January 26, 2008
Tempodrome-Berlin, Germany
This is part 2 of a 2 part recap of the HBO BAD show from Saturday.
The winner of this match is supposed to be in line for a match against the winner of a unification match between current IBF/IBO Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko and WBO Heavyweight Champion Sultan Ibragimov.
IBF Heavyweight (200+) 12-Round Title Eliminator Match:
Alexander Povetkin (14-0, 11 KO's, 226.75 pounds) vs. Eddie Chambers (30-0, 16 KO's, 219 pounds)
Povetkin began his career in combat sports as a kickboxer. In September 1997, he won the Word Junior (under 19) Championship in kickboxing. In November 1999, Povetkin won the World Amateur Kickboxing Championship. The following June, the native of Kursk, Russia would capture the professional European Kickboxing Championship in Nicosia. After that, Povetkin transitioned to amateur boxing.
The former kickboxer had an outstanding amateur boxing career. Competing for Russia at super heavyweight (200+ pounds), Povetkin won the 2003 World Amateur Championship in Bangkok, and the 2002 and 2004 European Championships. Povetkin capped off his amateur career by winning the gold medal in boxing at super heavyweight (200+ pounds) at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games.
Povetkin did not turn pro immediately following the Olympics. He waited instead until June 11, 2005 with a round 2 technical knockout victory over Muhammed Ali Durmaz in Bayern, Germany. Part of the reason Povetkin delayed turning pro was to find a promoter that would let him train primarily in Russia and hod his matches in Germany or Russia. Povetkin has had 12 of his 14 matches in Germany, with the other 2 being in Russia. The location of this match in Berlin is a huge advantage to Povetkin.
The gold medalist's last match was a technical knockout victory over Chris Byrd, 1:52 into round 11 when Byrd's corner threw in the towel to save their boxer from more abuse during the match on October 27, 2007 in Germany. Povetkin's victory was so dominant, that 2-time heavyweight champion Byrd decided to drop down to 200 pounds to continue his career. The match between Povetkin and Byrd was one semi-final in a 4-man tournament to determine a challenger to the IBF Heavyweight Championship.
Povetkin is the number 10 ranked contender by The Ring magazine to its vacant championship at heavyweight.
Chambers turned pro at 18-years-old, with a round 2 technical knockout victory over Tyrone Austin on December 29, 2000 at the Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, West Virginia. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania resident would use his first several years as a professional boxer as an almost extended time in the amateur ranks. Chambers was competing frequently in the ring early as a pro against soft opposition. In 2004 and 2005, Chambers began to increase his level of opposition while decreasing the frequency of his matches. In 2007, Chambers began to face solid opposition, but he has still been very insulated from tough opponents. Chambers record is heavily inflated and this match should begin to answer the question of how inflated.
The Philadelphia resident's last match was a 12-round split decision victory over Calvin Brock on November 2, 2007 at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. That match was the other semi-final of this 4-man tournament, and was a narrow victory by Chambers. The final scorecards had Chambers winning, 115-113, 113-115, 115-113, which made the margin of victory 1 round on 2 judges scorecards.
Chambers is unranked by The Ring, but the number 10 ranked heavyweight by boxrec.com.
Chambers at 25-years-old is 3 years younger then the 28-year-old Povetkin. Povetkin has the height advantage standing 6' 2" tall, while Chambers is 6' 1" tall. Both boxers have an arm length of 26" measured from the armpit to the end of the fist. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, it is unlikely to have changed much since the previous day's official weigh-in. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.
The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The referee is Steve Smoger. The judges are keeping official score of this match from ringside are from South Africa, England and Mexico. Harold Lederman is keeping unofficial score of this match for HBO.
