitrenko doubled over in pain from a left hook to the body. The Ukrainian claimed his distress was the result of a low blow, but Rodriguez ruled the punch was legal.
Then, in the 10th round, Chambers sent Dimitrenko crashing to the canvas and his mouthpiece flying with a well-timed hook to the chin.
The decision for Chambers should have been a given, but British judge Paul Thomas, ignoring the obvious, submitted a scorecard that read 113-113. His colleagues, Glenn Feldman and Fernando Laguna, gave Chambers the victory by turning in cards that had him winning by margins of 117-109 and 116-111, respectively.
“I don’t speak German, but I knew something was wrong when people started booing again,” Chambers said of the change in the crowd when Thomas’ score was announced. “After the sixth or seventh round, I had won over the crowd. When the people booed, I knew something bad had happened. I have to say, I was worried.”
Chambers is admittedly undersized in this area of heavyweights who look like NBA power forwards, which is why he scaled 223 pounds, one less than his career-high, for his previous bout, a 10-round, majority decision over former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter, who came in at 265.
“I thought the extra weight would make me bigger and stronger, but it just made me slower,” Chambers said. “After the Peter fight, I took off 10 pounds in a week and a half. It came off easy. I vowed that I’d never get up over 215 again, even between fights.” Murray said Chambers’ rout of Dimitrenko is a blueprint of how he can take down Klitschko.
“I didn’t like Eddie at 223 for the Peter fight,” Murray said. “He needed to be quicker, more fluid. But against Dimitrenko he showed how to beat a big man.
“I know some people had written Eddie off as a Blue Horizon fighter, a club fighter. They said he was too short, too light, can’t punch. A lot of people said some of the same things about Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey. They weren’t real big guys, but they could fight. This kid can fight.”
Murray said he believes Chambers is the best heavyweight in the world, and that at the very least he should be recognized as America’s best, although some have him a rung below Cristobal Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs), of Riverside, Calif., a more standard-sized big banger at 6-4, 255.
Wherever he deserves to be ranked, Chambers probably has established himself as the best Philadelphia heavyweight since Tyrell Biggs won the Olympic super heavyweight gold medal in 1984 and Tim Witherspoon twice held alphabet versions of the heavyweight title in the 1980s.
“Keeping my weight down will help me stay effective,” Chambers said. “I was sharper. I was faster. My movement was much better. I didn’t have a jiggly midsection. It makes all the difference. I was able to get on my toes and stay on my toes. I had more energy throughout the fight.
“I like the way my new body feels. I like the way it looks, too.” *