Fast Eddie…Fast Asleep: The Post-Fight Report Card
By Cliff Rold
It’s not often a body slam in a boxing match is worthy of praise. Saturday was a rare exception. In recent years, World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO) has become a perfection of style.
Not everyone enjoys watching the style. At almost 6’7, and built like a tank, it’s disconcerting to see the best big man in the game play so safely.
The style still works for him. It’s all about fighting tall, using a left jab which is among the best ever seen at Heavyweight, popping the right, and riding opponents who get too close by clinching them and leaning.
Eddie Chambers (35-2, 18 KO) decided to make a statement early against Klitschko, flour sacking him across the ring in the first, outright body slamming him in round two. Giving away some forty pounds in the ring, Chambers was saying, “I’m stronger than you think and I’m here to win.”
Klitschko caught him with a wobbling right before the latter round was over and the will to win began its inevitable decline, ceasing without a count at the end of the twelfth when Klitschko detonated a nuclear left hook.
Let’s go the report card.
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed - Klitschko B+; Chambers A-/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power - Klitschko A; Chambers C+/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense - Klitschko B+; Chambers B+/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Intangibles - Klitschko B+; Chambers B/Post: Same
In picking Klitschko to defeat Chambers (and, really, who didn’t), it was noted, “Chambers probably doesn’t have the fire power to win, but he’s got the fire to try. That’s really all that can be asked.”
It turned out to be slightly less than true. Chambers certainly tried early on, even after being hurt in round two. He was looking for somewhere, anywhere, to land something with meaning. However, around the last third of the fight, it became clear Chambers saw what everyone else outside the ring was seeing.
Barring a miracle, it just wasn’t happening for him. What more could be asked then? Chambers could have gone for the miracle. There was never a sheer rush of desperation, a moment when everything Chambers had left was put forth, knockout consequences be damned. Rationally, it would have been against type for his style of fighter, but boxing isn’t the most rational endeavor.
And he got knocked out anyways playing it safe.
He obviously put in the work in the gym, and Chambers was one of the few challengers with spirit Wladimir has faced in his now twelve fight win streak. Ultimately, it didn’t matter because Wladimir is just that much better than the field right now. There are those who prefer his big brother, Vitali, and from an entertainment standpoint might be right. However, it terms of quantity of notable wins, accomplishment, and consistency, Wladimir holds the advantages.
He showed off why Saturday. It was humorous between rounds to hear him tell trainer Emanuel Steward to relax…because it’s something Wladimir has worked hard to be better at. He still seems tense, and there is always the feeling that Wlad is a hard shove from falling apart, but it hasn’t happened in six years.
While Chambers is commended for the shape he whipped himself into after some disappointing showings, in defeat to Alexander Povetkin and a win over Sam Peter, the work ethic in the family Klitschko is the model all Heavyweights should follow.
Wladimir’s passive, cerebral approach can stink to watch. He’s an athletic giant with explosive power. The twelfth round knockout of Chambers probably could have happened much earlier with the same left hook if he’d pressed it all the way. Heavyweights who can go home early…well, that’s the point at Heavyweight right?
It’s a fair complaint. However, sheer consistent professionalism is something sorely lacking at Heavyweight, from everyone not named Klitschko, on a regular basis. Wladimir gets up every day and puts in the work to be the best. Some of his opponents get in shape for him; he gets in shape for everyone.
That, perhaps more than anything, is what makes Wladimir the world’s best Heavyweight.
Looking Ahead
There are, right now, two other Heavyweights who have work ethics similar to Klitschko’s. Neither has been a Heavyweight long. Former Cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek (40-1, 27 KO) has Heavyweight fringe contender Chris Arreola on tap later this spring; former Cruiserweight champ and current WBA beltholder David Haye (23-1, 21 KO) has a defense against former WBA stalwart John Ruiz in a couple weeks.
Both men, while likely to be heavy underdogs against Klitschko, also could supply him with challenges that increased the entertainment quotient of his contests. They would also be entertaining foes for Chambers as he embarks on the road back from this defeat. Chambers is certainly not done. He’s not good enough to beat the best in class right now; it doesn’t make him irrelevant.
Adamek and Haye both have real fights to win before they can be considered seriously. Both could easily find a new loss on the right side of their ledgers. In the case of Haye, a showdown with Wladimir (or Vitali), based on an ongoing war of words and some cancellations in 2009, is already the richest fight in the Heavyweight division by a lot. Haye-Klitschko definitely gets the Heavyweight crown back to where it was not this weekend: U.S. TV.
In the meantime, a serious contender and career Heavyweight looms. When is anyone’s guess but, now under the tutelage of Teddy Atlas, it appears the 2004 Olympic Super Heavyweight Gold Medalist from Russia Povetkin (19-0, 14 KO) is ready to seize the mandatory shot (via the IBF) he earned early in 2008 with a decision over Chambers.
Klitschko-Povetkin was scheduled that year but Povetkin was injured (coincidentally at a point where he appeared to need a bit more seasoning) in training and the fight postponed. Atlas has suggested the postponement is closed.
Povetkin had some buzz going a couple years ago. He’s still the best Heavyweight in the world without a belt. Since boxing won’t be doing a round of “Family Feud,” Wladimir has what he typically has on tap next: the next most qualified contender to the throne.
Let’s hope, for the sake of seeing a great fight at Heavyweight again, Povetkin is already working.
Report Card Picks 2010: 6-1
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com