Wladimir Klitschko KOs Eddie Chambers in 12th Round

Ukrainian-born, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, of Kiev, earned his12th straight victory, his ninth knockout during that time, and his fourth consecutive stoppage with a 12th-round, left hook that permanently floored previously, once-beaten, Philadelphia challenger, "Fast" Eddie Chambers before a capacity crowd of more than 50,000 on Saturday at Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Before the end, at 2:55 of the final round, the 33-year-old, 6-foot-6 Klitschko (54-3, 48 knockouts) had fought tall and was pretty much untouchable on the way to winning virtually every round.

Klitschko never was in danger of suffering his first loss since April of 2004, when he was knocked out in the fifth-round by Lamon Brewster.

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

Klitschko weighed 244 pounds for Saturday night's clash with the 6-foot-1, 27-year-old Chambers (35-2, 18 KOs), and used his weight advantage of 35 pounds -- Chambers weighed in a 209 -- as well as his advantage of five inches.

For Chambers, a five-bout winning streak ended that included two knockouts. His last previous loss was on January 2008 to 6-foot-2, 30-year-old Russian Alexander Povetkin (18-0, 13 KOs), in Berlin, Germany.

In previous 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 last American to wear a version of the heavyweight belt was Shannon Briggs, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who earned the WBO crown via 12th-round knockout over Sergey Lyakhovich in November of 2006, but then, was dethroned in June of 2007 by Sultan Ibragimov via 12-round, unanimous decision.

John Ruiz held the WBA crown in 2005. And in 2006, Hasim Rahman and Chris Byrd, respectively, were champions with the WBC,and, IBF.

Klitschko established his right hand in the first round behind a range-finding, and then, stiff jab.

Klitschko followed up with a hard right in the second round that shook and dazed Chambers, and then added a left hook to the jab and was generally busier with combinations in third -- sweeping all three rounds.

Klitschko, who was wrestled to the canvas in the second round (pictured below) by a constantly ducking and covering up Chambers, had the edge, yet again, during a relatively inactive fourth round by both fighters.



Chambers landed a decent right hand in the fifth, just as he did in the first, and, the third. But the smaller man couldn't manage any followup, thanks, primarily, to Klitscho's height, range and jabbing ability which helped him to pocket the first five rounds.

In the sixth and seventh rounds, Klitschko continued to move forward, fighting tall from behind his potent jab, even as the wily and agile Chambers eluded many of the champion's more potent, attempted blows without being able to manage an effective offense.

Klitschko did land two, solid, seventh-round right hands, when he began to sit down more on his punches, land more effective combinations, and dish out more punishment to the shorter man.

That momentum carried into the eighth, as well as, through the ninth, 10th, and 11th, which Klitschko won just as easily by fighting from a distance, even as he pressed against the baffled, befuddled and barely active Chambers.

Klitschko then went after the knockout in the 12th round, missing wildly on occasion before catching and flooring Chambers with that vicious left hook with about 17 seconds left.

Referee Genaro Rodridues stood over Chambers, but the count truly was not needed.