By Mitch Abramson
When the fight was over and the boxers met for the post-fight press conference, Eddie Chambers seemed far happier than the man who beat him on the scorecards the night of June 16, Tomasz Adamek. While Chambers happily discussed his ability to fight with one arm after he injured his left in the first round, Adamek seemed frustrated with his performance and his inability to take advantage of the injury. He may have lost the fight, but Chambers seemed to gain some traction with fans with his gutsy performance, and he was literally beaming at the post-fight presser.
Chambers will be just as happy if the MRI he is scheduled to undergo on Monday morning for his injured left arm comes up negative. More than a week after the fight, Chambers is still not sure what he did to his left arm. His personal doctor believes it’s just a strain but he won’t know for sure until he has the MRI, he told Boxingscene on Saturday. Chambers appeared to sustain the injury after throwing a left hand against Adamek in the first round. He then didn't throw another left hand the remainder of the fight, battling Adamek with just his right hand.
“It’s still a little tender, a little sore,” Chambers said in a phone interview. “I thought it was a tear in the beginning. But now I just have a little discomfort. In the days after the fight it started to heal. That leads me to believe that it’s just a strain. Let’s hope that’s all it is, so I can get back to the gym and training and pick up where I left off.”
His promoter, Dan Goossen plans to speak with Kathy Duva of Main Events next week in the hopes of getting him back on her “NBC Sports Network Fight Night” series against another quality heavyweight. The next show in the series is on Sept. 21.
“I’m working with Kathy Duva on Eddie, and I’m going to be huddling up with her next week,” Goossen said in a phone interview. “Kathy has that great little series, so I think it’s more in line as it relates to getting him exposure back on the NBC Network.”
While Duva promotes Adamek, it seems unlikely he will face Chambers in a rematch on Sept. 21.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t think Adamek would like to see Eddie anywhere else but ringside at one of his fights,” Goossen said.
Chambers is appreciative of all the praise he’s gotten for his effort but understands a loss is a setback that has put him in the back of other heavyweights, such as Adamek, in terms of getting a title shot.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t get the win and Adamek did,” Chambers said. “And that means that Adamek is closer to getting a title shot than I am. A win would have helped me a lot more than this loss, even though it was a bad call on the part of the judges. But it’s still a positive for me in other ways. I’m more excited about my career than I have at any time, and I’m excited about whatever opportunities come next.”
That includes a possible detour to cruiserweight for a title shot, he said. Chambers came into the bout with Adamek the lightest of his career at 202 pounds and is open to the possibility of going down in weight if the right fight is offered. Chambers said he probably weighed in closer to 199 pounds for the weigh-in to face Adamek because of the added weight of his clothes and “change in my pocket.”
“I think at this point I have a lot of options,” he said. “I can be a small heavyweight, or I could maybe fight at cruiserweight. We’ll see what happens. But I know I can’t do any training until my arm heals.”
Goossen believes his stock has risen, as a result of his performance against Adamek and that fans are now more familiar with Chambers.
“You put Eddie in front of a heavyweight that’s less than 6-5 and he’s going to be right there from the standpoint of giving you everything you want,” he said. “So from that end of it, he’s a dangerous guy to fight. Just imagine what would happen if he had two hands.”
Mitch Abramson covers boxing for the New York Daily News and BoxingScene.com.
