By Jason Kim: Heavyweight challenger Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KO’s) faces the formidable task of trying to find a way to beat the huge 6’6” 245 pound IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) next month on March 20th at the ESPRIT arena, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, German. Chambers, 27, is lacking in almost every category imaginable for this fight aside from self confidence. If that was all he needed to beat the 33-year-old Klitschko then it wouldn’t be so much of a problem, but unfortunately the light-hitting Chambers is going to need a lot more than inner self belief to beat the Ukrainian Klitschko.

Chambers had a great year in 2009, beating former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Samuel Peter and top contender Alexander Dimitrenko both by decisions to get the title opportunity against Klitschko. Chambers feels that the wins over those fighters along with his fast hand speed and inside boxing ability will enable him to beat Klitschko. However, at 6’1” 209, Chambers appears to be much too small to compete against Klitschko unless he can get inside on him and land a big shot to put Wladimir down.

The opportunities will likely be there, but Chambers is going to have to find enough power to make it happen. In watching his last three fights against Dimitrenko, Peter and Cisse Salif, I didn’t see any kind of power from Chambers that would make me believe that he can drop or take out Klitschko. While Wladimir does have a history of having a shaky chin at times, he’s only been troubled against big punchers like Ross Purity, Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster and to a certain extent against DaVarryl Williamson.

Chambers isn’t in the class of any of those fighters in terms of his punching power, and instead may have to be content in trying to work his way to a point’s victory against Klitschko. That won’t likely happen. Wladimir is not only a big puncher with either hand, but he can also box effectively on the outside using his powerful jab.

Indeed, Klitschko, if he has his way, would prefer to outpoint his opponents using his jab without having to worry about taking a risk and getting hit with something big. If Chambers doesn’t pressure Klitschko and force him to fight hard, then you can bet that Wladimir will jab Chambers all night long and make a mess of his face in the process.

But something tells me that Chambers is going to try to duplicate the efforts he made against Dimitrenko by trying to get into close to Klitschko and hurt him with combinations on the inside. In that case, Klitschko will obviously tie Chambers up to shut him down, but at the same time, Klitschko will let loose with his artillery to keep Chambers off of him.

This could be interesting for awhile if Chamber’s chin is strong enough to take the shots that Klitschko is hammering him with. I tend to doubt that Chambers will be able to hold up for long when Klitschko starts opening up on him. It’s difficult to take the kind of power shots that Klitschko typically hits his opponents with. He’s able to land with a lot of power in every round.

Wladimir doesn’t lose his power in the later rounds like some heavyweights do. This is perhaps why I think it’s unlikely that Chambers will be still standing by the end of the fight. However, he needs to try and tire Klitschko out by making him throw a lot of punches. At the same time, Chambers is going to have to try and block some of the shots and duck the rest. He won’t be able to take 12 rounds of punishment without going down or getting cut up. So he needs to make Klitschko expend a lot of energy as fast as he can and then try to take him out with a big shot.