Wladimir Klitschko vs. Eddie Chambers bout on Internet only for $15

By Chris Williams: If you want to see the March 20th bout between IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) and American challenger Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KO’s), you’ll have no other choice but to watch the fight on the internet at Klitschko.com, the site owned by the Klitschko brothers.

ESPN writer Dan Rafael is reporting that the fight didn’t get picked up by either HBO or ESPN in the United States, and instead will have to be seen on pay-per-view on the internet for $14.95.

The fight will be available for viewers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Puerto Rico at Klitschko.com. Somehow, I don’t have a good feeling about this. I’ve been on Klitschko.com many times over the years and it’s often been a site that loads slowly, even on normal non-fight days. I can just imagine how the site might hold up if it has to support a huge amount of fans surging in to watch the fight.

I doubt it will be that many, because Klitschko isn’t a big draw in the U.S. and Canada like others fighters such as Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Apparently, HBO and ESPN, two of the networks that have shown Klitschko fights in the past, either didn’t have the schedule date available to support showing the Klitschko-Chambers fight or the money wasn’t there for the fight.

It’s disappointing if you’re a fan of Chambers, since he is after all American and perhaps the best heavyweight that America has to offer at this point in time. Rafael says that Wladimir still could have found another distribution company to show the Klitschko-Chambers fight on pay-per-view, but instead went for the internet only option, which seems almost insane.

I’m not sure if Klitschko is aware of this or not, but there are a large amount of people in the U.S. that still don’t have the internet, especially in rural areas. Most people do have cable or a dish, but not the internet. In comparison to other countries, the U.S. is ahead of most of them, but there are still a lot of people who don’t have the internet for whatever reason.

If Klitschko doesn’t care that a lot of fans won’t get to see his fight with Chambers, then I suppose this doesn’t matter, but it seems rather dumb for him to have gone this route. And like I said, I wonder whether Klitschko.com will even hold up under a huge surge of internet traffic on the night of the fight. I can see it going down and staying down.

As it is, the Klitschko-Chambers fight figures to be a huge mismatch of epic proportions. Chambers looks too small to beat Klitschko at only 6’1”, and will be giving away five inches height. It’s not just the height. Klitschko just looks huge compared to Chambers, and will have a big advantage in power and probably in hand speed as well in this fight. I’m not surprised that HBO and ESPN passed up the opportunity to show this fight, because it looks to be a one-sided affair even before the first punch has been thrown.

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