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By Johnny Walker
“Fast” Eddie Chambers sure is making a lot of people mad at him these days.
In the latter part of 2011, top American heavyweight contender Chambers was scheduled to fight his friend and fellow contender Tony “The Tiger” Thompson, only to pull out of the bout late with a bad back. The normally reserved Thompson was furious, and took to Facebook to tell Chambers about it. Thompson was particularly incensed at going through the time and expense of a training camp for nothing, when Chambers had been nursing an injury that he didn’t reveal until the last minute.
Now, former WBO heavyweight champion Sergei “The White Wolf” Liakhovich, who was scheduled to fight Chambers in a nationally televised bout this Friday night in Philadelphia, has joined the ranks of those angry at Chambers. Chambers, as you may know, has now pulled out of his second consecutive bout, this time with an injury to his ribs. The event was scheduled for the initial broadcast of NBC Sports Network’s new “Fight Night” boxing series, and had created some rare Stateside interest in the European-dominated heavyweight division.
Liakhovich and Chambers have now been replaced by two relatively unknown heavyweight prospects, surely not what everyone had in mind when the event was put together.
In a new interview with Fightnews.com, an angry Liakhovich voices complaints about Chambers’ behavior similar to what was heard from Tony Thompson.
“Eddie Chambers is trying to save his face in the press right now,” the normally reserved Liakhovich tells Fightnews.
“It is not about injuries. I want to tell everyone what happened. He knew on January 6 that he had a broken rib, and he did not tell us until January 13. Instead he was going around talking to the press as to how easy he will beat me!”
“He lied to his fans first of all. And also he put my team and NBC sports network in a situation where we don’t have time to find a suitable replacement on six days notice,” Liakhovich fumes.
“He took away my opportunity to fight by not telling about the injury on the 6th. I think punks like him should be punished and every promoter and every network should know how Eddie Chambers operates.”
Liakhovich also feels Chambers is a con man.
“He plays a good guy image in the press, but his good guy image is a fake. He didn’t have the simple decency to tell another athlete about him pulling out as soon as he knew, yet, he’s still going around and trying to play a good guy. I wasted 6 weeks of training and all the expense of a training camp and was not able to fight because of his actions,” says the livid White Wolf.
Liakhovich tells Fightnews that he is not interested in a rescheduled date with Chambers, who he feels cannot be trusted to show up. Instead, he is calling out another American heavyweight, top contender Cristobal Arreola.
As for Chambers, Liakhovich is clear: “From my point of view he is just a fucking punk. He cannot do this to other athletes.”
