Chambers has to force Klitschko to fight

By Dave Lahr: If heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KO’s) has any hope of beating IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) on March 20th, he’s going to have to try and force Klitschko into some hard exchanges and force him to fight him. Chambers doesn’t have the size or the power to fight in a slow and methodical way and still beat a huge 6’6” fighter like Wladimir. He has to try and get Klitschko into a dog fight, make him tire out and possibly land something hard enough while Klitschko is fighting all out. That’s pretty much Chamber’s only chance of beating the 33-year-old Wladimir.

If he lets him fight at a slow pace, letting Klitschko set up his jab and fight in a controlled manner it will end up being target practice for the Ukrainian fighter all night long. Chambers can’t afford that. He needs to get Klitschko fighting without thinking by pushing him and trying to get him in exchanges in close. If Chambers doesn’t go all out in this fight from the start, he loses and loses badly.

Chambers can’t afford to let Klitschko get comfortable fighting behind his jab, because once Wladimir is fighting calm and relaxed, he’s hard to beat. Chambers will need to make Klitschko afraid for him to win. If you look at Wladimir’s loses to Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster and Ross Purity, all those fighters came out immediately and landed some hard shots in the opening round to get Klitschko’s attention.

In the case of Purity, Wladimir looked incredibly nervous and stayed on the move constantly, as if he was afraid to stand his ground and fight Purity. It worked for Purity in that Klitschko eventually wore himself out moving around and throwing a lot of weak punches. Chambers needs to land some big shots and make the Ukrainian expend energy. Klitschko probably isn’t expecting Chambers to be a big puncher and will be surprised if he gets hit with some big shots from him.

I can see Klitschko coming to pieces mentally if Chambers hits him with a few big shots in the first round. It won’t take more than few for Klitschko to start sweating bullets and head for the hills. Once Klitschko starts running, he loses the power on his shots, and his jab gets a lot weaker as well. The important thing for Chambers I to get Klitschko to become sloppy, and make him use his legs more than he usually does.

Klitschko hasn’t been effectively pressured since fighting Samuel Peter in 2005. Most of Klitschko’s opposition since then have looked terrified of him, and have played it safe to try and survive rather than beat him. It hasn’t worked for them, because Klitschko has stopped seven out of his last eight opponents. Knowing that, Chambers needs to go all out and try to hurt Klitschko immediately rather than waiting around to be knocked out himself. He can’t win if he plays it safe.

9 Responses to “Chambers has to force Klitschko to fight”