Povetkin appears to be busier and more aggressive in an uneventful round 1. That should be good enough for Povetkin to win round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Chambers, 10-9. Chambers wins round 2 with some very clean effective punching, 10-9. A right hand by Chambers near the end of round 2 appears to have caused some severe swelling under the left eye of Povetkin. However in round 2, Chambers was only active in brief spurts, while Povetkin was busy the entire round. Chambers' clean punching is being overshadowed by his inactivity when trying to score these early rounds, and if he does not pick up his workrate the Philadelphia resident is unlikely to get full credit for the good punches he lands. Lederman scores round 2 for Povetkin, 10-9. Chambers wins round 3, 10-9. Chambers leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28. Lederman scores round 3 for chambers, 10-9, and as Chambers winning the match after 3 rounds, 29-28.
Chambers wins round 4, 10-9. This has been an action packed match for heavyweights with a very fast pace. Chambers wins round 4 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Chambers wins round 5, 10-9. This is a somewhat close round though, because Povetkin is so much busier then Chambers. Povetkin wins round 5 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. In round 6, there is some swelling beginning to form around the left eye of Chambers from repeated Povetkin right hands. At this same time, Povetkin's left eye is beginning to sell shut from the continued swelling caused by the Chambers right hand in round 2. Additionally, Povetkin is beginning to gas out from the heavy pace he has been keeping up throughout the match. Round 6 is Povetkin's best of the match, and he should win it, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Chambers leads on my scorecard, 58-56. Through 6 rounds Chambers has landed 122 of the 243 total punches he has thrown, good for a 50% total connect percentage. Povetkin has landed 74 of the 431 total punches he has thrown, for a 17% total connect percentage. Lederman scores round 6 for Povetkin, 10-9, and has the match even after 6 rounds, 57-57.
With 1:34 to go in round 7, Povetkin has thrown 46, while Chambers has thrown 11. That disparity in punches thrown is how Chambers is hugely outlanding Povetkin and losing rounds. Chambers may land 10 more good punches a round, then Povetkin. However, Chambers spends 2:30 of the round looking like Povetkin's heavy bag, absorbing punches to his arms and gloves without fighting back. Povetkin wins round 7, 10-9. Lederman scores round 7 for Povetkin, 10-9. Through 7 rounds, Povetkin is averaging 72 total punches thrown per round. According to CompuBox, the heavyweight average of total punches thrown per round is 46. Povetkin wins round 8, 10-9. Chambers pace got even slower in round 8, and Povetkin, who looks tired is working at an even higher rate then earlier in the match. In round 8, Chambers threw 35 total punches, while Povetkin threw 94. It appears this match may have been decided in the gym. Lederman scores round 8 for Povetkin, 10-9. Povetkin putting on an exhibition in stamina wins round 9, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Povetkin leads on my scorecard, 86-85. Lederman scores round 9 for Povetkin, and has the gold medalist winning after 9 rounds, 87-84.
Povetkin is proving himself to be a legit top of the food chain heavyweight. He wins round 10, 10-9. Povetkin wins round 10 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Max Kellerman on color commentary points out that in the corner after round 10, Povetkin appears so tired that he is going to be sick in the ring out of pure exhaustion. However, when the next round starts Povetkin shows championship determination and resumes his intense workrate despite how he appears to feel physically. Povetkin dominates round 11 and wins it easily, 10-9. Povetkin is doing a form of Lamaze breathing after round 11 in the corner to deal with the pain he is feeling and mentally prepare himself for 1 more round that will earn him a title shot. After round 11 in Chambers' corner, the boxer is being told he needs a knockout and unconvincingly saying he will go after it. This 1 minute rest period shows who really wants that title shot. Lederman scores round 11 for Povetkin, 10-9. Povetkin wins round 12 decisively, 10-9. Povetkin wins the match on my scorecard, 116-112. It could be by a lot more on the official scorecards. Lederman scores round 12 for Povetkin, 10-9, and scores the match for the gold medal winner the match, 117-111. In the final 2 rounds when Chambers' corner told him he needed to go for a knockout, the boxer threw 15 total punches in round 11, and 16 total punches in round 12 according to CompuBox.
