American Heavyweight 'Fast' Eddie Chambers Goes From 'Timid' to 'Tiger'

On July 4, America's independence Day, "Fast" Eddie Chambers was handing Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko his first loss in 30 bouts before a crowd partisan to Dimitrenko in Hamburg, Germany.

It was Chambers' fifth consecutive win since a January 2008 setback against Russian Alexander Povetkin. And the symbolism is not lost on Chambers, America's best shot at a heavyweight champion.

"I hear that a ton from my fans, like, 'You're the only one who is gonna do it.' It was important for me to go over there and show my skills," said Chambers, who defeated Dimitrenko the day before the latter's 27th birthday. "Beating Dimitrenko, you know, I realize what it did for the United States and our hopes of having a world champion again."

Chambers' run includes a majority decision over former world champ Samuel Peter of Nigeria on March 27 -- two days prior to Chambers' 27th birthday. But it was beating Dimitrekno which set up Chambers as mandatory challenger to 6-foot-6 WBO and IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko, a bout that should happen during the first half of 2010.

"Dimitrenko is very similar to Klitschko," said Chambers (35-1, 18 knockouts). "And I'll probably have to go to back to Germany to beat him."

Wladimir's brother, Vitali Klitschko, holds the WBC crown, and Russia's Nicolai Valuev is WBA king.

No American-born heavyweight has held a title belt since June 2007, when Shannon Briggs was briefly WBO king. John Ruiz held the WBA title in 2005, and in 2006, Hasim Rahman and Chris Byrd, the WBC, and, IBF, respectively.

But Rob Murray, who became Chambers' lead trainer following the loss to Povetkin, believes his man will be next.

"Klitschko fights like a cave man, swinging at you and holding his arm out there to keep you at bay. All he needs is a club in his hands. But they've never seen anything like Eddie," said Murray, 64, a former co-manager of legendary middleweight king Bernard Hopkins.

"Eddie dropped Dimitrenko with a body shot, and then dropped him with a hook that knocked his mouthpiece over the top rope and into the second row," Murray said of the 6-1 Chambers, who weighed 208 to Dimitrenko's 6-7, 254 pounds.

"Joe Louis weighed 195 pounds and destroyed guys who were 6-6, 6-7. You had Rocky Marciano at 185 pounds, Muhammad Ali at 208, Joe Frazier at 205 -- when they were at their best," said Murray. "Eddie has that same potential -- great eyesight that makes him a sharp puncher, along with a great chin and tremendous hand and foot speed."

Chambers grew up timid in Pittsburgh.

"I was passive, didn't like to get into confrontations or fights or anything. I didn't have the confidence, to get angry,'" said Eddie H. Chambers, the third oldest of his father, Eddie W. Chambers' seven children.

"My dad noticed a lot of people getting over. I wasn't aggressive enough. I didn't have backbone,'" said Eddie H. Chambers, whose father also has served as his trainer. To his peers, Chambers was "The ugly kid," and, "the fat kid -- all of the negative things you can think of. The teasing got me to the breaking point."

So Eddie W. decided to take his son to a local gym as a way of building self-esteem. And from the moment his son walked in and laced on the gloves, an inner animal was unleashed.

"The first day I came into a boxing gym to train, I sparred with a kid that looked something like Riddick Bowe and right away, I was extremely aggressive. Even if I got tired, I wanted to keep punching," said Chambers.

"I punched to hurt people or wanted to throw them down," said Chambers. "My father said that he saw something that was sort of a shock."

Chambers was only four months away from his 15th birthday as well as the first Golden Gloves tournament of an 80-fight, amateur career that included winning the Pennsylvania state title. Four days after Christmas in 2000, an 18-year-old Chambers began his professional career.

In his pro debut, Chambers scored a second-round stoppage of Tyrone Austin, a veteran of one win in 12 fights. That was Chambers' first of three straight KOs and five during his first eight victories -- seven of which were in 2001.

In April of 2002, Chambers rose to 9-0 by decisioning Virginia's David Chappell over an eight-round clash of unbeatens. Chambers' performance impressed Murray, then a well-known, Philadelphia-based manager-trainer.
Style-wise, he's the slickest, best, all-around fighter in the heavyweight division. He's got incredible handspeed, and a jab that's gorgeous
-- Matchmaker Don Elbaum on 'Fast' Eddie Chambers
Chappell "was built like a young Sonny Liston -- with muscles on top of muscles," said Murray. "Then I looked over in the other corner and saw Eddie, who looked chubby and awfully young. I thought, 'man, this kid's going to get destroyed."

But Murray was dazzled by Chambers.

"Eddie made moves on this guy, feinted him with his hand and foot speed. He feinted the guy again and punched him," said Murray. "Next thing you know, Eddie's behind the guy, and the guy has his hands in front of his face because he didn't know where Eddie was.,"

Chappell wanted a rematch, and Murray wanted to see Chambers again. So as director and promoter at the legendary Philadelphia-based Blue Horizon at the time, Murray granted the return bout.

"It was worse," said Murray. "Chappell couldn't have hit Eddie if he had thrown a hand full of rice."

Murray facilitated the Chambers' family's move to Philadelphia, where Eddie frequented tough gyms such as Augie's, Champs' and James Shulers.'

"I fed him a dose of every killer I could find -- from Gerald Nobles who was 18-0 with 17 knockouts, to every gangster that wanted to fight," said Murray. "We started taking fights at the Blue Horizon, a very tough venue."

Near the end of his 17-fight run as a fan-favorite at the Blue Horizon, Chambers decisioned fringe contenders Ross Puritty and Robert Hawkins in 2005 and former contender Ed Mahone in 2006.

Chambers also worked as sparring partner against former champs Rahman, Ruiz, and Wladimir Klitscho.

In 2007, Chambers scored a seventh-round KO of Derek Rossy, who lost for the first time in 16 bouts. He also beat former contender, Dominic Guinn, and, former title challenger Calvin Brock.

"Style-wise, he's the slickest, best, all-around fighter in the heavyweight division. He's got incredible handspeed, and a jab that's gorgeous," said Philadephia-based matchmaker Don Elbaum.

"With Eddie's speed, and Rob setting up the right type of fight plan, Klitschko is in for one helluva surprise," said Elbaum. "The only way Klitschko can win the fight is to knock him out, but Eddie's got a helluva chin. I've seen this guy get nailed and he just fights back like a tiger. Whenever Eddie's in trouble, that tiger shows up."