By Eric Schmidt: In an outcome that came to no surprise, Alexander Povetkin (15-0, 11 KOs) outworked Eddie Chambers (30-1, 16 KOs) through course of their 12-round bout, beating him by a unanimous decision tonight in Berlin, Germany. After a good start in the first three round, in which he landed some good shots to the head of Povetkin, Chambers, 25, only showed brief glimpses of offense the rest of the way. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 119-109, 116-112.
It seemed that after the fourth round, Chambers was for all practical purposes finished for the fight, doing little the against Povekin for the remainder of the bout. Povetkin, of course, did what he always does, namely, throw tons of punches. In each round, he walk come right at Chambers, showing little fear from him, and throwing numerous punches. Povetkin moves forward with this win to a future showdown with International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Even in the early rounds, one through three, Chambers was getting outworked by Povetkin. Instead of standing and trading with Povetkin, Chambers stood back and waited for openings for which he could land counter shots. He landed some good shots in the first several rounds, hitting Povetkin with bruising right hands. I did get somewhat of a surprise during this time, for I had assumed that Povetkin would walk through Chambers the same way he did in his previous bout with Chris Byrd. He didn’t, or he couldn’t, as he seemed not to have enough power or size to man handle Chambers the way he did with Byrd. This may telling, since Povetkin will be going up against an even bigger and stronger opponent when he takes on Wladimir Klitschko, and I wonder what his plan will be in that bout?
Once the fight got to the 5th round, Chambers seemed to go on shutdown mode, his offense coming almost to a complete stop. He still looked the same as before, nothing had appeared to change. In fact, he looked less tired than Povetkin, who seemed exhausted by this point, yet for some reason Chambers just stopped throwing punches. This fact wasn’t missed by Povetkin, who then really started letting his hands go, pounding away at Chambers like he was a heavy bag. The fight turned boring, since Chambers wasn’t doing anything in response to defend himself. I wish I could say that things changed in rounds 6-12, but they didn’t.
Except for a few sporadic combinations, Chambers did nothing in the remaining six rounds of the fight. It was a sad way for him to lose the match, because it seemed that if Chambers had only attacked Povetkin all out in one of the later rounds, he’d have had a chance at taking him out. Povetkin was completely exhausted in the later rounds, pushing his body beyond it’s limits and feeling the effects of it.
All of his non-stop punching, though effective, leaves him vulnerable by midpoint of his fights. I’ve noticed that in almost all of his fights, as he punches himself into a state of exhaustion again and again. Chambers, however, didn’t have the stamina or power or possibly the will, it seems, to take advantage of the fatigued Povetkin and try for a knockout.
I can’t say I like Povetkin’s chances against Wladimir Klitschko. He’s going to get hit early and often by monstrous shots, and his high volume offense will likely get him no where, except maybe knocked out.