When Eddie Chambers defeated Sam Peter last March, the native of Philadelphia looked more like “Fat” than “Fast,” as he came in at a rather rotund 223 pounds. By the time he thoroughly whipped Alexander Dimitrenko on the Fourth of July in a fight that earned him this weekend’s title shot against WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, Germany, he was a much slimmer, trimmer 208 pounds.
For Chambers, his victory over Peter was unsatisfying, at best. But it marked a turning point.
"I couldn’t even watch that Peter fight for a few months," admitted Chambers to Maxboxing, a couple of weeks ago while still back in the States. "I was that disgusted with it and what made me even more disgusted was how hard I worked. I put in a lot of work for that fight, believe it or not. But my diet was not what it needed to be and my mindset wasn’t totally where it needed to be. That [Dimitrenko] fight is one of the fights that got the ball rolling. Once I seen that I could do that with these guys with no problem and [it was] easier than I thought, I said, ’Y’ know what? Let me go all out and sell out and get myself in the best shape I possibly can get in. Go to camp, do everything you ask of me and don’t ask for anything and just put the work in and prepare.’
"And I prepared 100-percent, diet and everything. I did that and once I did that, obviously, you see the benefits,” continued Chambers. “I went over, handled Dimitrenko pretty good and now I got the opportunity for the title fight. So it’s all come to fruition now; I just have to continue to improve and do more and pick up the intensity."
So less, is more?
"Yeah, yeah, I like that assessment; that’s definitely the situation," said the good-natured Chambers, with a laugh. "Less is more. It goes with what I say; it also goes with my weight and a lot of those things. Less is more; you’re right about that."
He doesn’t hesitate to admit that they were aided by the help of Victor Conte and they utilized his SNAC products, consulting with him often about their workout and diet regimen.
"We talked to Victor. Victor is like a great scientist; he knows everything. He’s like one of those guys making these crazy mixtures on TV. But honestly, he has the perfect blueprint on really putting together a fighter the legal way," pointed out Chambers, who knows that his association with the former founder of BALCO raises more than a few eyebrows. But he stands by him. "There was some controversy with him in the past, but it’s the legal way and these things have helped me immensely. And not only that, it’s just being more conscious with my strength and conditioning guy, helping me be more conscious of my weight. Not just necessarily [just] my weight, but what I eat, what I do with what I eat, when I eat and how much I eat per serving."
Changing his eating habits was paramount to his transformation. Chambers says, "You’d be surprised by how much diet means to your overall conditioning. That’s almost like 80-percent to 20-percent of the work. It’s really that, if you eat right. Then you put the work in; there’s nothing that can stop you." If Chambers was a car, he’s gone from the regular unleaded to the premium stuff. "That’s right, that’s right, I like that one. I got the high-octane 98 in me now," he says, laughing.
As he sees his new lighter figure, he does ask himself, “Just who the hell is this?”
"Honestly, there have been a few times," he admits, with a chuckle. "And I’m a perfectionist, like most athletes you talk to, especially the ones really concerned about getting to the top. But there have been times, I’m like, ‘Wow, I don’t know how this transformation was made this fast.’ But then again, I know how dedicated I am and, look, I’m one of those guys; I like some of those foods. The only snacks I really like [are] chocolate chip cookies- don’t say anything- I like those. But I’m gonna tell you, I’m one of the most dedicated people when I’m supposed to be. I won’t eat anything. You could put a gourmet cookie and cakes and all that around me and have it sit in front of me for weeks and I will not touch it.
"So no matter what I like, it’s the dedication in knowing what you have to do to stick to that plan,” adds Chambers. “Stick to that plan and you’ll come out a winner. And every time I’ve done it, I’ve been a winner. So I’ll definitely stick to that from now on and never let myself stray."
On Friday, Chambers weighed in at 209, to Klitschko’s 244, a whopping 35-pound weight advantage for the champion. But unlike many others before him, Chambers was not going to bulk up just because he was facing a bigger foe.
"Whatever your attributes are, whatever that stands out from other fighters, just for whatever style you have, you should enhance those skills," explained Chambers, who’s game is predicated on speed and quickness. "Even if you’re a brawler, why would you want to come in at a weight where you know you’re not in the right condition? It’s going to be a marathon, most likely, when you get in there with these guys. These guys are not going to allow you to hit them. Obviously, they’ve been on top and Wladimir supposedly doesn’t have a good chin and how does he keep people from getting to that chin? You have to keep distance. So why would you not get your weight down to the best shape you can possibly be in to feel comfortable and feel good and still do what you do best? And that’s box.
Chambers continued, "I think that most people want to pack on that weight so they feel, ’Oh, I’ve got something more to give them. When I hit him, he’s gonna know I’m there.’ But how are you ever going to get that opportunity to hit him? Are your legs going to have that energy toward the end of the fight when you do get the opportunity to land a shot? Will it have anything on it? I think that’s where most people fall short."
