By Jake Donovan (Photo © Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com)
Even the very best of them don’t get it right on the first try. It could be in the boxing ring, on the silver screen, the ball field, or even in the place of business of the every day working stiff. Getting it right is the top priority, but in the absence of perfection, learning from your mistakes is every bit as, if not more, important.
Heavyweight contender “Fast” Eddie Chambers has now been given 14 months to reflect on the one night in his young boxing career where things didn’t go the way he planned.
“It was the first time it happened,” said Chambers of the night that dealt him his first defeat after 30 consecutive wins as a pro. “It was the biggest fight of my career at the time, and I didn’t perform the way the way I expected.”
The look on his face by fights end told that story, long before ring announcer Michael Buffer belted out the scores to make it official.
A little too tentative here, not enough heat on his fastball for the most part, but worst of all, looking at times like he didn’t belong there. Such are the memories – and for a single night, the regrets – he’s left with after falling short against Alexander Povetkin last January on HBO.
That he lost the fight and a chance to fight for the title proved to be the only bad news of the evening. The good news is that there’s still plenty of time to get back in line. Just ask his lone conqueror Povetkin, who 14 months later is still awaiting a title shot that will now most likely not come until September.
Chambers, meanwhile has bounced back to win three straight to up his record to 33-1 (18KO). None have come against earth shattering competition, but enough for the Pittsburgh-born, Philly-bred boxer to right some wrongs and work his way toward title contention. Most importantly, the wins helped restore Chambers’ confidence, and the belief that he can one day run the tables in a wide-open heavyweight division.
“I’m more focused on where I need to be,” offers Chambers, cryptic in speaking of where he “was” that night in Berlin, but nevertheless mentally refreshed these days. “I’m trying to move on and show what I learned from that fight.”
He, along with the boxing world, will find out how far along he’s advanced when he next steps foot in the ring. On tap is perhaps most dangerous test to date, when he throws down with former heavyweight titlist Samuel Peter this Friday night at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
The bout will air live in the main event of this week’s edition of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights.
With no major title on the line or even the guarantee of the winner receiving a shot at one, this heavyweight bout is one that neither side really needed to take.
Peter is coming off of a brutal one-sided loss to Vitali Klitschko last October, and would’ve been well within his right to take the low road back to contention. Lesser fighters than Chambers have tried their hand at political chess, waiting for alphabet rankings to thin out enough to travel the path of least resistance towards a mandatory ranking.
Instead, both fighters proceed head-on in what each view as a necessary risk.
Peter hit the comeback trail after his September 2005 points loss to Wladimir Klitschko. It eventually led to a portion of the heavyweight title, but at no point was it believed that a rematch with Wladimir – or now either Klitschko, for that matter – would ever turn out any different. Such is why no soft touches need apply in what his handlers believe is sink-or-swim time in his career.
Chambers is nowhere near that level of last resort. Though worldwide respect remains just out of reach, he enjoys one advantaged only afforded to very few notable heavyweights today – youth. At age 26 and having endured minimal punishment so far in his career, time is still very much on his side.
But in an era where fan’s expectations run high and patience wears thin, bigger wins need to come along than the ones he’s enjoyed to date.
That is what this weekend is all about.
“I wanted to get the best possible guy,” Chambers insists. “You can do a lot worse than fight the guy who just had the world heavyweight title around his waist. I’m glad he stepped up and gave me the opportunity.”
Taking this fight never required a second thought for Chambers, who views 2009 as the year where all remaining questions surrounding his career will be emphatically answered. The first step toward making the most of a second chance begins this Friday.
“It’s a position fight,” he says of the Peter fight, which, with the ESPN2 time slot comes the ESPN2-level payday along with it. “You don’t take it for the number of zeroes it adds to your bank account. It’s a heck of a shot and I don’t want to pass it up for the number of zeroes.”
A win can certainly lead to a fight that would help put him in another tax bracket, though the line of fighters waiting to face either of the Klitschko brothers is the longest in the division at the moment. Not much shorter is the path that leads to the lone significant heavyweight belt not owned by either Klitschko, as Nicolay Valuev is looking at a mandatory challenge against Ruslan Chagaev – and possibly a third fight with John Ruiz if that sanctioning body get its way.
Absence of a career-redefining fight, the plan is to beat Peter this weekend, then work his hardest to keep his name out there and keep winning long enough to be ready for a long-coveted title shot when one finally comes his way. But for the moment, it remains the dream down the road, and not necessarily the immediate priority.
“Obviously I’d love a title shot. It’s not my only goal but remains my main goal. Of course, if a big fight came along it would take precedence. But until it comes, I would love to stay busy.”
It’s tough to remain active in the heavyweight division when you’re style is box first and your marketability teeters on non-existent, another reason why stepping to Peter was a necessity.
“I’m not as well known to a lot of fans as Peter. He’s a big puncher. I have the skills, but lack the big power,” Chambers believes, though insisting that he at the very least boasts deceptive pop. “I have good punching power. I’m a boxer first, but there have been guys who moved in another direction the moment I start punching. Calvin Brock, Derrick Rossy, Dominick Guinn… all began to back up and change their game plan the moment they tasted my power.”
It was a moment that never came in the Povetkin fight, with Chambers spending too much time looking for the opening and not enough time creating one. Among other things, a lesson Chambers learned that night is, no matter what you do in the gym, all that matters is what you bring to the ring on fight night.
“We learned that you have to want it as much. You can’t just want it, you have to perform. No matter where you are, you have to step up. When you’re undefeated, you tend to get full of yourself. I enjoyed myself a little too much and I’ll never let that happen again.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Please feel free to contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
