Eddie Chambers Looks To Make Cruiserweight Mark Aug. 3

Eddie Chambers has thought long and hard about dropping down to cruiserweight from heavyweight, but he had an extra chunk of time while rehabbing from an arm injury suffered in his last bout, a UD12 loss to Tomasz Adamek on June 16, 2012.

During the layoff, he decided to drop down, where there wouldn’t be a size advantage for his foe, where he would no longer be the smaller guy.

“I just really want to be in this weight class because I see that possibilities are a little more open at cruiserweight and I can also reign there because there is no size difference,” he said.

We shall see if the move pays off on Aug. 3, when he takes on the South African resident Thabiso Mchinu, at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. The fighter took part in a media call Wednesday, and said he could, if he beats Mchunu, get a cruiser title crack by the end of the year. But, he also said that he wouldn’t shut the door on a trip back to heavyweight, to fight a similarly-sized boxer.

“I’m not looking past this guy,” said the 36-3 Pennsylvanian, who will meet the southpaw foe in a fight to run on NBC Sports Network. “But if I can get a sweet deal against a smaller heavyweight, at 225 pounds or so, I would be willing to step in with the right guy.”

(Chambers is happy that he won’t be facing a severe height disadvantage like he did in above photo against 6-7 Alexander Dimitrenko in 2009.)

His promoter, Kathy Duva, said she tried hard to make a Chambers-David Haye fight, but got no love from the Haye team. She also said that an Eddie Chamber-Dereck Chisora fight sounds intriguing: “I thought, ‘Let’s bring Eddie to crusier, see if he can dominate, we believe he will and then he can skip back and forth if he wants.”’

In the cruiser realm, Duva said, the IBF goes by the rules, so she’d be inclined to target their champion for Chambers. She said she’s gung ho on drumming up interest in the cruiser class, and the same goes for the heavyweight class, on HBO.

The last Chambers fight, against Adamek, provided proof that the 6-1 Chambers has skills, and will; his left bicep tore in round one, and he was right there with the Pole the whole rest of the way. That skill and will, though, makes it hard to get gigs. Duva and matchmker Jolene Mizzone joked on the call that German promoters, who have corraled much of the cruiser talent, use every excuse in the book when Duva pokes around for opportunities for Chambers, who has been in with Alexander Povetkin, Samuel Peter and Wladimir Klitschko.

Trainer James Bashir weighed in, and said that he’d love to see a super heavyweight division created, so the big boys could tangle with each other. He’d still like to see Chambers fight Seth Mitchell, for example. Tyson Fury, not so much, he said.

Mchunu (13-1) and his promoter, Damien Michael, got credit from Duva and Mizzone, for being so quick to take a tough fight. Mizzone said she’d been in contact with them for about a year before the Chambers slot opened up. They were informed and took it right away.

Duva finished by touting the Aug. 3 card. No empty promise, I’d say; her Main Events/NBC cards have featured some solid contests, and I expect this one to be no different.