This weekend at the fabulous Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf,
Germany, Wladimir Klitschko returns to the ring for the first time since his 9th
round retirement of the submissive Ruslan Chagaev almost ten months ago to
defend his alphabetic collection of title straps against tricky Philadelphian
Eddie Chambers.
Wladimir has now reigned on and off for around ten years.
He won the WBO in 2000 against Chris Byrd, and lost it in a shocker three
years later to the unassuming Corrie Sanders via an early stoppage in Cologne,
Germany. Desperate to find his old championship form, Wlad ran straight into
an in form Lamon Brewster in what for many would have been a career ending
loss, again by stoppage, a sensitive statistic that Wladimir still puts down a
list of catastrophic preparation errors involving everything from a tub of
Vaseline to cloak and dagger water tampering.
Regardless, Wladimir went from dominating the limited
Brewster to collapsing visually exhausted after 5 rounds at the feet of his
bewildered challenger for his second loss in the space of 2 years.
Champions return from adversity, and to his credit,
Wladimir certainly did just that. Almost two years to the day later, he
returned to contest for the IBF title against the first man he won the WBO
championship from, Chris Byrd. I was there that night at the SAP in Manheim,
Germany, and I witnessed Wladimir batter the brave Michigan man in a way he
had never been manhandled before or since, regaining one of the belts he still
holds. 2008 brought unification and Sultan Ibragimov's WBO belt proving that
dominance can be achieved from the brink of personal collapse.
Often labeled as "chinny" and heartless Wlad still remains
on top, due to his steely resolve and conditioned self-belief, instilled by
longtime trainer Manny Steward. "If it ain't broke don’t fix it," are words
team Klitschko lives by with the same cast of characters in camp for as long
as I can remember. The caravan includes James Bashir Ali, cuts guru Jake
Duran, brother Vitali, an in camp chef and long term friends and sparring
partners including Johnathon Banks, Cisse Salif and a handful of close knit
confidents that I can’t correctly account for, a winning combination that has
been hard to break to this point.
Enter Eddie Chambers.
Eddie has never boxed anyone quite like Wladimir Klitschko,
but it doesn't mean that he won't pose a few problems for the sometimes
predictable champ come Saturday. Eddie may not be as seasoned as Wlad, who
boasts 12 more KOs than Chambers has had fights, but the Pittsburgh born
fighter's r
