Alexander Povetkin and Eddie Chambers met at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany to determine who will meet the winner of Vladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov.
Russian born Alexander Povetkin out-hustled American hopeful "Fast" Eddie Chambers on his way to a lop-sided decision victory. The official judge's scores were 119-109, 117-112, and 116-112. Suite 101 scored the fight 117-111 for Povetkin. Povetkin's record goes to 15-0 (11), while Chambers' drops to 30-1 (16).
Chambers, 227 1/4, started the fight by snapping Povetkin's head back with jabs and straight right hands at will. While Povetkin, 219 1/2, kept a brisker pace in the early going, Chambers' punches were sharper.
By round four, the 28-year-old Povetkin's left eye began to bruise and swell from Chambers' high velocity rights. Then, mysteriously, Chambers' punch output dropped, leaving him at the mercy of Povetkin's relentless attack.
When the bell rang to end round six Povetkin had evened up the scores and clearly had the momentum while Chambers, 25, seemed content to land one or two beautiful combinations per round.
Slumping in his corner between rounds and at times looking exhausted during rounds, Povetkin continued to pile up points by backing Chambers up and firing everything in his arsenal. Although not always landing his shots cleanly, Povetkin had Chambers face reddened and beginning to swell, especially around the temples, where Povetkin deftly looped his punches around the high guard of his opponent.
After round ten Chambers' corner pleaded with him to try to knock Povetkin out as this was his only chance to win. Chambers chose instead to sleepwalk through the final two rounds while Povetkin threw three and four punch combinations, circled, then punched some more.
Punchstat numbers were telling with Povetkin landing 201 of 929 punches while Chambers landed almost as many with 197, but threw only 398.
With the victory, Povetkin becomes the mandatory IBF challenger to Wladimir Klitschko. Klitschko is scheduled to fight Sultan Ibragimov February 23, with the winner meeting Povetkin, the gold medalist in the super-heavyweight division at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
At 6'2" Povetkin would give up three inches in height and almost 30 pounds to Klitschko. On the other hand, Ibragimov is virtually Povetkin's equal in height, weight, and fighting style. Regardless of either man's success against Klitschko, a showdown between Povetkin and Ibragimov seems likely in the near future.
Results from the undercard:
- European middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester (28-2, 13 KOs) won a unanimous decision over Francois Bastient (33-6-1, 15 KOs).
- Cruiserweight Enad Licina (12-1, 7 KOs) earned a unanimous decision over Lubos Suda (18-2-1, 13 KOs).
- Welterweight Frank Shabani (12-0, 5 KOs) kept his unbeaten record clean with a unanimous decision over Italo Brussolo (8-2, 2 KOs).
- Welterweight Cecilia Braekhus (5-0, 2 KOs) scored a TKO over Wanda Pena Ozuna (4-3, 1 KO) in the fourth round.
