By Erik Schmidt: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) has yet to let on who his next opponent will be for December 13th. It was thought that Wladimir would be fighting his International Boxing Federation mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin next but it may not necessarily turn out to be the case now. Klitschko, 33, recently made mention of being interested in fighting his WBO number #1 mandatory challenger Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KO’s) first rather than Povetkin.

There is talk that Povetkin’s new assistant trainer Teddy Atlas wants Povetkin (17-0, 12 KO’s) to get in another fight before Povetkin takes a big step up against the 33-year-old Klitschko. Additionally, HBO is reportedly interested in showing the Klitschko vs. Chambers bout rather than Povetkin at this time.

It’s up to Wladimir whom he wants to defend his titles against first. One would guess that he’ll choose to take on Chambers, the American fighter, first. Right now, Chambers has the hot hand with his impressive 12-round majority decision over WBO number #1 ranked Alexander Dimitrenko earlier this month on July 4th.

Despite giving up six inches in height and over 40 pounds in weight to the huge Dimitrenko, Chambers wore him down and dropped Dimitrenko in the later rounds with a big right hand. Going into the fight, Dimitrenko had been picked by many boxing experts to beat Chambers and wind up the mandatory challenger for Klitschko.

However, Chambers started off slowly in the first five rounds, struggling initially with Dimitrenko’s jab and movement, but starting in the 6th round, Chambers began to take control over the fight with his powerful combinations. In the 10th through 12th rounds, Chambers battered the tired and exhausted Dimitrenko at close range with powerful combinations and had him hurt in both the 10th and 12th rounds.

Povetkin, 29, a 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist for Russia, is probably the more dangerous fight for Wladimir due to Povetkin’s heavy pressure style of fighting. Povetkin typically sets a very hectic pace against his opponents starting in the 1st round and eventually wears them out with his constant pressure and high punch output. This was the case in Povetkin’s fight with Chambers last year in January 2008 in the IBF heavyweight title eliminator tourney. Povetkin pushed Chambers hard from the start of the fight, walking Chambers down and forcing him to expend energy early.

Chambers did surprisingly well in the first four rounds, landing some heavy shots and blackening both of Povetkin’s eyes. However, Povetkin didn’t let up and eventually wore Chambers down in the 2nd half of the fight and dominated him the rest of the way.

Although Chambers was heavier then and not as sharp as he looked in his recent fight with Dimitrenko, I would still consider Povetkin to be the more dangerous fighter due to his bigger size at 6’2” 229 pounds and better power than Chambers.

This is why I doubt that Klitschko will go after Povetkin first. It’s easier to take the fight against the smaller, weaker Chambers instead. Besides, Chambers is arguably the more popular fighter than Povetkin due to the win over Dimitrenko.