By Dave Lahr: Top heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers is confident about his next fight with WBC/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and is predicting a knockout win over him. Chambers won’t be facing Alexander Povetkin for the interim IBF heavyweight title, he says. Chambers would prefer to fight for the real title. Chambers has this to say about Wladimir: “If I keep hitting his chin, even if it’s 150 times, he [Klitschko] will fall eventually.”

Chambers thinks that his chances are good due to his hand speed, which he feels is better than Klitschko. Chambers also thinks that his inside fighting ability is superior to that of Klitschko and thinks that he’ll be able to get inside on Wladimir and take advantage of him on the inside. It will be interesting to see if that turns out to be the case, because much of the time, Wladimir doesn’t allow his opponents to fight him on the inside.

Wladimir either grabs then in a clinch or else he moves away. For Chambers to have any chance in the fight, he’s going to have to hope that Wladimir doesn’t decide to grab or move because Chambers doesn’t have any chance at all if Wladimir fights him on the outside with his jab and right hand. It could turn ugly for Chambers really quick if he’s unable to establish and inside base against Klitschko.

Chambers fought Alexander Dimitrenko, a six foot seven inch heavyweight, remarkably well in his last fight in July, beating Dimitrenko by a 12 round decision. Chambers was able to do this by working his way to the inside and punishing Dimitrenko. Chambers had it easy because Dimitrenko didn’t clinch and actually attempted to fight Chambers on the inside.

In hindsight, it was a stupid thing for Dimitrenko to do, because his arms were too long and he lacked the ability to fight effectively on the inside. What’s worse is that Dimitrenko failed to adapt later in the fight when it was clear that he was no match for Chambers at close range.

At 209, Chambers will be really small compared to the 6 foot six inch two forty five pound Wladimir and it’s hard to imagine that Chambers will have much luck being a pressure fighter against him. And that’s what he’s going to be trying to do. Chambers can’t stay on the outside because he’ll be destroyed by Klitschko if he fights like that.