Chamber’s trainer sees Klitschko as predictable

By Jim Dower: Rob Murray, the trainer for heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KOs), sees IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) as an easy fighter to get his fighter ready for, saying in article at ESPN, “Klitschko fights the same way every time. That robotic, Eastern European style. It’s easy to train for him, because you know what he’s gonna do.” It’s good that Chamber’s trainer feels positive about the Klitschko fight, but unfortunately he’s not the one that’s going to be in the ring with Klitschko on March 20th, at the ESPRIT arena, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

It will be Chambers, who will be taking a big step up in competition to take this fight. One can understand why Chambers might feel that Klitschko’s style of fighting is easy to prepare for, because Chambers found success in getting ready for contender Alexander Dimitrenko, a Ukrainian with an Eastern European style of fighting somewhat similar to Klitschko.

However, there’s a big difference in hand speed, power, and ability with Wladimir compared to the younger, weaker Dimitrenko. Chambers was able to get away with things against Dimitrenko that he might have problems getting away with in a fight against the much more powerful and quicker Wladimir.

If Chambers makes a mistake against Klitschko, he could find himself on the canvas counting stars. Training for Klitschko and finding success against him are two different things. The kinds of fighters that have had success against Klitschko in the past are big punchers with crushing power. Chambers doesn’t fit in that category. He’s more of a finesse type fighter in the Chris Byrd mode. At 6’1” 208, Chambers is around the same size as Byrd, and maybe just a shade more powerful, but probably not enough for Chambers to put a scare in Klitschko and get a stoppage.

Chambers says “I wish him [Klitschko] to feel, Gold, I cannot get away from this guy’s punches. I want him to be uneasy in there. Like he’s running in a maze and can never find the exit. I don’t want it to be the kind of upset where it’s a lucky punch and if you fight the guy 100 times he would beat you the other 99.”

It would be well if Chambers had proven himself as the kind of dominating fighter that could achieve an impressive performance against a big fighter like Klitschko. However, in Chambers’ fights against Samuel Peter, Alexander Dimitrenko, Alexander Povetkin, Calvin Brock, Dominick Guinn and Ross Puritty, Chambers hasn’t looked overpowering.

Peter came into the fight with Chambers at 265, a career high for him, and yet still almost beat Chambers. Povetkin did beat Chambers, defeating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in January 2008. Chambers started off well during the first four rounds, looking fast and powerful for a small heavyweight.

However, by the 5th round, Chambers was gassed out and spent the next seven rounds mostly taking shots from the more active and better conditioned Povetkin. That fight probably amounts to being the best opponent of Chamber’s career, and he failed miserably in this test. He didn’t have the stamina and looked very poor in the second half of the fight.

Chambers will need to use movement to keep Wladimir from setting down on his big shots and connecting. If Chambers lets Wladimir connect with his big shots, he’ll have major problems in making out of that fight in one piece. Whether the movement will work is another matter.

More than a few fighters have tried using a lot of movement against Wladimir, and none of them have succeeded in beating him. Wladimir’s weakness is against huge punchers who put pressure on him. If Chambers tries to beat Wladimir with movement, he’s going about it the wrong way.

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