The official decision as read by Michael Buffer (who did a lot of traveling on Saturday and Sunday) is that the judges have scored the match: 117-111, 119-109, 116-112, all for the winner by unanimous decision and the new number 1 contender, "The White Lion" Alexander "Sasha" Povetkin. The win moves Povetkin to 15-0, with 11 of those wins coming by way of knockout.
The final punchstat numbers have Povetkin landing 201 of the 929 total punches that he threw, for a 22% total connect percentage. The gold medalist landed 144 of the 513 power punches he threw, for a 28% connect percentage. Comparatively, Chambers landed 197 of the 398 total punches that he threw, for an impressive 49% total connect percentage. He landed 136 of the 224 power punches he threw, for an amazing 61% power connect percentage. Which begs the question, why did Chambers not throw more punches?
Chambers is young and has a ton of potential. He showed a lot of ability in this match. However, he is not a natural heavyweight. At heavyweight his physique is a bit "soft" and he has little punching power. If Chambers were to drop down to 200 pounds, he could e a factor at the top of that division immediately. Chambers will also need to get in the gym and start working on his aggressiveness in the ring and other things to truly reach that elite level. The Philadelphia based boxer will not be able to reach his full potential though at heavyweight. He recently added trainer Buddy McGirt to his team, and with time Chambers could be the top 200 pound boxer in the world.
The heart and desire to win Povetkin showed in this match was amazing. He was in real trouble in the early rounds, taking hard punches from Chambers, frequently. The gold medalist worked his way through the adversity in the ring and got a win when many lesser boxers would have quit. His reward is a likely match up with Wladimir Klitschko, with a guess being that that will happen around June. Povetkin will be a significant underdog in that match. He will be giving up a big size and power advantage. Povetkin may be able to make it down to the 200 pound weight class. However, he has too many opportunities at heavyweight, and while his skills continue to develop the heart Povetkin shows in the ring could keep him alive for an upset against any of the top heavyweights, including Klitschko.
When Ibragimov was a special in studio guest on ESPN's Friday Night Fights a few weeks back, he said the reason that the Russian heavyweights were dominating the world rankings and there were no Americans at the top, was because the Russian boxers' were hungrier to win. Povetkin was much hungrier to win in this match and his desire and heart to win was championship material. Chambers showed better skills in the match then Povetkin, but his desire to win was not in the league of the Russian. This is a very good heavyweight match. This show is an opportunity to see a heavyweight prospect that could be a force in the division for potentially 10 more years. It is worth going seeing out a replay of this portion of the show.
News and Notes: Paulie Malignaggi, who had been on the short list of potential opponents for Oscar de la Hoya on May 3, 2008 on HBO, is largely giving up on that possibility. It appears his next match will be in the fall against Ricky Hatton. That match would take place, after Hatton has his match back in Manchester on May 24 against a presumable tune up opponent.
HBO has arranged that Kermit Cintron will face Antonio Margarito for Cintron's title at 147 pounds on the undercard of the April 12, 2007 in Atlantic City, New Jersey HBO show featuring Miguel Cotto vs. Alfonso Gomez. Assuming Cotto wins he would face the winner of the other match in unification match on July 26 either at Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium. The winner of that, presumably Cotto, would then try to get a match with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in 2009.
Reportedly, Yankee Stadium management is the one actively seeking to get a boxing match for this edition of the stadium's final year of operation, not the boxing promoters. Yankee Stadium has not hosted a boxing match, since September 28, 1976. At that event, Muhammad Ali successfully defended his heavyweight titles against Ken Norton, Sr. in their third and final match.
Roy Jones, Jr. via a press release called out de la Hoya earlier this week, for a match at 166 pounds. This match will probably never happen.
The next recap will come out February 10 of the previous night's HBO BAD event.
Sincerely,
Jereme Warneck
Syndicated Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for wrestlingobserver.com and figurefouronline.com
Hidden Valley Lake, CA
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