The key for Chambers will be to get inside Klitschko’s reach and jab, find some shelter on the inside and land sharp, quick, accurate punches. "There’s no question, it has to be. That’s what I do. That’s the way I fight, especially, with this time, the weight being down. I was never a big puncher or anything like that- but I have sharp power. And these punches, he won’t see coming; I will be able to land at times. I’m not going to say I’ll be landing that frequently, but, then again, you never know. They will be sharp and there will be stuff he won’t see coming.
"The quickness, the movement, the side-to-side, the overall dexterity, everything I do, that I bring to the table, it’s not something he’s used to having to deal with. If you’re going to be a smart fighter, you gotta go in there with your plan and execute your plan to the best you can,” said Chambers.
“Not just get in there because it’s the ‘great’ Klitschkos and shrink in front of them, like some other fighters do."
WORKIN’ WITH WATLER
Putting Chambers through his physical conditioning outside the boxing gym was Hasaan Watler, who specializes in resistance and stability training. After the lackluster outing against Peter, Watler, after some consulting, tweaked Chamber’s regimen.
"He’s a smaller guy, but speed plus explosiveness, equals power. And so the knock on him is that because he’s 207, that he doesn’t have the strength or punching power. But he’s strong," says Watler. "We always joke around and I told him- and I said it on an interview for German TV, ’I actually dare any heavyweight to come do the workout we do.’"
Watler’s program is a mixture of traditional core-lifts and more exotic, newer exercises.
"We do it all, you’d be surprised," he explained of his program. "We do stuff like where I have him- and this is way before the fight- because once we get down to the fight, we just go strictly power, old-school power-lifting like squats, dead-lifts, stuff that guys really stray from. But before that, there are these stability pads, the ’Power System’ pads and they’re these round pads from the bottom. Eddie will have one hand on each of them and have a foot on a medicine ball. He’ll have two medicine balls with his feet on them and he’ll have each hand on a ’Power System’ pad and he’ll be doing push-ups."
Watler adds, "We do everything, stuff you couldn’t imagine for him to get his balance and coordination down. We do sprints where I hold him with resistance bands so he’s running against resistance. We just do it all. We train the total body and the misconception is that they think boxers shouldn’t lift weights because it gets you big and bulky. But what you have to do as a trainer is you look at the sport that the person does. You apply the workout to the sport. So now, Eddie’s not pulling a truck, so he doesn’t need to pull a truck and he’s not bodybuilding, so he doesn’t need to body-build. What he needs to do is specific exercises to his sport.
"Now, he’s going to bend down a lot because he’s going to have to duck, so now you squat. He’s also going to bend down and all his power, when he punches, will be generated from his legs. That’s also a reason to squat."
Much of the running that Chambers does is based on interval sprinting and not the long, drawn-out and tedious runs associated with roadwork in boxing. Chambers says, "When you sprint, that definitely cuts the muscle and definitely gives you that endurance, especially the long sprits. It gives you that endurance, especially when you want to throw those big, 10-punch combinations. That’s what really helps it."
As they get closer to the fight, the workload with Watler is tapered down to one day a week.
"That’s it. He does a workout on his own that he knows, that I told him to do, which is push-ups, pull-ups and dips and abs. He does that on Tuesday. That’s total upper body with natural body weight. It’s not wear and tear on your joints and ligaments," said Watler. "Then on Saturday, he drives from the Poconos; he comes with me and does an hour of straight power. Nothing more than five reps. Just four exercises too."
I WANT MY “CHAMBERS-TV”
To see what Chambers and Co. were up to in the Poconos, check out this site put together by his team. They did a very nice job; I have to say.
Did Ross Greenburg, the President of HBO Sports, really say one of the reasons why the Klitschkos have not resonated with the American public is because they are both fighting and they are difficult to tell apart? You mean it has nothing to do with the fact that, despite their dominance, they are dreadfully boring, most of the time?
But I find it interesting that HBO passed on the Chambers fight, given that Chambers has probably a better chance of toppling Klitschko than some of the other stiffs that HBO has approved in recent years (Ray Austin, anyone?). But what does it say about the Klitschkos’ two-headed reign of boredom that the heavyweight title of the world is not just relegated to being exiled from the major premium networks in the United States, to not even being a small pay-per-view, but a webcast?
How the mighty have fallen, huh?
But back to Greenburg’s point, didn’t HBO, back about six, seven years ago, run a campaign that featured both brothers plotting their world domination on a secluded and secret island? So in that vein, didn’t they help perpetrate this quandary?
One boxing observer told me, "I have a hard time telling Ross and Jeff Zucker apart."
WEEKEND FLURRIES
Funny, but Mexican boxing fans don’t seem to have any problems in telling Juan Manuel and Rafael Marquez apart, do they?...The April 10th bout between Evander Holyfield and Frans Botha in Las Vegas will be on pay-per-view. You can insert your own punch line here...This week’s edition of “Top Rank Live” features Cuban heavyweight Odlanier Solis vs. Carl “Mr.” Drummond...Speaking of “TRL,” WBA junior flyweight title, Giovanni Segura gets right back into it on March 27th in Acapulco, Mexico. I’ll say this, he is busy...I guess there were one too many player arrests at Oregon for Mike Bellotti, who bolted for ESPN...This week’s edition of “The Main Event” features Dan Goossen and Freddie Roach.
