By Jim Dower: Going into next month’s fight on March 20th between American heavyweight challenger Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KO’s) and IBF/WBC heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) things look somewhat bleak for the 27-year-old Chambers. The fight will be taking place in Klitschko’s adopted country at the ESPRIT arena, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. There could be as many as 61,000 fans showing up, most of the pro-Klitschko fans to cheer him on for every punch he throws.

In addition, the 6’6” 245 pound Wladimir has a big advantage in size over the 6’1” 209 pound Chambers. Klitschko will also have the advantage in the power department. In almost every area that you imagine – speed, power, reach, height, experience – Klitschko has the advantage. The only thing that Chambers has going for him in this fight is some good speed and perhaps better defensive ability. Chambers is going to need to be better on defense because he’s very likely going to be facing a lot of incoming fire from Wladimir through as long as this fight lasts.

If Chambers is fortunate, most of the shots he’ll be getting hit with will be in the form of powerful jabs. But there’s also a good chance that Chambers may have to deal with having to defend left hooks and straight hands from Wladimir. It all depends. Klitschko sometimes doesn’t use his left hook and right hands, both of which are very powerful weapons, if he feels that there’s a chance that he might get countered from his opponent. In that case, Wladimir is satisfied with jabbing his opponents to death. It may seem like it’s no big deal to deal with a fighter that just jabs, but Wladimir’s jab is like a power punch and if he’s landing a lot of them, he can mess up the features of whoever he’s facing. His trainer Emanuel Steward has gone a long ways towards getting Klitschko to use his jab more often. He always had a great jab, but didn’t use it all the time until Steward arrived on the scene six years ago to start training him.

Chambers has got to find away to get past Klitschko’s jabs right hands if he’s to have any real chance at beating him. I doubt Eddie will have to worry too much about Klitschko’s left hook, because he rarely throws it anymore. However, it’s still something that Chambers needs to be alert for because Wladimir can knock a fighter out with either his left hook or right hand.

You can’t focus on just one of them because he can always pull the other punch out of his arsenal and level his opponent with it. Chambers needs to somehow duck up Klitschko’s jabs and try to get inside him without getting hit with anything big on the way in. Chambers has to make every opportunity count for him. He’s got good power when he’s in close throwing combinations.

Chambers should go for broke once he gets within punching range of Wladimir and try swinging for the fences. Klitschko doesn’t have the best chin in the business and if Chambers can hit him with a hard enough shot to hurt Klitschko, then he stands a chance of making taking him out with a flurry. Klitschko’s stamina is also a problem.

Chambers should try to keep Klitschko backing up as much as possibly by walking him down. Ross Purity, a journeyman with a good right hand and left hook, was able to pressure Klitschko until he wore him down and stopped him in the 11th round in 1998. Chambers should look at that fight and see if he can duplicate Purity’s efforts.