Wladimir Klitschko knocked out Eddie Chambers of the United States
in the 12th and final round to retain his WBO and IBF heavyweight
belt Saturday.
The taller and heavier Klitschko dominated the fight and
ended it with a left hook with five seconds left in the bout.
Chambers went down heavily and needed a couple of minutes to
recover. The ring referee never bothered to count.
The 33-year-old Ukrainian improved to 54-3 and scored his
48th KO. Chambers fell to his second defeat in 37 fights.
Klitschko caught Chambers with a big right that nearly
floored the American late in the second round. Chambers staggered
but survived the round by clinging onto Klitschko.
Otherwise, Klitschko jabbed his way through a largely dull
fight, with Chambers mainly trying to limit the damage.
Chambers, known as "Fast Eddie,'' gave away 5 inches in
height and 35 pounds in weight to the champion and his game plan
was to get in close and try to connect inside. But Klitschko kept
him away with his bigger reach and the effective left jab.
"I have to give him credit, he was (very) fast,'' Klitschko
said. "He doesn't have much punching power and his game plan was
gone by round 6.''
Before getting hit in the second, Chambers threw Klitchko to
the canvas with a wrestling move, and once ended up carrying the
Ukrainian on his shoulders after bending down twice.
Klitschko waited for his moment in the third, but Chambers
mostly stayed away with arms raised. In the fourth, Klitschko tried
to land some rights but mostly kept Chambers at bay with the left
jab.
Chambers landed a right hook to the side of Klitschko's head
in the fifth but the champion finished the round strongly, getting
through with a couple of rights.
With little action in the sixth, Klitschko easily dominated
the seventh, repeatedly hitting Chambers with left jabs and
following through with rights to the head, but Chambers did not
appear in great trouble.
Klitschko said before the fight that he was in the best shape
of his life, but his timing seemed slightly off in his first bout
in nearly 10 months.
Klitschko hit Chambers with a short right late in the eighth
but did not follow up.
Chambers had to change his damaged right glove at the start
of the 10th, leading to a delay.
Klitschko's corner, including his older brother Vitali, the
WBC heavyweight champion, urged him to step up the pace and knock
out the American, but Klitschko kept his distance and relied on the
jab to collect points.
Klitschko clearly tried to deliver the knockout punch in the
final round and after chasing Chambers around the ring, he caught
the American with a looping left to the side of the head that put
Chambers down.
