Undefeated “Fast” Eddie Chambers (30-0, 16 KOs) won a 12-round split decision victory last night over Calvin Brock (31-2, 23 KOs) in the International Boxing Federation eliminator bout at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, WA. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 115-113 for Chambers and 115-113 for Brock. However, the bout looked more like a draw to me, as Brock out-landed Chambers in virtually every round of the fight aside from the 12th round. Unfortunately for Brock, his fast looked like he’d been hit by a mack truck, because he was badly lumped up with horrible looking swelling under each eye.
Brock, 32, came into the bout weighing a career high 241, although claiming the 15 lbs of weight gain was all muscle. Who knows? It may have been. However, it didn’t seem to help his stamina any, as he looked tired by the 6th round of the fight and spent most of the next six rounds running from Chambers. In rounds one through four, Brock controlled the fight, throwing hard body shots and numerous jabs at calm looking Chambers. Always a poor starter, Chambers did every little in the first half of the fight, aside from a late flurry in the last minute of each round, trying to steal it at the end. It looked as if he was too lazy to work the entire three minutes, perhaps fearing that he would tire himself out.
Whatever the case, he lost the first four rounds on my card. However, Chambers came alive in round five, landing fast combinations and piercing jabs which swelled up both of Brock’s eyes. In rounds six through eight, Chambers clearly won, landing the much sharper punches compared to Brock’s slow, and weaker shots. However, Brock continued to put hands on Chambers the entire time, and in the 19th and 11th, Brock appeared to win the rounds due to his massive punch output. Where Brock went wrong, though, is in the 12th, when he suddenly decided to run from Chambers. It looked bad, and it made him seem if he was afraid of him. Not surprisingly, the judges’ also didn’t care for Brock’s running, which is why they probably scored it like they did.