Fireworks Display In Germany: Chambers Downs Dimitrenko

Can’t call him “Fat” Eddie Chambers anymore, not after Eddie Chambers weighed in at a pretty slim and trim 208 ¼ pounds, and proceeded to score a standing eight and a knockdown over Alexander Dimitrenko enroute to a majority decision win in Hamburg, Germany on Saturday. So his abs aren’t the picture perfect six pack; we Americans will take what we can get in this age of diminished expectations and skill sets amongst the heavies, and there was plenty to appreciate as Chambers repped positively for the US on Independence Day.

The scores were 116-111, 117-109, and 113-113. That last card was turned in by a man named Paul Thomas, and we’ll be touching on his skills, or lack thereof, on TSS on Monday.

The 6-1 Chambers, from Pennsylvania, is now 35-1 (18 KOs), and he leapfrogs Cris Arreola as the top American heavyweight prospect/contender, seeing as how he looked so effective and aggressive against a man half a foot taller than he. Dimi backed up, and shot the jab, which Chambers usually slipped, and we all pondered the fact that Chambers has better head movement and foot movement than anybody Wladimir Klitschko has fought in a dog’s age. This bout was billed as a WBO title shot eliminator, with the winner due for a crack at Wladimir Klitschko, the ‘BO belt holder. So, Chambers performed more than competently in a situation with high stakes; he wasn’t engaged in some hot dog eating contest, here, so whispers about his heart, his desire, his level of yearning for a belt must be dialed back, if not dismissed. Dimi was rated No. 1 in the WBO, Chambers No. 5.

The 6-7 Dimitrenko (253 ½ pounds; age 27; born in Ukraine, lives in Germany) drops to 29-1 (19 KOs). He absorbed a standing eight count in round seven (off a left hook to the body—Chambers is an underrated body thumper), and was dropped in the tenth (by a left hook to the chin that slapped his mouthguard out). Too often, he went all octopus arms against the American, grabbing the smaller man after eating an uppercut or hook he didn’t like the taste of. One got the sense that he was fighting the urge to lay down a few times, as Chambers lasered in on his exposed torso.

Check out the man derisively, FORMERLY known in some sarcastic quarters as “Fat” Eddie, in fine form, against Dimitrenko here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GycjQfzptjw