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At the crossroads of revival in the big men?s division, Chambers upsets Peter in a 10-round non-title heavyweight bout By Granville Ampong PhilBoxing.com Sun, 29 Mar 2009 Reporting from NOKIA THEATER, LOS ANGELES, California (March 27) ? Seated on No. 19 in the first row just about fifteen feet from the ring, I felt the snapping shots from the gigantic leathered fists upon their impact on mortal bodies. Sure, they were not in the usual glory nights of the heavyweight matches two decades past. But Eddie Chambers, top ranked Heavyweight contender from Philadelphia, brought the spotlight to an all-time high as his speed, tenacity and tactical counter-aggression broke the defense of former Heavyweight Champion Sam Peter of Nigeria in their 10-round of boxing at the Nokia Theatre. Respective judges scored the bout bearing a majority decision in favor of Chambers, to wit: Ray Corona 99-91; Max De Luca 95-95 and Marty Denkin 96-94. Coming off from his lone loss by unanimous decision to Alexander Povetkin (16 wins-0 loss) in the early January of last year, Chambers kept his meteoric rise and improved to 34 wins (18KOs)-1 losses with 0 draw while Peter, who lost his WBC Heavyweight title to Vitali Klitschko (37 wins-2 losses-0 draw) last October, posted 30 wins (23KOs) and 3 losses. Entering the ring as the much lighter underdog, Chambers outworked and out-boxed his opponent starting from round 2 as he battered the unrelenting ?Nigerian Nightmare? with two combos and delivered a heavy shot to the chin which somehow changed the tempo of the fight starting early on in the second half of round 2. Peter, a heavy-set in monstrous stature, projecting himself as invincible and banking on his advances, he continued stalking the ?Fast Eddie?. But, his relentless advances transformed his foe even more into a thinking, vicious slugger. Stealing the marquee night of knockouts in the preceding bouts, Chambers punctuated round 9 with three shots to the chin that snapped Peter?s head back twice and made the first night of boxing in the prestigious event center seemingly into an outrageous forum of cheering squads. But, still, those straight, disorienting shots to the chin did not stop the Nigerian from trying to super-impose his broad and massive shoulders - stretching his length in fact - with four combos to the body and upstairs. Still, no knockout was imminent. Attempting to alter the ring generalship of the western man into a halt, it was so obvious that Fast Eddie made him look much more of a frustrated assassin even unto the end of round 10. Nevertheless, Peter insisted of his chance for a knock out during the post fight interview. Asked of what he expected of the outcome of the fight tonight, Peter said: ?I want a rematch.? What taunted to be a short night favoring the Nigerian fighter by knockout in the pre-fight analysis has turned out to be less conclusive and less convincing in a 10-round bout. It may have been convincing if the fight were scheduled for 12 rounds. But, the rules of the game had to be followed. Meanwhile, the undercards in some way shortened the night delivering consecutively four early knockouts. Shawn Estrada (2-0, 2Kos), a former 2008 U.S. Olympian from East Los Angeles, won by way of knockout in the first round, over Ray Craig (5-4, 2KOs) of Oakland, California. Estrada is scheduled to fight in the undercard of Williams vs. Wright on April 11 against Thomas Rittenbaugh (3-2-2) at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. On the other hand, the night was seized as well with three other promising fighters. John Molina, Jr. (15-0, 11 Kos) scored a technical knockout via stoppage by the referee ending the bout at 2:24 in round 2. It was prompted by non-stopped aggression and close encounter with Carlos Vinan?s head bulldozing Molina?s chest while delivering wild shots mainly to the body and the latter countering with neuro-vascular shots to the head which resulted Vinan (8-6-3, 1KO) to become so groggy and almost stumbled twice in the last round before the stoppage. Another, Javier Molina of Commerce, California entering the ring on his pro debut won by knockout over Jaime Cabrera of Alhambra, California. Molina showed great boxing skills and easily outclassed his opponent ending the bout 1:40 into round 2. He is also former 2008 U.S. Olympian. Yes, except the undercards, what proved to be an all-time low in the big men?s division can be faulted at the promoters? less effective marketing mix. Conversely, what took place at the Nokia Theatre can be a lesson book suggesting once more a revival from within, to which, of course, boxing pundits would surely offer no objection. Note: Granville Ampong is an L.A.-based journalist regularly writing for Philboxing.com, Nevada Examiner and Maharlikan Times - a dynamic news service provider and public relations agency credentialed to cover boxing events. To submit comments, you may visit his site at www.MaharlikanTimes.com, or simply send them by e-mail: granvilleampong@maharlikantimes.com. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Granville Ampong. |
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