|
|
||||
|
UPSHER ESCAPES AC WITH CLOSE For the second straight week a Philadelphia fighter won a close disputed decision in the fight before a big main event. Like Mike Jones last week, Steve Upsher Chambers had the opportunity to fight in the slot before the main event of the evening. Chambers was not part of the HBO broadcast but was in front of a large audience ready to see the anticipated rematch between Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The home crowd gave Chambers a warm welcome and looked forward to the man from the fighting city of Philadelphia to take advantage of his opportunity.
In the fourth, Chambers was inactive and again Jargal chased him around the ring throwing punches. Several times Chambers laid on the ropes while Jargal punched away. In fifth and sixth rounds Chambers went back to using his jab to keep Jargal at bay, but did not open up with a more aggressive attack. The seventh round was probably the best in the fight with both Chambers and Jargal standing toe to toe several times. As the rest of the fight had played out Chambers landed his punches, but Jargal made it tough to score with his more aggressive and active style. Chambers went back into hiding in the eighth and final round, making it easy for Jargal to take the final round with activity.
When the scores were announced it was the kind of fight you knew could go several different ways. Chambers was awarded a split decision victory. One judge gave the fight to Jargal 77-75 with the other two judges seeing it for Chambers by scores of 77-75 and 78-74. I had it a draw 76-76. Therefore, I can see the 77-75 score in each direction, but really am not sure how the third judge saw the fight six rounds to two. This fight was far to close for that score. The home crowd was a mix of cheers and boos when the scores were announced with many in the audience feeling Jargal deserved the decision. Jargal did appear the aggressor through the majority of the fight, but Chambers landed the cleaner punches. This came down to the old choice for judges of whether you put more emphasis on clean effective punching or ring generalship, aggressive attack, and pressure fighting. Chambers can hopefully learn from a tough close fight. When he jabbed he had little trouble keeping his opponent at bay and when he was willing to stand and trade shots he got the better of the exchanges. Unfortunately the jab and willingness to stand and fight seemed to come and go through out instead of applying a steady diet of jabs and power punches to his opponent.
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
Chambers started well in the first round keeping Jargal at a
distance with his jab and mixing in some flurries to land
power punches. In the second, Jargal began what would become
the theme of the fight - pressuring Chambers around the ring
with a high volume punching attack. The third round saw the
first intense action of the fight with multiple heated
exchanges in the round. Chambers won each exchange with his
better skills and speed allowing him to hit and not be
hit. Then he took off the remainder of the round and allowed
Jargal to push him around the ring. Jargal would not land
much, but the fact that he was throwing punches while
Chambers backed up made the round closer than it should have
been. 
After the fight, Steve’s older
brother heavyweight “Fast” Eddie Chambers made an appearance
in the ring for a short interview. Eddie announced that his
next fight could be a rematch with Derric Rossy (Chambers
scored a seventh round TKO in their first meeting in
2007). Chambers stated Rossy is a much improved fighter now
and the rematch should be a good fight. [Gary Purfield is
the house blogger for the web site MarrattoBoxing.com. He
was in attendance for the fight and offered his report and
photos to Philly Boxing History.]