Philadelphia heavyweight contender and former world title challenger “Fast” Eddie Chambers plans to make the cruiserweight division his new home starting in 2013.
Chambers, who had been working with promoter Main Events on a fight-by-fight basis, signed a new contract with the New Jersey-based promotional outfit last week.
Main Events has been busy promoting fights on the NBC Sports series Fight Night and recently renewed its contract with the network for two more years.
Fellow Philadelphia fighters junior middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado and heavyweight prospect Bryant Jennings have used the NBC Sports series to make them household names among boxing fans.
“They have quality dates," Chambers said of his new promoter. Those “quality dates” should lead to plenty of exposure for the slick boxing Chambers.
With boxing often being a smarmy business, Chambers feels as though he made the right choice by signing with Main Events rather than some of the other promoters out there.
"They seem as honest as people are going to be in the promotional game, and in the time I have spent with them, they have gotten me good looks as far as fights,” he said.
While the cruiserweight division has long been in the shadow of the sport's glamor division, Chambers feels as though the move down is right for him at this stage of his career.
“It seemed like a natural move going down to see what I can get done down there and then come back up when necessary,” Chambers said.
As of now, the plan is to test the waters at cruiserweight for the next year and hopefully win a world title. If Chambers can accomplish that goal, he would then return to the heavyweight, where he has spent his entire career.
The Philly fighter said he would obviously like to fight one of the division's champions like Russia's Denis Lebedev or Germany's Marco Huck, but for his first fight out, a guy like Andres Taylor might be a good option to test the waters against.
“That would be a name that I would be interested in. He seems like a quality opponent, a decent fighter, I mean why not?" Chambers said of a possible Taylor matchup in early 2013.
While a win over Taylor would be nice, Chambers understands that to generate interest in his career, he will need to take on bigger names and fight the best the division has to offer. After nearly 12 years as pro, he would like the last half of his career to be even better than the first.
“I want every fight at this stage of my career—even if it is not a big marquee fight, I want it to mean something,” Chambers said. “With me being 30 now and in the second half of my career, I don’t want to waste any time.”
The cruiserweight division is not very popular in the U.S. but across the pond, it is big business and has staged some great fights in recent years. For Chambers to fight for a title, he will most likely have to return to Europe.
“When you want to make something of your career and do something, you take drastic changes. I’ll take big steps for that," Chambers said. “Going back to Germany is something that I am prepared to do if I have to.
“I love fighting in Germany and in European countries,” Chambers said, adding that while he loves fighting abroad, he is not a fan of the flight over.
That flight across the Atlantic will be something he may want to get used to if he is to have the success and make the kind of money he wants in the cruiserweight division.
From here on out, Chambers is only looking to make fights that make both financial sense and add to his legacy in the ring.
“I want to be a champion—I don’t care when it is or what it is, but I definitely want to be a world champion," he said.
"The ultimate goal is to be a heavyweight champion.”
But for now, he'll start with a cruiserweight belt.
Michael Walters is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
Follow @MWalters202
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