'Fast' Eddie Chambers 'Relaxed' For Wladimir Klitschko

It is highly unlikely that Philadelphia heavyweight, "Fast" Eddie Chambers, could be at any more of a perceived disadvantage than he is heading into Saturday night's clash with WBO and IBF champion, Wladimir Klitschko, of Kiev, Ukraine, slated for the Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

The 6-foot-1, 27-year-old Chambers (35-1, 18 KOs) will likely enter the ring weighing around 208 pounds, meaning he'll be five-inches shorter than the 6-6 Klitschko.

Nicknamed "Steelhammer," Klitschko weiged nearly 241 pounds for June's ninth-round knockout win over previously unbeaten, 31-year-old southpaw, Ruslan Chagaev (25-1-1, 17 KOs), of Hamburg, Germany.

The 33-year-old Klitschko (53-3, 47 knockouts) is 11-0, with eight knockouts -- including stoppages in his past three bouts -- since a fifth-round knockout loss to Lamon Brewster in April of 2004.

But if Chambers is worried, you wouldn't have known it from the way he sounded during Tuesday's conference call with reporters from around the globe.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for me, and I'm just so excited about it. I can't wait to get into the ring on Saturday and shock the world. There are going to be plenty of people to take a look and to see that I am one of the better fighters in the world," said Chambers.

"I'm talking among the best fighters in the world, bar none, with no weight division restriction at all. I'm very confident, and I've worked very, very hard in our camp," said Chambers. "I'm just excited for the overall opportunity to fight one of the best fighters and heavyweights of my time, and to prove that I'm also one of the best."

Chambers sparred with Klitschko in preparation for the champion's November 2006 seventh-round knockout of Calvin Brock, whom Chambers defeated by split-decision in November of 2008.

"Wladimir's very professional and a little rough, actually. I had to go in there and really get back with him in a lot of things. You can see why he's the world champion. As one-dimensional as he seems, and as straight up as he fights, it might seem like he doesn't look all that impressive with a lot of the things that he does," Chambers told FanHouse in January.

"But he's a big, strong guy who is very difficult to get to if you don't have the right idea about it. When I was in camp with him, I had the wrong idea in what way to get to him and to deliver my offense. I had a tough time at times, and there were times where I had pretty good times," said Chambers.

"There were good days, there were bad days, days where we went back and forth. But now, I think that I have a better understanding on the style that I need to have and how I should go at him," said Chambers. "Not only that, I'm just in a better mental attitude, better shape -- definitely in better shape -- and I'm a completely different fighter now than I was at that point."

But on Saturday night, it will be the real thing, and Chambers said that he's more than ready.

"This is what I've dreamed of for many years, and, now, as a culmination of all of the hard work that I've put in, I'm in this position," said Chambers. "And I just can't wait to get it done."

Chambers has said that he welcomes the burden that has been thrust upon him, as he is charged with ending what as been nearly a three-year drought since a U.S. fighter has worn a heavyweight belt.

"This is an exciting situation for me. It's a humbling experience that there are going to be that many people in the house, whether they're there to see me win or lose," said Chambers, referring to 50,000 seat, Esprit Arena. "You're going to have to bring it -- because they're going to know if there's somebody dogging it in there -- in order for them to enjoy the fight as well as experience a great upset victory."

In June of 2007, Shannon Briggs was briefly the WBO champion. John Ruiz held the WBA crown in 2005. And in 2006, Hasim Rahman and Chris Byrd, respectively, were titlists with the WBC, and, IBF.

England's 6-3, 29-year-old David Haye (23-1, 21 KOs) recently dethroned Russia's seven foot Nicolay Valuev to become the WBA king, and will defend that belt on April 3 against the 38-year-old, former two-time champ, Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KOs), at MEN Arena in Manchester, England.

Klitschko's older brother, 38-year-old Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KOs), holds the WBC belt.

"Most people go into the ring with Wladimir and they try to find a way to adjust their style to coincide with his. But if you take a few punches to get inside against Klitschko, you might not make it there," said Chambers, who has also sparred with Rahman, and, Ruiz, in addition to former world title contender, Monte Barrett.

"You have to find a way to impliment your style into the game. I'm a boxer by nature, but I have some punching power contrary to what most believe. I have good speed, but I'm just a boxer by nature," said Chambers.

"Those things are going to come out, so I have to find a way to impliment all of that into my plan to defeat Wladimir Klitschko," said Chambers. "And I plan to use that by using my jab, my movement, and everything that I've done in previous fights."

Chambers has won five consecutive bouts, two of them by knockout, since a January 2008 loss to 6-foot-2, 30-year-old Russian Alexander Povetkin (18-0, 13 KOs), in Berlin, Germany.

In his last fight, on July 4, Chambers handed Ukrainian, Alexander Dimitrenko, his first loss in 30 bouts before a crowd partisan to Dimitrenko in Hamburg, Germany the day before Dimitrenko's 27th birthday.

"The first time I went over there to fight Povetkin, it was a learning experience. I wasn't as prepared, mentally, as I should have been, and I ended up losing the fight in the end. I didn't really relax as much. I was a little on edge. It was my first, really big fight, even though I had fought guys like Calvin Brock Dominick Guinn previous to that fight," said Chambers.

