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Eastern European domination of boxing’s glamor division continued last night as Russia’s Alexander Povetkin officially became the top up and coming heavyweight in the world with a twelve round handling of America’s best hope, “Fast” Eddie Chambers.
In front of 3,500 fans in the packed state of the art Tempodrom Arena in downtown Berlin, the 2004 Olympic Gold Medal winner Povetkin proved his recent victory over former IBF Champion Chris Byrd was no fluke with an impressive performance against Chambers.
It wasn’t easy as the 25 year old Chambers early on displayed the superb speed that beat contenders Calvin Brock and Dominic Guinn last year by punishing the oncoming Russian through the first four rounds with bracing combinations.
Heeding the advice of his corner to work harder and faster, Povetkin stepped it up. Having proved that he could take the best shots Chambers had to offer, he simply kept coming, pushing the American visitor back behind an efficient jab and hard body shots that had “Fast” Eddie more concerned about defense than his own offense in the middle rounds.
Chambers weathered the storm and tried to renew his efforts in the eighth as Povetkin started to run out of steam but Kursk native never gave his more experienced US opponent a chance to set up any kind of sustained attack.
As the bout wore on, Povetkin had clearly won the battle of mental strength as Chambers appeared to be shell shocked and was only interested in blocking punches, losing an IBF eliminator by scores of 119-109, 117-111 and 116-110.
The 28 year old Povetkin moves to 15-0 (11) while Chambers gets his first loss, dropping to 30-1 (16). 4.8 Million viewers saw the bout televised in Germany and with American network HBO also having screened the contest, Povetkin has quickly become one of the hottest fighters in world boxing today.
After the contest, promoter Wilfried Sauerland was interviewed by German television said that he was looking to stage a Povetkin vs. Wladimir Klitschko matchup in the summer, providing the IBF Champion wins his upcoming bout with WBO titlist Sultan Ibragimov.
On the undercard, Germany’s European Middleweight Champion Sebastian Sylvester, 28-2 (13), made his second successful defense with a dominating 12 round decision over French titlist Francois Bastient, 33-6-1 (15), by scores of 120-108, 119-108 and 118-108.
