With One Arm, Chambers Does Well, But Loses To Adamek

Eddie Chambers is not the great heavyweight hope to restore the stars and stripes’ luster in that realm, but if the guy’s left arm is hurt like I suspect it is, he deserves heavy duty props for his effort in the main event against Tomasz Adamek on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. NBC cable televised the Main Events promotion. Chambers threw a left hook that missed, with 34 seconds left in the first round. He looked at his left bicep, then again…and then didn’t use the left again the rest of the way. I thought he did quite well with one arm, but the judges didn’t. Adamek took a UD12, by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and an out of whack, to me, 119-109. I would have been quite content with Chambers getting the nod, even without knowing the specifics of his arm injury, but as we all know by know, the subjective whims of boxing judges is on par with the wind for stability and reliability.

In the first, Chambers (age 30; from PA; 36-2 entering; 202 pounds) pumped the jab on Adamek (age 35; from Poland, living in NJ; ex 175 pound titlist; 225 pounds; 45-2 entering), who wanted to also establish that table setter. Chambers held his left low, and he looked sharp. We heard that he sat out about a year after he lost to Wladimir Klitschko, and was hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. His hand speed edge looked immense. In the second, Chambers looked confident that his physical skills would carry him to a win. The Pole chipped away, but was eating right hands. In round three, we saw Chambers go lefty then back to righty. Adamek was in his face, and landed a couple rights, but Chambers slips well, and wasn’t seriously touched. In the fourth, Adamek launched two jabs and the right, with Eddie slipping away from harm. Chambers said he hurt his left arm, a tear of some sort, early on in the fight, we heard from Chris Mannix during the round. That explained why he kept switching and wasn’t pumping the jab anymore. He led with the right, then went lefty and finished up with a right jab.

In the fifth, the one-armed boxer did everything with the right. If the Pole knew that the left was hurt, we didn’t know, but it didn’t seem like he was trying to exploit it if he knew. In the sixth, Eddie came forward,incredibly, as he showed a good deal of heart in dealing with the injury. Adamek was just busier in this frame. In the seventh, Chambers kept mugging, maybe a smart move, to show he wasn’t shaken. Chambers kept on pulling off the one-armed bandit thing; Adamek had some luck in the eighth, and the cards had to be tightening up. Chambers scored with two clean blows in the tenth, and his stamina, fighting in pain, with one good arm, was to be marveled at. The Pole still didn’t target the busted wing. Did his corner not pick up on it? In the 11^th, Adamek tried to finish strong. Both corners told their guy they needed the last two rounds, we heard. In the 12^th, Eddie’s D was strong to start. He dipped his head to avoid contact, and he was letting the Pole be busier. We went to the cards.

Heavyweight Bryant Jennings got in some good work against Steve Collins and won a UD8. Collins proved to have a better chin than many expected, and while some would say Jennings should have got him out of there, we must recall he’s only been a pro a couple years. He is still learning.

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