Tale of Two Chambers: Rise and Fall of Steve and Eddie Chambers
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
A short thought to note life has been cruel of late and not particularly kind to the professional boxing careers of heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers and his brother, welterweight contender Steve Upsher Chambers.
Eddie has been ranked as a top ten heavyweight worldwide by the different boxing authorities and BoxRec consistently throughout his career. His failure to defeat Alexander Povetkin, Wladimir Klitschko in International Boxing Federation eliminator, North American and world title bouts is nothing to be ashamed of. His failure to win more than one round against Thabiso Mchunu in a ten round cruiserweight bout was an indicator of a foolish venture to the lower weight class. With victories over Samuel Peter, Calvin Brock, Alexander Dimitrenko, Raphael Butler, Robert Hawkind, Dominic Guinn and others in the heavyweight division, Eddie has now won only one bout in four years (a 12 round IBF eliminator in Atlantic City over Derric Rossy) and must now reassess his career options.
Eddie has fought his career between 196 and 226 pounds, and could better be classified as a ‘Super Cruiserweight’ (also called junior heavyweight, 190-215 pounds primarily) rather than heavyweight, the so-called no-man’s land division between heavyweight and cruiserweight still recognized by the lesser known sanctioning bodies.
Steve, three years younger than Eddie, really had no shot at beating former WBA welterweight champion (a plus 30 win fighter) Luis Collazo and 15-0 light middleweight Eddie Gomez in his last two bouts. Steve went up in division to light middleweight to fight Gomez, who weighs more than 148 pounds and stopped Steve in four rounds in the wrong division.
Chambers still has ability in the heavyweight division. He lacks the natural body weight to provide the power to beat either of the Klitschkos or Alexander Povetkin in championship bouts, but Eddie can still win many exciting bouts in the heavyweight weight class. His brother Steve, correctly ranked at # 226 by BoxRec, has a record padded with limited opponents, and cannot perform at the ‘A’ level of competition, and should retire before another major ‘A’ level bout he could take causes him serious damage. For Steve, it’s over.
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