Ring Ratings Update

When Wladimir Klitschko won the vacant RING heavyweight title by dominating Ruslan Chagev on June 20 nobody brought up Eddie Chambers as a potential challenger for the new champ.

It didn’t matter that Chambers outpointed former titleholder Samuel Peter in March or that he was heading into a title elimination bout with undefeated Alexander Dimitrenko for one of Klitschko’s belts.

Despite Chambers’ obvious skill and talent, most fans and boxing writers figured the 6-foot-1 Pittsburgh native -- who looked paunchy at 215 pounds -- was wasting his time in the heavyweight division.

They said the Philadelphia-bred boxer lacked the size, power and aggression to contend with modern-sized heavyweights like the Klitschko brothers and Dimitrenko, their 6-foot-7, 250-pound fellow Ukrainian who carried the sparkling ledger (29-0, 19 knockouts) of a future world-beater into Saturday’s bout with Chambers.

However, a day after weighing in at 208¼ pounds (the second lightest of his career), Chambers flipped the proverbial script by out-jabbing, counter-punching and ultimately pressuring and punishing Dimitrenko to a majority decision at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

Chambers dropped Dimitrenko in the 10th round en route to winning scores of 116-111 and 117-109. The 113-113 card turned in by judge Paul Thomas was soundly booed by the German audience, as it should have been.

Chambers (35-1, 18 KOs) earned the decision victory and the right to be taken seriously at heavyweight despite the fact that his best fighting weight appears to be under 210 pounds.

“I loved what I saw from Eddie on Saturday,” Chambers’ promoter Dan Goossen said. “He used his skill and talent to make his shorter, smaller size an advantage against the bigger man. It was exactly how (trainer/manager) Rob Murray and I knew he could fight.

“Until now we have only seen glimpses of Eddie at his best, but after five fights with Murray I think he’s finally putting it all together and showing us how talented he really is.”

Now Goossen wants his 27-year-old charge to show the fans in America, who didn’t get to see his performance against Dimitrenko because the fight wasn’t televised on a U.S. network.

Chambers has only showed flashes of brilliance in his two major bouts that were televised in the States.

He outclassed Peter with his speed and footwork in a 10-round bout that was televised on ESPN, but never let his hands go against the powerful but lumbering Nigerian. Chambers beat Alexander Povetkin to the jab and exhibited superior defensive technique in the first half of his HBO-televised 12 rounder with 2004 Olympic gold medalist last January, but then he inexplicably allowed the Russian to thoroughly outwork him over the second half of the title-elimination bout.

Against Dimitrenko, Chambers didn’t just out-speed or out-jab his opponent. He consistently walked Dimitrenko to the ropes where he bombarded his taller foe with compact combinations that were punctuated by head-snapping uppercuts. In the late rounds of the bout, Chambers let his hands go against a tiring Dimitrenko in the center of the ring, often punishing the bigger man with body shots.

Some American fans might have jumped out of their seats had they seen Chambers send Dimitrenko’s mouthpiece flying with the left hook that dropped the odds favorite in the 10th round.

“Eddie was finally a mean badass from the first round to the last round,” Goossen said. “He showed me that he could be a giant killer.”

Does that mean Goossen believes Chambers is ready for the giant who holds THE RING heavyweight title plus all but one of the major alphabet straps?

“Absolutely,” he said. “Here’s the thing about Eddie, he’s only going to get better.”

Chambers will have to wait for his WBO mandatory shot at Klitschko. Povetkin, who became the mandatory challenger for the IBF belt that Klitschko holds when he beat Chambers, is ahead in line.

“My guess is that Klitschko won’t be available to Chambers until sometime in the first quarter of 2010,” Goossen said.

In the mean time, Goossen said he wants to bring Chambers back in October or November, hopefully in the U.S. and on U. S. television.

“They love Eddie in Germany,” Goossen said, “but I’d like to keep him in the U.S. so he can show the fans here how much he’s grown.”


RATINGS UPDATE


HEAVYWEIGHTS:

Eddie Chambers advanced from No. 5 to No. 3 on the strength of his decision victory over previously undefeated Alexander Dimitrenko, who fell from No. 7 to No. 10. The shakeup also resulted in demotions for Ruslan Chagaev (No. 3 last week) and Nicolay Valuev (No. 4 last week), who slipped down one rung each. The realignment also boosted David Haye (No. 8 last week), John Ruiz (No. 9 last week), and Denis Boytsov (No. 10 last week) one notch each.

“Before advancing Chambers above Chagaev and Valuev, THE RING took a careful look at their overall records compared to Chambers,’” said RING Editor Nigel Collins. “There wasn’t a difference significant enough to prevent Chambers’ promotion. Moreover, the editorial board gave considerable weight to their most recent outings: Chagaev was stopped by Wladimir Klitschko in a one-sided rout and Valuev won a highly disputed majority decision over an ancient Evander Holyfield. Chambers, on the other hand, convincingly beat a previously undefeated fighter on foreign soil.”

LIGHTWEIGHTS:

Yuri Romanov (No. 7 last week) has not fought since April 2008 and has nothing scheduled, so he has been dropped from the ratings. Romanov’s exit raised Breidis Prescott (No. 8 last week), Anthony Peterson (No. 9 last week), and Amir Khan (No. 10 last week) one spot each, and makes room for Paulus Moses to debut at No. 10.

FLYWEIGHTS:

Bernard Inom (No. 9 last week) departs due to the fact he has not fought since May 2008. Inom’s departure moved up Julio Cesar Miranda from No. 10 to No. 9, while Luis Concepcion is the new No. 10.