"It's just that, honestly, in my mind, I was still kind of a kid in a lot of ways and didn't have as much time to train as much as I would have liked," said Chambers. "I was too uptight, in my room the whole time, and just constantly sitting there worrying."

Things were different, however, against Dimitrenko, said Chambers.




"When I went back the second time, for Alexander Dimitrenko, it was more of a relaxed experience and we were laughing, having a good time, and enjoying our time over in Hamburg. I honestly really didn't want to leave once the fight was over," said Chambers.

"I learned that, throughout all of the hoopla and the pressure and everything, that you have to find a way to enjoy it," said Chambers. "You just have to find that medium to where you know how serious it is, and how big of a deal it is, and find a way to enjoy it so that it's not too much like work. This is the big time, and people pay to watch you fight."

In defeating Dimitrenko by a 12-round, majority decision, Chambers floored Dimitrenko once with a body shot, and then, dropped him on another occasion with a hook that sent Dimitrenko's "mouthpiece into the second row," according to Chambers' trainer and manager, Rob Murray.

"We've been in Duesseldorf since Sunday, and Eddie has worked very, very hard. We were in the Pocono Mountains for almost seven weeks preparing for this fight. We had several snow storms, but Eddie's like the post man -- rain, sleet, snow, nothing stopped us from what we had to do," said Murray, who once co-managed legendary Hall of Famer, Bernard Hopkins.

"Eddie is in the best condition of any athlete that I've ever worked with in my whole, entire 40 years plus in boxing. I feel that we've mapped out a game plan that will be the plan that people will use and see on how to beat bigger opponents," said Murray.

"We feel very confident because Eddie has fought in Germany before, and this is the third time he's going. We've put all of the negativity behind us from our first trip over here," said Murray. "We feel very confident that we'll be up for the challenge, and bring back the heavyweight championship of the world."

Chambers' winning streak includes a majority decision over former world champ Samuel Peter of Nigeria on March 27-- two days prior to Chambers' 27th birthday. But it was defeating Dimitrekno that set up Chambers as the mandatory challenger to Klitschko.

"Everything that we've said that we had said that we wanted to do, we've been blessed to be able to put that into motion. All of the sparring partners have done their job, and we can't wait at all," said Murray, who became Chambers' lead trainer following the loss to Povetkin.

"We've been waiting for this for quite some time, and I feel that it's going to be a great, great fight, and a historical fight. This is going to be the fight that proves the old cliche that styles make fights," said Murray, who is 65 years old. "I believe that we match up tremendously well against Klitschko, and that he doesn't match up well against us."

Although Chambers is a big underdog, Murray has been in this position before.



In Feburary of 1994, Murray guided 40-to-1 underdog, Steve Little, to an upset of Michael Nunn, who lost for only the second time in 44 bouts on the way to relinquishing the super middleweight (168 pounds) title by split-decision.

"One thing that I'm certain of is that the dominant heavyweights, the great heavyweights, and the Hall of Fame heavyweights were smaller guys. Jack Dempsey was 190 or so, and a murderous puncher. Jack Johnson, 6-foot, maybe 200, if that. Joe Louis took on Max Baer, who was huge, took on Primo Carnera," said Murray.

"Then, you had the emergeance of Muhammad Ali, who, at his best, 208, 209 pounds, which made him very mobile. Eddie is basically is like a corner back or a safety in football. That's the last defense, and those guys could be 5-foot-9, 5-foot-10," said Murrray.

"But they stop trucks, they stop linebackers, they stop everybody, and they weigh like 180, 185 pounds. I relate Eddie to being like a Ferrari, and I relate Klitschko to being like a Hummer. Klitschko's big, he's like a tank, but when you get those missiles coming at those tanks, it's a different story," said Murray.

"What Eddie brings to the table is great eye sight, great hand speed, great foot speed, and he's very athletic, and he sees things coming," said Murray. "Two of the best defensive fighters that I've ever seen are Eddie Chambers and Floyd Mayweather. All of the great fighters -- from Ray Robinson to Joe Louis -- they all got hit. This guy doesn't get hit like that. He's very special."

Chambers was in superb condition against the 6-7, 254-pound Dimitrenko, weighing in at a mere 208 pounds. Murray said that Chambers expects to come in at a similar weight for Klitschko, whom they consider to be the virtual mirror-image of Dimitrenko.

"Dimitrenko is very similar to Klitschko. Most people were like, 'Oh, my goodness, why would you fight this guy?' Everybody wanted to avoid him, and they really didn't want to go over to Germany. But we're like, 'How lucky are we?' But I felt like this was the best opponent for us to fight to get prepared for the best heavyweight in the world," said Chambers.

"But being that Dimitrenko was similar to Klitschko, and he was the heir to the throne, most people thought, of the Klitsckos, his style, and a lot of the things that he did definitely prepared me and gave me the confidence to say, 'Well, you know what? I can go in there and stand in there with anyone, no matter how big, or strong they seem to be,'" said Chambers.

"I'm more in the Dimitrenko type of feel," said Chambers. "When I've learned to do is let things happen as they must, and just make sure that you're as prepared as ever and just go in there and take care of business, and that's why I feel so relaxed at this point."