When they announced Adamek vs Chambers, I was excited. Both guys need a "name" and a "win" on their resume right now to prove they are relevant at that level of competition. Chambers is a technically skilled fighter, great speed and defense. Adamek has good technical ability, durability, heart and he's fearless. My rankings of HW's going into the fight were something like this: 1. Wlad 2. Vitali 3. Povetkin 4. Adamek 5. Helenius 6. Chambers 7. Thompson 8. Arreola 9. Fury 10. Chisora I have not scored the fight yet, but I did watch it with the sound off. IF Eddie had a left hand that was as active as his right was, he would easily have on on activity alone. However, with the way things went down, I thought Adamek won. Sure, Chambers could land single right hands when he wanted, but Adamek was landing combos, backing Eddie up and controlling the action. Considering I'm American and I was rooting for Chambers going into the fight, I still can't say he did enough to win. One thing that sucks about boxing is when injuries ruin a fight, like this one. I thought, and still think, that both guys are fighting at what I call the Intercontinental Champion level. Two guys who are the best in a large region...like the USA vs. EU...but not quite good enough to be World Level. Would like to see a rematch when Eddie is 100%, but I don't think we will. I think the next step for Adamek is Povetkin. Next step for Eddie, if he comes back, will be a confidence builder and then someone like Fury or Chisora. Just my thoughts.
He had a shoulder injury in his last fight and was gifted a decision. Prior to that bull****, he did well. I think he beats everyone I have listed below him...or at least most of them...and is competitive with the few he doesn't beat.
A few realities despite corruption- Chisora beat Helenius for every round, Chambers beat Adamek. 1. W. Klitschko IBF, WBO, WBA, IBO 2. V. Klitschko WBC 3. D. Haye 4. A. Povetkin 5. D. Chisora 6. E. Chambers 7. R. Helenius 8. T. Adamek 9. C. Arreola 10. T. Fury
Thats bc Adamek didn't look good with the extra weight. Had he been 217lbs, more of his combo's would have landed & even a bigger margin of victory.
Your list is quite good but I do feel you haven't taken in account that Helenius lost to Chisora. So atleast they should switch places. Haye is somewhat unproven in the Heavyweights and I think at this moment he shouldn't be in the top 5 or 10. If he however proves himself worthy and wins impressivly I would move him up to top 5.
I agree with some of the OP's points but another poster wrote it good: neither impressed me really. Adamek was predictable and won (in my eyes) mostly by way of scoring more. His connect percentage must have been horrendous but Chambers failed go grab the win, which was there for him. He looked more skilled but instead tried some inadvisable showboating as if he was dominating. The fight was very close. People need to stop casually throwing out "outclassing" claims. Outclassing is not winning closely, it is not winning clearly, it is winning WIDELY. Not only on the scorecards, because one fighter can be closely better in just about every round (Vitali-Chisora was very competitive in most rounds, yet I scored it wide for Vitali. Just because of that it wasn't an outclassing), but clearly a step ahead in the actual fight too. I must say a was a bit surprised going in here and finding people crying robbery. I watched the fight with foreign language and therefore had a better chance not to be influenced. Of course, there was still the pro-Adamek crowd... Posters talk about extreme scoring and extreme corruption - somtimes I wonder about some of the extreme views that are in action on this forum. Poles claiming Adamek won very clearly, Americans and Brits (what's this thing between Brits and Poles?) claiming the complete opposite. I can't help think it's pretty funny, and at the same time odd. Chambers shells up and finds a way of not pressing the gas pedal when he should be, just like against Povetkin (Wlad was simply too good, even there he was passive and shelled up too much). Shelling up has a tendency, right or wrong, to not sit well with the judges. Adamek looks very unimpressive but is better than he looks. Good quick (for the division) jab and sticks to the fundamentels. But Really, the fact that Adamek and Chambers are considered being around 5-7 in this division makes me think it's weak. I'd love to see Haye-Adamek. Haye would smash him, I feel. Haye-Chambers could be trickier to predict because of Chamber's shell defense.