Twenty-Twenty Hindsight: Chambers is No Byrd and the Likely Klitschko-Povetkin Outcome

Not having seen Eddie Chambers fight before this Saturday, I was intrigued to see him go up against Alexander Povetkin. The announcers made it sound like Povetkin had the edge because of his extensive amateur background and the tougher competition he had faced thus far in his pro career.

Early on though, it looked like Chambers was the slicker boxer, showing good movement, an ability to deliver quick and accurate counter shots and good defensive technique that allowed him block a majority of Povetkin's punches. Povetkin's strategy was to keep up a high volume and keep coming forward behind combinations all night, and while it didn't work that well for the first few rounds, it proved to be too much for Chambers in the long run.

I'm not sure if Chambers just couldn't figure out how to beat Povetkin to the punch or, as the announcer suggested, he tasted some power shots from Povetkin and decided he just couldn't get hit. Regardless, he looked like a boxer who did not have a Plan B in case his Plan A failed.

A lot of people are drawing similarities between Chambers and Chris Byrd, but I'm not so sure I see them. Both men would rather counter-punch than push the action and both are smallish heavyweights. That's about it. They fight from different stances, and while Chambers showed some good 'D' by blocking punches with his guard up, Byrd in his prime was a true defensive wizard who was adept and blocking, slipping and just plain evading leather thrown his way. I know when I saw Byrd fight Evander Holyfield back in 2002, he pulled off some ridiculous moves that left Evander swinging at thin air. Nothing like that jumped out at me from Chambers Saturday night.

Assuming that Wladimir Klitschko gets past Sultan Ibragimov next month - and I think that's a safe assumption - a lot of people are already talking about Povetkin getting the next shot at Wlad. After what I saw this weekend, he's also going to need a Plan B, or else Klitschko is going to knock him out. Wlad is just an all-around better boxer than Chambers at this point, and if he figures out how to land some counter shots, they will hurt.