By James Slater: Once-beaten heavyweight contender “Fast” Eddie Chambers was one of the fighters recently put on the shortlist of fighters to face David Haye on November 15th. As soon as bouts with J.D Chapman and Kevin Johnson fell through for the former cruiserweight champ, Chambers’ name was rumoured top be at or near the top of the pile for the date at The O2 Arena in London.
Well, it looks like these rumours will not be panning out, because Chambers has an October 3rd bout coming up at The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. Sure, it’s possible Chambers could fight again as soon as November 15th, but it’s doubtful. The 31-1(17) 26-year-old will fight 32-year-old Livin Castillo, the southpaw from Ecuador. As undeniably good as he is, Chambers doesn’t figure to have much of a problem with the 14-5(9) Castillo, a heavyweight who is both smaller in height and weighs less than the 6’1″ approx 220-pound Chambers.
In reality, Castillo, who has been in with names like Jorge Castro, Jean Marc Mormeck, Oleg Maskaev, Alexander Povetkin and Bruce Seldon, is a blown up cruiserweight today. He lost to all the men mentioned here, each time by stoppage, and will likely go the same way against Chambers. In his last fight, Castillo was stopped by former WBA heavyweight champ Bruce Seldon in 5 rounds. “Fast” Eddie can get a similar win.
A mark time bout for the talented Chambers and nothing more, hopefully the boxer who has only lost to Alexander Povetkin (who goes in with IBF and WBO heavyweight boss Wladimir Klitschko in December, of course) will get back in the mix at top level soon. It would have been extremely interesting had the Philadelphian faced Haye in November, but for whatever reason it now looks as though the Londoner will be meeting another guy. Perhaps Chambers will box Haye somewhere down the line, perhaps next year, or maybe the 26-year-old who many still see as a future world champion will engage in other high profile match-ups on his way to a shot at the title.
Chambers has already bounced back well from his first pro loss, scoring an impressive 6th round stoppage over the dangerous Raphael Butler in June. Without too much trouble, the likeable Chambers will make it two comeback wins in a row come October 3rd. Castillo will turn up in shape and give it a go, but as soon as the slick Chambers gets into his groove, forget it.
Look for “Fast” Eddie to win in around 5 or 6 rounds as he further re-sharpens his tools for his second run at earning a world title fight.